Contested Meanings: An Analysis of the Designations “Right”, “Left” and “Third Way”

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2236-4242.v38i2p564-588

Keywords:

Nominal Formation, Semantic Domain of Determination, Enunciative Networks, Historical Semantics of Enunciation, 2022 Brazilian Elections

Abstract

We present here the results of a piece of qualitative research developed out of the analysis of “direita”, “esquerda” and “Terceira via” designations used in the context of the 2022 Brazilian elections. The objective that guided the research was to answer the question: What are the regularities of meaning and points of conflict that permeate the meaning effects of the designations under analysis? We drew on theoretical assumptions of the Historical Semantics of Enunciation, specifically the notion of Semantic Domain of Determination (SDD), developed by Guimarães (2018), and the notions of nominal formation (NF), historical reference and enunciative relevance, developed by Dias (2018). To carry out the analyses, we mobilized the notion of enunciative networks, also designed by Dias (2018, 2023), as a methodological resource for the comparative observation of the meanings of the utterance, allowing “the perception of the domains of mobilization [of the meanings] that the enunciation supports” (Dias, 2018). The enunciative networks, constructed through the tracking of occurrences indexed by the hashtags nucleated by the “direita”, “esquerda” and “Terceira via” NFs, allowed us to observe that the mobilization domains of the NFs under analysis tend towards discrepancy. However, our study also showed that the mobilization domains of these NFs construct meanings that, when confronted with each other, seem to be in dispute, and are sometimes even taken interchangeably.

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Author Biographies

  • Gabriele Cristine Carvalho, Instituto Federal de Minas Gerais

    Doutora em Estudos Linguísticos pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brasil (2015). Professora do Instituto Federal de Minas Gerais, Brasil.

  • Priscila Brasil Gonçalves Lacerda, Instituto Federal de Minas Gerais

    Doutora em Linguística pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brasil (2013). Professora do Instituto Federal de Minas Gerais, Brasil.

  • Claudiene Diniz da Silva, Universidade Estadual do Maranhão

    Doutora em Estudo Linguísticos pela Universidade Federal de Minhas Gerais, Brasil (2017). Professora da Universidade Estadual do Maranhão, Brasil.

References

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Published

2025-08-31

Issue

Vol. 38 No. 2 (2025): Text, Society, and Democracy

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2025 Gabriele Cristine Carvalho, Priscila Brasil Gonçalves Lacerda, Claudiene Diniz da Silva

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How to Cite

CARVALHO, Gabriele Cristine; LACERDA, Priscila Brasil Gonçalves; SILVA, Claudiene Diniz da. Contested Meanings: An Analysis of the Designations “Right”, “Left” and “Third Way”. Linha D’Água, São Paulo, v. 38, n. 2, p. 564–588, 2025. DOI: 10.11606/issn.2236-4242.v38i2p564-588. Disponível em: https://revistas.usp.br/linhadagua/article/view/235367.. Acesso em: 4 jan. 2026.