Publications

Publication details [#11126]

Vilela, Mario. 2003. Portugues de mocambique ou as metaforas "a solta" (Mozambique Portuguese or 'break' metaphors). Critical Criminology 44 (Jan-June) : 145–158. 14 pp.

Abstract

In Mozambique, the Portuguese language, associated with the promotion of national unity and consciousness, has become not only a political-administrative vehicle but also a formative element in communicative models and a bolstering device for socio-economic values. By force of the internal structure of the Bantu languages and the African imagination, the Portuguese language is dragged toward new, innovative creations, where two aspects can be highlighted: the decomposition of segments of the Portuguese language imitating the Bantu phonetic-discursive sequentialization and metaphoric creation. It is this latter aspect we will be focusing on. The metaphor, provoking breaks in discursive sequences, brings cognitive contributions that are disturbing to our encyclopedic knowledge. The metaphor, contrary to antonymy and synecdoche, creates categorical conflicts from which new perspectives result. The metaphor's neuralgic crux is to establish negotiations between encyclopedias. And, the "encyclopedias" focused on ("starting point" or "frame" [Pt. "quadro"] encyclopedias) are those which result from daily life, from daily concerns, as are "corruption," the "police," and the "politicians," economic difficulties, the pleasures of life, and the great moral principles of social life. The metaphor found in Mozambican Portuguese generally obeys the parameters of metaphor - the concrete serves as a basis for abstract things, the physically perceptible is transferred mentally and contemplates all verbal categories: names and verbs, adjectives and phraseologisms, idiomatic expressions and proverbs. The semic and classematic aspects are objects of unexpected transferences. It is a new ontology in constant gestation. (LLBA, Adapted from the source document, Accession Number 200410290)