Tenor and field: exploring contact zones

• Grant number: 23/04354-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: October 09, 2023
• End date: March 08, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Roberto Gonçalves Segundo
• Grantee: Theodoro Casalotti Farhat
• Supervisor: Christian Matthias Ingemar Martin Matthiessen
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/10527-5 - Towards a new systemic functional model of tenor, BP.MS

Abstract

Based on a systemic functional perspective, this project aims to explore two 'contact zones' between the contextual parameters of tenor and field, thus advancing the notion of 'contextual permeability' (Hasan, 2014) in theoretical and descriptive terms. The first contact zone is the tenor system of AGENTIVE ROLES, which, by describing roles that are intrinsically related to activities (e.g. the role of a teacher implies the activity of teaching), leads directly to field - in terms of the systems of SOCIO-SEMIOTIC ACTIVITY and SPHERE OF ACTION. In line with the 'inter-theoretical' spirit guiding our main research project, we will explore the 'borderline' nature of agentive roles by drawing not only on systemic functional studies but also on work in Conversation Analysis, Anthropological Linguistics, and Critical Discourse Analysis. The second contact zone concerns the tenor system of SOCIAL DISTANCE, whose permeability with field stems from the idea that the intimacy between the interactants results, among other factors, from the quantity and variety of activities in which the participants were previously co-engaged. This notion led authors such as Martin (1992) and Butt (2003) to include field elements as part of a 'calculus' of social distance. In our proposal, we argue for a simpler system, in which the options encompass four degrees of distance analogous to those proposed by Hall (1966). We suggest that the 'calculus' of proximity between interactants is not a matter of paradigmatic description but of the development of an 'interpersonal ontogenesis' that takes into account elements of both field and tenor. To explore such a hypothesis, we will draw on social psychology models such as Levinger's Stage Theory, Social Penetration Theory, and the Interpersonal Process Model of Intimacy, which examine the genesis, development, and deterioration of relationships. (AU)