A teoria linguística de Eugenio Coseriu e a noção de universo de discurso

The language study approach developed by Eugenio Coseriu marked a significant milestone for 20th-century Linguistics. The foundation of his theory rests on the premise that language is a multifaceted knowledge, divided into three levels: universal, historical, and individual (Coseriu, 1955). Coseriu (2003) theorizes that the linguistic practices carried out by the speaking individual are determined, among other surrounding fields, by universes of discourse—categorized into common experience, science, fantasy, and faith—which function as sets of signification systems that attest to the truth value of statements. This paper discusses the notion of the universe of discourse, situated at the individual level of language. For this purpose, a reflection marked by two phases was developed: i) an exploration of the author's texts was conducted to comprehend and systematize his conception of the universe of discourse; ii) a review of the research conducted by theorists who had defined this notion prior to Coseriu, in order to explore the epistemological foundations of his ideas. Coserian Linguistics has received insufficient attention in the academic sphere. Kabatek (2018) explains that the reasons for this ostracism range from the predominant use of Spanish in writing his texts to the inherent complexity of Coseriu’s thought. From this perspective, this article aims to recover the linguistic principles postulated by Coseriu, with particular emphasis on the universes of discourse. Through a theoretical discussion, it is hoped that this work will stimulate methodological-analytical debates that will enable the application of this notion in future research.