Dr. Hildo Honorio do Couto

University of Brasilia, Brazil

Ecology of Language

Ecosystemic Discourse Analysis (EDA) is a subtheory of Ecosystemic Linguistics (EL), a Brazilian version of Ecolinguistics, dedicated to the study of text-discourses. EDA’s practionner may avail himself of any of EL’s categories. However, EDA has its specific categories, which remain invisible from the macro-perspective of EL. They can become accessible through the focussing method, through which the investigator makes them visivle by zooming in on them. The most important ones are (1) unconditional defence of life, and (2) a fight against avoidable suffering, not political ideologies and power relations as in most traditional Discourse Analysis models. There is unavoidable suffering/pain which makes living beings avoid mutilation of their bodies. EDA’s main source of inspiration is Deep Ecology as well as the ecological view of the world. After having a microscopic view of its object, EDA approaches it holistically, taking all sides into consideration as far as possible. It does not restrict itself to texts-discourses smacking of political ideologies. However, EDA has ist preferred texts-discourses, i.e., those implying life on earth, formulated in dialogical format because in the linguistic ecosystem language is (communicative) interaction, not simply an instrument of communication, exactly as in biological ecosystem, where what matters is not the organisms nor their habitat, but the interacions between/among them.