Aspectos macro- e microlinguísticos
das línguas de especialidade
Bibliografia
Scarpa, Federica (2001). La Traduzione
Specializzata. Lingue Speciali e Mediazione
Linguistica. Milano: Ulrico Hoepli Editore.
FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão
Abordagem top-down (do macro- ao
micronível linguístico)
Principais marcas/características textuais e
retóricas das línguas de especialidade (LE)
 Características a nível sintáctico
 Características a nível lexical
NB: Temos que lembrar que existe uma ampla
sobreposição entre os vários níveis
linguísticos.

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Organização do discurso
As LE apresentam uma organização retórica do
discurso diferente da encontrada na língua
corrente.
Esta organização varia nas diversas tipologias
textuais e variedades de LE.
Os textos de especialidade geralmente aderem a
cânones linguísticos específicos do género de
discurso ao qual pertencem, satisfazendo assim as
expectativas dos destinatários e facilitando a
comunicação.
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Organização retórica do discurso
Distribuição das informações de acordo
com uma sequência lógica e hierárquica
adequada às características que se pretende
descrever;
 Estruturação em unidades retóricas
constituidas por capítulos, secções/partes,
parágrafos, etc.

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Existe um elevado grau de correlação entre o
metodo de argumentação e a formulação do
respectivo discurso, isto é entre aspectos
epistemológicos e concretização destes aspectos
a nível textual.
Isto explica porque existe uma clara padronização
(standardization) da forma de organizar os
conteúdos dos textos de especialidade (às vezes,
independentemente da área disciplinar à qual
pertencem, sobretudo quando se trata de
discurso científico académico).
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Quanto menos especializado (ou mais divulgativo)
é um texto de especialidade, tanto mais flexível
será a sequência das diferentes passagens
lógico-semanticas.
Por ex., a sequência das partes funcionais em que
se encontra dividido um texto pertencente ao
género ‘norma’ é muito mais rígida do que a de
um artigo cientifico numa revista de
especialidade que, por sua vez, é mais rigida do
que a estrutura de um artigo cientifico numa
revista de divulgação.
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Método científico
(sequência)
Identificação/definição
do problema
Elaboração de uma
hipótese de solução
Verificação teórica
Verificação prática
(experiência)
Validade/Validação
Artigo científico (estrutura)
Abstract (sumário; resumo)
Introdução (Teoria –
Problema)
Metodologia (ProjectoMétodos –Materiais Resultados)
Discussão
Conclusão
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Riabtseva (1999) English for
Specific Purposes
It is possible to collect a list of structures /
expressions typically used in each of the
sections of a scientific article.
 The objective is to teach researchers whose
mother tongue is not English to write a
stylistically adequate scientific article.
e.g. for the Results and their interpretation,
Riabtseva lists 200 possible constructions

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Examples
As our results/observations indicate
There is ample evidence to suggest that P (is
related to Q)
There is a connection (relationship) between
P and Q
The rate of P depends on changes with the
amount of Q
etc.
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NB
There is a standard way of organizing
information in scientific discourse
(especially academic discourse) which is
independent of a specific field of
knowledge/discipline. However, it is also
true that each discipline has its
specific/characteristic discourse
conventions which reflect the way that
discipline proceeds.
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Textuality / Textualidade
The set of features which make a text a semantic and
pragmatic unit.
COHERENCE
A text is characterized by coherence; it hangs together.
At any point after the beginning, what has gone
before provides the environment for what is coming
next. This sets up internal expectations; and these are
matched up with the expectations referred to earlier,
that the listener or reader brings from the external
sources, from the context of situation and of culture.
(Haliday and Hasan 1989, p.48)
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Cohesion
Cohesion is the network of lexical, grammatical, and
other relations which provide links between the
various parts of a text. These relations organize
and, to some extent, create a text, for instance by
requiring the reader to interpret words and
expressions by reference to other words and
expressions in the surrounding sentences and
paragraphs. Cohesion is a surface relation; it
connects the actual words that we can see or hear.
(Baker 1992, p.181)
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COHERENCE VS COHESION (Baker, 1992)
Like cohesion, coherence is a network of
relations which organize and create a
text: cohesion is the network of surface
relations which link words and
expressions to other words and
expressions in a text, and coherence is
the network of conceptual relations
which underlie the surface text. Both
concern the way stretches of language
are connected to each other.
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COHESION
In the case of cohesion, stretches
of language are connected to
each other by virtue of lexical
and grammatical dependencies.
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COHERENCE
In the case of coherence, they are
connected by virtue of
conceptual or meaning
dependencies as perceived by
language users. (Baker 1992,
p.218)
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We could say that cohesion is the surface
expression of coherence relations, that it is
a device for making conceptual relations
explicit.
BUT
What actually gives texture to a stretch of
language is not so much the presence of
cohesive markers but our ability to
recognize underlying semantic relations
which establish continuity of sense.
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Grammatical cohesion
Connective elements expressing coreference
among elements in a text
Reference (anaphora and cataphora)
Substitution
Ellipsis
Textual connectors (Conjunctions: additive,
adversative, causal, temporal, etc.;
punctuation)
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Lexical cohesion
It refers to the role played by the selection
of vocabulary in organizing relations within
a text. A given lexical item cannot be said to
have a cohesive function per se, but any
lexical item can enter into a cohesive
relation with other items in a text.
Two main categories (Halliday and Hasan):
Reiteration
Collocation
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Reiteration: repetition of lexical items
Repetition of an earlier item
 Synonym or near-synonym/antonyms
 Superordinate/Hyponyms

Lexical cohesion typically operates through
lexical chains that run through a text and are
linked to each other in various ways.
Baker 1992, 203-204
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Repetition

Repetition occurs more frequently in
specialized texts than in current language
because it makes conceptualization easier
and it obeys the criteria of rigour and clarity
which are typical of scientific language (a
term corresponds to a concept).
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Theme – Rheme (Given-New)
The organization /choice of how to organize
the information sequence depends mainly
on: the readers’ previous knowledge; the
retrievability of information from text and
context; the relevance of certain items of
information in relation to others.
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Foram estudados os efeitos das radiações . . .
Analisou-se/Foram analisadas as relações da
dopamina cerebral com as funções motoras.
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Special languages are characterized by the frequency
of occurence of certain syntactic patterns:
Nominalization/Nominal style
 Simplification of sentence structure (due to
the need for concision, clarity and
simplicity). English- sentences with linear
structure; sentences are short and made up
of one main clause and one subordinate
clause or only one main clause.

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Passive voice /impersonal style
 More limited use of verb tenses and verb
forms
 Modality
 Terminology
 Transparency and concision
 Lack of expressiveness/emotiveness

FLUP - Elena Zagar Galvão