A persuasão no gênero pregação sob o enfoque da gramática sistêmico-funcional

Abstract

The subject of this Master's thesis is a critical analysis of how a persuasion toke place during a preaching speech done by Edir Macedo, in June 28th, 2012. There are always many possible ways of representing the same event or situation, but one specific representation gives a specific meaning to things, situations and events. Linguistic analysis of a preaching is an emerging field both in analysis of the speech and qualitative sociolinguistics, and it focus in linguistic codification into ritualistic practices, both in poorly controlled situations and Catholic genres, which are highly institutionalized, including homilies and other sermons given by legitimate religious (i.e. bishops and priests). Incidentally, the persuasive powers of religious speeches in general, and those given by evangelicals, particularly, are impressive and intriguing at the same time. However, how can they, through analogies and Bible passages, convince people to take the step that erases the space between the mental behavior of praying and the physical act of tithing? There are contained, not only empathetic and charismatic powers of the speaker, but also a lack of self-defense of their followers of describing what is true about their doctrine. Here is the item that my concern resides, since, as a Portuguese teacher, I m aware about the importance of a critical positioning from my students, towards available advertisements, speeches and promises that are apparently consistent, but actually are plenty of fallacies and faulty reasoning. This research is supported by Systemic Functional Grammar, whose principles are found in Critical Linguistics and the implicit and explicit Appraisal System, that responds widely in the creation of textual worlds for the persuasive force in the speech. The analysis shows that the preaching, attempting to persuade the faithful of Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, was supported by the representation of the tithing meaning, attached by the need of building a Temple, whose idealization would had come from the Lord himself. This speaking was legitimized by Edir Macedo for using of all kinds of legitimization as possible: i.e. emotion, hypothetical future, rationalization, voicing, altruism. These aspects, on the other side, bolster the argumentation that comes along the text that is leaned on frame the audience the ideological thing that permeates the speech - with the obvious purpose of manipulation. The analysis shows that resources, such as 'smuggling' information, implicit Appraisal, fallacy, and particularly, charisma and the ability of the speaker contribute decisively to the creation of a textual world that support the persuasion of his speech