INTERTEXTUALITY AS AN ARGUMENTATIVE RESOURCE IN THE NEWS GENRE

Abstract

This work reflects on intertextuality in the news genre. The aim is to analyze how strictu sensu intertextuality works as an argumentative resource in this genre, considering that intertextual relationships (among texts) occur for pre-established communicative purposes and are endowed with intentionality. We are assuming that language is not neutral but essentially ideological in a way that arguing, that is, directing discourse toward specific meanings, is inherent to human communication because it manifests the news author's position. In this sense, the genre in focus for a long time and, even today, is considered by many a genre based on impersonality and neutrality; it carries ideological aspects in the intention of reporting, considering the choice of both what will report and the linguistic repertoire to characterize the facts and events, which are crossed by evaluative criteria. To this end, the theoretical basis for this research is constituted by scholars of Textual Linguistics who reflect on Intertextuality and Argumentation in the production of texts. We chose as an analytical corpus four news stories that deal with the possible waiver of the offer of aid by Uruguay to the victims of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) on the occasion of the climate catastrophe caused by heavy rains in that region in April 2024. As a result of the analyses, it was possible to perceive that the authors of the news report to thematic intertext, implicit and explicit, to contradict/subvert the source text, aiming to convince the reader that the Brazilian government was not concerned about the state victimized by the climate catastrophe.