Reviewing “aforization”

Abstract

In this article we examine the notion of aphorization (Maingueneau, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012) in printed magazines of wide circulation in Brazil and in France. By aphorization we should understand an utterance that, detached from a text, is (re)used as a title, an intertitle or a photo caption. The aphorizations can be both by strong highlighting, in which the detached utterances break with the source text, and by weak highlighting, in which the highlighted utterances come close to the source text. It is weak highlighting that interests us here, since the proximity with the source text greatly facilitates the work of checking the fidelity of the detached utterance. Our hypothesis is that the use of aphorization in printed media is a resource to manipulate the readers, especially through the changes that this kind of utterance undergoes in the process of highlighting. Thus, it is our main goal to investigate the different changes that occur when a detached utterance is turned into aphorisation, as well to discuss the meaning effects produced in such a process. From the theoretical viewpoint, we base our research on French Discourse Analysis, articulating it, sometimes, with contributions from French Semiotics (in its standard and tensive “versions”).