The functions of the expression “acho que” in the epistemic dimension of a presidential debate
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14393/DLv19a2025-4Keywords:
Modals, Expression “acho que”, InteractionAbstract
In this paper, we analyze the uses of the epistemic expression “acho que” in a presidential election debate. To do so, we articulate functionalist contributions on the expression “acho que” and studies on modals and on epistemic dimension developed in the field of ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis. According to our hypothesis, in the different contexts in which “acho que” occurs, the basic meaning of the expression as a mitigator of the speaker’s degree of certainty in relation to a given propositional content is particularized, depending on the sequential position in which the expression “acho que” occurs. This reveals that grammar is sensitive to the sequential context. The corpus analyzed was the first debate of the 2018 Brazilian presidential election. In the analysis of this corpus, we assumed an emic stance, insofar as we privileged the interactants' point of view on the development of the interaction, that is, the way in which they carry out actions and react to them. In the debate, we identified a total of fourteen occurrences of the expression “acho que”, which perform different functions. With the expression, the speaker makes less aggressive the mention of information that belongs to the interlocutor’s or third parties’ territory; mitigates his/her adherence to an opponent’s proposals; reduces his/her level of commitment to the information he/she defends, by repairing a previous turn etc. With these results, we understand that, in all occurrences of the expression, the speaker's intention to soften a territorial intrusion leads him/her to reduce epistemic rights in approaching a topic. The semantic counterpart is the expression of lesser commitment to what is said. However, this very general meaning is particularized in more particular meanings, depending on the properties of each turn in which the expression occurs and the position it occupies in the sequence (first or second pair part).
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