The topicatization relation as resource to the managing faces and places

uma abordagem interacionista

Abstract

In this paper, our goal is to carry out an analysis of the role the topicalization relation plays in the managing faces and places of a journalistic interview published by Folha de S. Paulo in February 2021, in which journalist Fernanda Mena and Nikole Jones participated in. To meet our goal of studying the topicalization relation, we used an interacionist approach, based on the theoretical-methodological contributions developed by the Geneva Model to Discourse Analysis, that has been developed by the Study Group on Pragmatics, Text, and Discourse from Faculty of Letters of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. On the basis of this approach, there were two occurrences of the topicalization relation in the interview. With the analysis, we sought to demonstrate how the establishment of the topicalization relation helps the interlocutors to interact, negotiating faces and places. From our study, it was possible to observe that the topicalization relation helps the speaker to build a move constituting that will be evaluated by the interlocutor as adequate or not; if the latter, there is risk to the facework in progress. Thus, the topicalization relation works as an interacionist resource which helps the speaker to block, or at least, to try to block, the interlocutor’s possible objections. Therefore, this relation helps to preserve not only the interlocutor’s face and place from an offensive move, but also the speaker’s from implied damages caused by objections from the interlocutor.