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Abstract(s)
Na presença de um cenário aparentemente antagónico entre o domínio arrebatador do inglês lingua franca e o incentivo ao multilinguismo e ao plurilinguismo por parte das duas principais instituições europeias – a União Europeia e o Conselho da Europa – emerge a intercompreensão como uma solução de compromisso.
O presente trabalho expõe uma actividade de intercompreensão de uma língua românica (francês), eslava (búlgaro) e germânica (sueco), utilizando cartoons da banda desenhada “Astérix”, executada por 25 falantes plurilingues completos (língua materna e três ou mais línguas estrangeiras), 25 plurilingues (língua materna e duas línguas estrangeiras), 25 bilingues (língua materna e uma língua estrangeira) e 25 monolingues (língua materna).
Os objectivos que estabelecemos para o nosso estudo visaram: avaliar a influência do número de línguas estrangeiras que os sujeitos dominavam na activação e no desenvolvimento de estratégias de intercompreensão; verificar se a intercompreensão estava relacionada com variáveis pessoais (sexo, idade, habilitações académicas); saber se a familiaridade com o género e o tipo de texto (banda desenhada) facilitava a intercompreensão; observar se no confronto com uma língua estrangeira aparentemente desconhecida, os elementos linguísticos e extralinguísticos foram inibidores e/ou promotores da intercompreensão; conhecer a abertura dos indivíduos para a aprendizagem de novas línguas, tendo em conta o número de línguas estrangeiras que conheciam; averiguar se as representações/ imagens que os sujeitos possuíam das línguas podiam ser explicadas pela aproximação ou afastamento tipológico face à sua língua materna; e, por fim, perceber se um indivíduo que conhecia duas ou mais línguas estrangeiras seria, pelo menos, um utilizador A1 (compreensão escrita) numa língua com a qual nunca contactou.
Os resultados mostram que a intercompreensão é independente do número de línguas estrangeiras que os indivíduos conhecem, das variáveis pessoais (sexo, idade e habilitações académicas), da leitura regular de banda desenhada e do conhecimento da personagem Astérix. Os elementos extralinguísticos são promotores e os elementos linguísticos são inibidores da intercompreensão. O número de línguas estrangeiras que o sujeito conhece influencia o seu desejo de aprender outras línguas, predisposição mais acentuada entre os que sabem menos línguas. A imagem que os indivíduos possuem da língua inglesa é bastante positiva e, efectivamente, os indivíduos preferem as línguas românicas, línguas tipologicamente mais próximas da sua língua materna. A compreensão escrita, que passou pela identificação do acto ilocutório subjacente à situação de comunicação exposta pelos cartoons em búlgaro e em sueco (línguas desconhecidas pela amostra), foi mais bem-sucedida entre os não plurilingues do que entre os plurilingues.
In the presence of an apparently antagonistic scenario, between the overwhelming dominance of English as a lingua franca and the encouragement to multilingualism and plurilingualism from the two main European institutions (the European Union and the Council of Europe), emerges intercomprehension as a compromise solution. This study presents an intercomprehension activity of a Romance language (French), a Slavic language (Bulgarian) and a Germanic language (Swedish), using “Asterix” cartoons, performed by 25 full plurilingual speakers (mother tongue and three or more foreign languages), 25 plurilingual speakers (mother tongue and two foreign languages), 25 bilingual speakers (mother tongue and a foreign language) and 25 monolingual speakers (mother tongue). The objectives we set for our study aimed: to evaluate the influence of the number of foreign languages that individuals dominated on the activation and development of intercomprehension strategies; to check if intercomprehension was related to personal variables (gender, age, academic qualifications); to know whether the familiarity with the genre and type of text (comics) facilitated intercomprehension; to see if in the confrontation with a seemingly unknown foreign language, the linguistic and extra-linguistic elements were inhibitors and/ or initiators of intercomprehension; to discern the individuals’ openness to learn new languages, taking into account the number of languages they knew; to investigate whether the language representations/ images that the individuals had, could be explained by typological approximation or separation in the face of their mother tongue; and, finally, to tell if an individual who knew two or more foreign languages would be at least an A1 user (reading comprehension) in a language she/ he had never contacted before. The results show that intercomprehension is independent of the number of foreign languages individuals know, of the personal variables (gender, age and academic qualifications), of the regular reading of comics and of the knowledge of the character Asterix. The extra-linguistic elements are promoters and the linguistic elements are inhibitors of intercomprehension. The number of foreign languages the individual knows influences her/ his desire to learn other languages and the predisposition is stronger among those who know less languages. The image individuals have concerning the English language is a very positive one and indeed, they prefer the Romance languages, which are typologically closer to their mother tongue. The reading comprehension, which involved the identification of the illocutionary act underlying the situation of communication exposed by the cartoons in Bulgarian and Swedish (languages unknown to the sample), was more successful among non plurilingual than among plurilingual speakers.
In the presence of an apparently antagonistic scenario, between the overwhelming dominance of English as a lingua franca and the encouragement to multilingualism and plurilingualism from the two main European institutions (the European Union and the Council of Europe), emerges intercomprehension as a compromise solution. This study presents an intercomprehension activity of a Romance language (French), a Slavic language (Bulgarian) and a Germanic language (Swedish), using “Asterix” cartoons, performed by 25 full plurilingual speakers (mother tongue and three or more foreign languages), 25 plurilingual speakers (mother tongue and two foreign languages), 25 bilingual speakers (mother tongue and a foreign language) and 25 monolingual speakers (mother tongue). The objectives we set for our study aimed: to evaluate the influence of the number of foreign languages that individuals dominated on the activation and development of intercomprehension strategies; to check if intercomprehension was related to personal variables (gender, age, academic qualifications); to know whether the familiarity with the genre and type of text (comics) facilitated intercomprehension; to see if in the confrontation with a seemingly unknown foreign language, the linguistic and extra-linguistic elements were inhibitors and/ or initiators of intercomprehension; to discern the individuals’ openness to learn new languages, taking into account the number of languages they knew; to investigate whether the language representations/ images that the individuals had, could be explained by typological approximation or separation in the face of their mother tongue; and, finally, to tell if an individual who knew two or more foreign languages would be at least an A1 user (reading comprehension) in a language she/ he had never contacted before. The results show that intercomprehension is independent of the number of foreign languages individuals know, of the personal variables (gender, age and academic qualifications), of the regular reading of comics and of the knowledge of the character Asterix. The extra-linguistic elements are promoters and the linguistic elements are inhibitors of intercomprehension. The number of foreign languages the individual knows influences her/ his desire to learn other languages and the predisposition is stronger among those who know less languages. The image individuals have concerning the English language is a very positive one and indeed, they prefer the Romance languages, which are typologically closer to their mother tongue. The reading comprehension, which involved the identification of the illocutionary act underlying the situation of communication exposed by the cartoons in Bulgarian and Swedish (languages unknown to the sample), was more successful among non plurilingual than among plurilingual speakers.