A STUDY OF THE WORD “CAN” SET MODALIZATION IN SCHOOLBOOK

Abstract

This research concerning the need to study the modalization while discursive

strategy on didactic books. Once Neves (2006, p. 152) claim that non-modalized statements

do not exist, because the speaker marks his statement in some way, in terms of the truth of the

expressed fact and impress on it certain pitch of sureness, this work began with the principle

that is possible, through the analysis of the statements marked by phenomenon of

modalization, to perceive the author’s position, even his objectives and intends, and therefore

the text direction. After all, according to Koch (2004), the phenomenon of modalization has

the function to determine “how what is said is said”. At this, in as much as the didactic book

is capable to accommodate specific features of modalization, towards the content and the

interlocutor, it plotted the objective of checking out some fragments, published in the Mario

Schimit´s didactic book Nova História Crítica 6ª série which is marked by modalization madethrough auxiliary modal ”poder”. We followed the hypothesis that the verb “poder” varies

between the epistemic and the deontic, in the routing from the care with propositional content

until the dialog process with the student cf. Sella, 2008). The teoric grounding was supported,

mostly, by studies of Koch (1981, 2004), Neves (2002) and Castilho e Castilho (1992).