Debates contemporáneos sobre el poder político de ideas y discursos en América Latina

This edition of Foro de Debate presents different articles on contemporary debates on the political power of ideas and discourses in Latin America from a theoretical and practical analysis. Several approaches to the topic are presented. They begin with an academic review of concepts, government regimes and electoral rules, proposing a pending agenda for study followed by a methodological reflection on discourse and politics as a proposal to address the topic of study. Along the same lines, an analysis of the importance of speech in social research is presented. This is followed by a look at discursive attribution as a possibility for political action. And finally, an empirical application of discourse, problem and policy analysis applied to poverty and inequality is presented.Esta edición del Foro de Debate presenta diferentes artículos en torno a los debates contemporáneos sobre el poder político de ideas y discursos en América Latina desde un análisis teórico y también práctico. Se presentan diversas aristas para abordar el tema. Comienza con una revisión teórica de las ideas, regímenes de gobierno y reglas electorales. Sigue con una reflexión metodológica sobre discurso y política. Luego se presenta un análisis sobre la importancia del discurso en la investigación social. A continuación, se echa una mirada a la atribución discursiva como posibilidad para la acción política. Finalmente, se presenta una aplicación empírica de análisis de discurso, problemas y política a temas de pobreza y desigualdad

An analysis of some evidential structures in essays written by students of French as a foreign language

In this article, we perform an evidential analysis of three types of construction taken from essays written by students of French as a foreign language: the shown source, the quoted source and borrowed knowledge. The issue with these constructions, which refer to passages from a book, is knowing the extent to which they have an evidential value because, within the context of our analysis, the source and the knowledge reference overlap. We defend an evidential reading of these segments given their argumentative function in the students’ discourse. We perform a pragmatic analysis of these language forms that take into account the parameters of the communicative situation and the type of text that the students have to produce. Our hypothesis is this: the figure of the teacher (who, in this case, is the hearer and the addressee) and his or her instructions have a direct impact on the way in which the student presents his or her knowledge of the book on which he or she is commenting. The analysis of the function of these three forms has also led us to address the issue of the relationship between evidentiality and notions like the reliability and epistemic modality. We conclude that source (evidentiality) is a reliability’s character and an epistemic function in the discourse

An analysis of some evidential structures in essays written by students of French as a foreign language

In this article, we perform an evidential analysis of three types of construction taken from essays written by students of French as a foreign language: the shown source, the quoted source and borrowed knowledge. The issue with these constructions, which refer to passages from a book, is knowing the extent to which they have an evidential value because, within the context of our analysis, the source and the knowledge reference overlap. We defend an evidential reading of these segments given their argumentative function in the students’ discourse. We perform a pragmatic analysis of these language forms that take into account the parameters of the communicative situation and the type of text that the students have to produce. Our hypothesis is this: the figure of the teacher (who, in this case, is the hearer and the addressee) and his or her instructions have a direct impact on the way in which the student presents his or her knowledge of the book on which he or she is commenting. The analysis of the function of these three forms has also led us to address the issue of the relationship between evidentiality and notions like the reliability and epistemic modality. We conclude that source (evidentiality) is a reliability’s character and an epistemic function in the discourse

Probability and certainty markers in French and in Spanish (sans doute / sin duda)

In this article, we analyse the modal forms sans doute and sin duda. Despite their formal similarity, they do not always represent the same degree of certainty in French and Spanish. After a detailed analysis of their use in both languages, our conclusions show that sans doute is a probability marker, whereas sin duda is an (almost) certainty marker. After examining the relationship of these modal markers with evidentiality, we underscore the epistemic character of both markers; they are related to belief and subjectivity, thus the nature of certainty that they express is indirect and subjective. Sin duda manifests a higher degree of conviction than sans doute.This study was undertaken within the framework of a research project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (FFI2011-25755: Modalidad epistémica, evidencialiad y gramaticalidad: análisis contrastivo inter e intralingüístico en el discurso oral y escrito)

Probability and certainty markers in French and in Spanish (sans doute / sin duda)

In this article, we analyse the modal forms sans doute and sin duda. Despite their formal similarity, they do not always represent the same degree of certainty in French and Spanish. After a detailed analysis of their use in both languages, our conclusions show that sans doute is a probability marker, whereas sin duda is an (almost) certainty marker. After examining the relationship of these modal markers with evidentiality, we underscore the epistemic character of both markers; they are related to belief and subjectivity, thus the nature of certainty that they express is indirect and subjective. Sin duda manifests a higher degree of conviction than sans doute.This study was undertaken within the framework of a research project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (FFI2011-25755: Modalidad epistémica, evidencialiad y gramaticalidad: análisis contrastivo inter e intralingüístico en el discurso oral y escrito)