FORMS OF ADDRESS AMONG LAW STUDENTS IN 19TH CENTURY SÃO PAULO: SYMMETRICAL RELATIONSHIPS

Abstract

This paper, which traces the forms of address within the point of view of the socio-historical analysis of language, is based on the theory of language socialization (OCHS, 1996) and the theory of the interpretation of cultures (GEERTZ, 2011), and is inspired by the approach of communities of practice (ECKERT, 2000). The theories defend that the apprehension of any meaning assigned by a particular group depends on a dense description that provides an understanding of the web of meanings in which the subjects are immersed. Methodologically, it is based on the framework of the dimensions of power (BROWN; GILMAN, 1960), on the evidential paradigm (GINZBURG, 1989), and the proposal for the comparison on the grand scale developed by Elias (2001). The interpretative analysis of the forms of address allowed the separation of linguistic indicators from the uses that expressed sensitivities, correlating language and socio-cultural structure. The analysis shows that você is used to express aggressive behavior and fit of rage; você, in Bakhtinian view of carnival (BAKHTIN, 1987), sets the low in the place of the high in the address scale.