A Textbook of Textbooks: Elements of Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze, from a semiotic perspective, José Luiz Fiorin’s book Elementos de Análise do Discurso [Elements of Discourse Analysis] as a “textbook of textbooks,” i.e., a textbook that gathers prototypical characteristics of teaching activities in undergraduate textbooks.  Besides, it establishes a way to think and to teach the semiotics of discourse in Brazil. Starting from the analysis of the texts pertaining to the publishing activity, such as the book title, its cover, and the author’s presentation, I came to an inventory and an analysis of the textual segments related to teaching that were conceived by the textbook enunciator, such as theoretical exemplification and explanation. The reading suggested here seeks to put in evidence and to understand the originality and the contemporaneity of the book, which turned 26 years old in 2015 and has played a strategic education role for many generations of semioticians and discourse analysts.