READING: historical and social parallels defining its place within language

RODRIGO AVELAR[1]

ABSTRACT

 The study aims to elucidate through social events, elements that make it possible to relate the reading, language, individual and society. For the construction of these ideas, several authors were important, some of which Martin Heidegger, Vygotsky, Mikhail Bakhtin, Roger Chartier and others. It aims to analyze first, the reading in its development in human history, analyzing relationships between an individual, language, the act of reading and society. This creates a parallel between these elements, making possible its analysis with the phenomenological, where each element influences the other in advance, which makes reading and language inseparable. We can see that what makes these elements of communication so intimate is the socialization function of reading, where human beings make it possible through the exchange of knowledge and individual and social growth through language.

1 INTRODUCTION

Today's world brings a wide range of information, all thanks to the global society, which reduces the distances, breaking down borders and brings people culture "of the world." Increasingly we are faced with the need to understand these events, or learn to live with them in an absurd speed.

One of the greatest exponents of globalization is English. Within this picture the social domain of language is surfaced more and more important, reaching certain points to be indispensable to the daily contact with individuals and with the events. The English language gets a status almost comparable to what happens to a person who is always traveling, having no place to be, a citizen of the world, or rather a world language.

It may be noted that with the increased presence English in day to day, many cultural concepts were transported to various corners of the globe. The words of the language are incorporated into the vocabularies of other languages with ease, even if there is already a specific word to express the meaning that the individual wants to pass. Surely this is the smaller part of the cake, because the culture inculcated in the language is shared with other people, changing traditions, incorporating new trends, increasingly unifying the world under the banner of globalization.

Because of this little reflection, taking view everything in that language to man, arises the desire to seek explanations for what is happening in the world: an invasion of unconsciousness in the name of globalization. Being an English language course taught in Brazil on a mandatory basis, the need arises to define as it is and what is causing the individual with the same education in Brazilian schools.

For this work to be developed, primarily seek to find connections between the individual , the language, the act of reading and society. To this end, it begins a historical analysis focusing on the development of reading in the history of humanity, aiming to clarify relationships leading to marriage between these elements.

2 READING: HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL PARALLELS DEFINING ITS PLACE WITHIN LANGUAGE

Considering the world as it is today, you can see that there is an increasingly larger collection of individuals who are part of it. Every profession, ancient or created recently increased its level of demand, due to the level of development of society.

When it puts the reading in the center of this issue, experiencing social pressures, it appears that this ability was not worked effectively, very significant fact here in Brazil, where getting the job market, there are few professionals who has that ability, that the day-to-day is quite necessary for the resolution of problems and choices of paths in their respective areas.

From here one can draw a parallel about the importance of reading into the language, not only as a business professional, but also focused on the individual in his life.

The motivation for seeking clarification of this view comes from the idea construction personnel. The ability to read is born with the human being, but through the years and especially in school, is crafted in communion with the linguistic development. The thing which is worth mentioning here is the order, often inverted, emergence of reading and language. Even with the need for integration between the two, the reading appears first in the history of an individual, because this one is born with this ability, being a factor in language acquisition.

Therefore, it is important to develop the parallels between historical facts and social ideology of which were related during the centuries of human history that could define the role of reading in the language.

To start this line of thinking, we seek to what comes to be read in its significance. Ferreira (1975) and Houaiss (2001) enjoy the same definition for the act of reading. First is defined as an act of deciphering graphic signs that translate the oral language, which shows the intimate relationship with language.

Even with the strong connection elucidated, what really draws attention are the subsequent definitions, which somehow illustrate views of reading that society has shaped over the years, or centuries, a fact that makes this action in a starting point to develop thinking about the act of reading, the individual and language in general.

The definition "art of reading" (HOUAISS, 2001, p. 1739) takes us back to antiquity, specifically in Greece, where the history between reading and writing begins to be drawn. According to Cavallo and Chartier (1998), these communications vehicles were present in the functional structure of Athenian democracy, and produced texts aimed at the public reading, or the oratory.

The word gives the meaning of the art oral reading at the time, it was treated as such. It happens because through this act that became a reality the main function of the book and read the act at the time which was the preservation of the text, and can fix it and bring them back to the memory of his readers.

[...] The illustrations on Attic vases of this time documenting the transition of scenes showing books being used as textbooks, therefore, with educational texts to a degree, or scenes of reading itself, in which readers are initially male figures, but also soon followed by pictures of female readers. These readers are not lonely, in general, appear in contexts representative of entertainment and conversation, a sign that the reading was seen mainly as a practice of life in society (or within an association). Although known, the solitary reading was rare, at least judging by the few - in fact, very few - testimonies iconographic or literary survived (CAVALLO; CHARTIER, 1998, p. 11).

It is known that several authors develop a vision of building the language within the relationships between individuals, or in society (BAKHTIN, 1998; GADAMER, 2007; AVELAR, 2008, VYGOTSKY, 2001), which leads to the thought the Greek social formation and its look at the reading provided a great development language, since many people were able to seize it, or better, to master it.

Even with the field of oral reading records exist that Greece has experienced several types Reading, who were distinguished as the function that was attributed to the texts. The best that elucidates this are the words of Cavallo and Chartier (1998) that describe the appearance of new types of texts such as the manual of technical texts of critical philological and literary texts laminated facing professionals in certain areas.

Begin to appear the first traces of the reading as we know it today, an intimate act and silent, showing the shift in thinking of society at that time was in the Hellenistic period, representing the transformation of the look on the act of reading to a "double- on itself "(Cavallo, CHARTIER, 1999, p. 15).

At that time, the society undergoes profound changes in its structure, because the point of power shifts to Rome, where the patricians dominated the sources of knowledge so they could hold at the top of the social pyramid (BRAICK MOTA, 2002). Are noted greater difficulties for the access to knowledge, and such information is circulated among the nobility.

The social changes during this period also affected the reading and how it was understood. The Roman Empire inherited not only the physical structure of the Greek books, which arrived as the spoils of war but also the reading practices of Greek society.

In such a scenario in which many people read and in which products circulate numerous writings, manifests an increasing demand for books that finds a response in three levels: on the creation of public libraries and increase in individuals supplemented with the flowering of treaties aimed at guiding the reader in the selection and purchase of books, the provision of new texts (or rewritten) to new tracks from readers; in the production and distribution of a different kind of book, the "codex", more suited to the needs of these new readers and of different practices of reading (CAVALLO; CHARTIER, 1998, p. 17, author’s emphasis added).

The first noticeable differences are in the books, because they have changed their structure. The codex comes up, which is closer to the book format that we have today. It is important to remember that the type originated in Greece was volumen, traditional papyrus, which, as stated previously served as the model of oral reading public, typical of Greek society.

The growing need to provide reading is partly because of progress in literacy, which affects a greater number of people with access to written language. Cavallo and Chartier (1998) place this event as the main factor for the transformation of Greco-Roman world in an environment with wide circulation of written culture.

However, please note that the texts were targeted, namely the free movement gets along with texts aimed at specific types of readers who were dominated in the plot. The writings considered wealthy do not get out of the reach of the nobles.

The point here is that in this period, through the social contact of individuals, and this is inside reading, language was turning and shaping up, showing great participation of the act of reading, for it is through him that the individuals retain information and can pass them to others imbued with the idea of issuing on the subject. This process is repeated within the tongue, where the nuances and characteristics will be patterned after the community's identity.

This idea is elucidated in the words of Ribeiro (2003):

Cultural context is a basic foundation for understanding text. Each individual belongs to a social group and social and cultural contexts are closely correlated. Inferences generated therefore depends on knowledge of previous world of the reader. Thus, when reading implicit in the text, they integrate the data to the actual experience of the world according to the culture that is rooted [...] (p. 114).

The term "cultural context" influencing the way of reading gains more strength at the entrance of the Middle Ages, where the development of reading habits continued. According to Cavallo and Chartier (1998), the mediator between the model of antiquity and the Middle Ages was the codex, but even with this similarity, there was a rupture between the "old" and "new" ways of reading.

However, there are differences that distinction. In the Byzantine world, known as East Greek, remained teaching the public and private elementary and higher education. Literacy continued to develop and practices such as reading circles and private libraries continued. The volumen were used for liturgical purposes, and practiced reading aloud.

Already in the Latin East were detected several changes in reading practices.

The end of the eleventh century until the fourteenth century has become a new era in the history of reading. Reborn cities and with it schools, where are the place of the book. Literacy is developed, the writing progresses at all levels, uses the book diversify. Practices of writing and reading practices, somehow separated in the High Middle Ages, come on, becoming a function of the other, forming an organic and inseparable connection. Reads to write for the "Compilatio" which is the peculiar method of composition of the works of scholasticism. And it is written for readers (CAVALLO; CHARTIER, 1998, p. 22, author’s emphasis added).

As is mentioned above, the High Middle Ages East Latin adopted several changes that represented a break stronger with age. The habit of silent reading was intensified and was confined to the Holy Scriptures and the writings of spiritual edification. Reading aloud did exist. However this only happened in the Church with liturgical texts and edification.

In the Middle Ages is explicit that the ideas of the Byzantine World and the Latin Orient approached, may somehow serve support or complement each other. A new concept about writing, which somehow the idea goes back to reading preceding writing: the texts are written in readers thinking.

The society has influenced the reading and language strongly this time, because with the implements of various models of reading texts and ways to organize them, the language is to develop faster.

Cavallo and Chartier (1998) pose as major aspects of the new model of reading the presence of greater objectivity to explore texts and books, seeking more understanding, explaining the better the meaning and the sentence. Facilitating the location of the texts through their presentation and writing in the vulgar tongue.

It is experiencing a great development of language through social exchange of reading because the writing has evolved with the emergence of scores, a fact that further approaching the texts written and the orality. Increasingly, writing, and therefore, the books come to an aspect of dialogue, conversation between writer and reader.

Perhaps the main contribution of technology to the demarcation and distribution of reading has been the invention of print in the fifteenth century. This book has given the other configuration stuff, which came their greater flexibility and accessibility. He no longer an object rare and difficult to use, to slowly put itself within reach of a greater number of people, at least those that could read and were devoted to the studies. Also determined a fundamental change in the use of literary language, as encouraged the expansion of the vernacular literature. It sparked new forms of perception, because the movement of language has become increasingly mediated by the act of writing (ZILBERMAN, 2008, p. 14).

The Modern Age, which covers the period from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, was the historical moment responsible for major changes in social structure. It is noteworthy that these changes are mostly responsible for the contemporary social formation.

In this historical period are located two major developments: the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the Bourgeoisie and Capitalism. It is clear here that the change of thought brings advances in several aspects and among them the reading. According to Cavallo and Chartier (1998), the main technological invention was the invention of print, which allowed the first large-scale production of books, reaching at the same time a wider audience.

With this, there is the "rise" of silent reading because a greater number of books take the need for public readings, and internalization of the act of reading, making the individual naturally takes its place in the processes of reading.

Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, the geography of reading practices in the Western world is linked, first, the historical developments that inscribe relations with the written culture in conjunctures of literacy, religious choices, in very different patterns of industrialization. These differences draw borders strong and durable: between an early literate Europe and a Europe which is much later, among the countries that remained Catholic and those that were achieved by the Reformation, among the areas marked by an early development and those that remained by far time dominated by a traditional economy [...] (CAVALLO, CHARTIER, 1998, p. 24).

Because of these historical nuances exposed above the revolution happens in reading, which is part of the rise of silent reading. But this way of reading brings a major ideology in its meaning, which is changing the design of the act of reading, which is a look at conservation and saving for a vision of the book as a tool of intellectual work.

Of course there were restrictions by the social system. Remember that bourgeois capitalism is based on capital, that is, money, and that controlled access to books. The most valuable texts didn’t reach everyone, only the dominant minority, serving as a means of maintaining power.

The reading continues to develop its role in influencing the language, and vice versa. Through the act of reading is established a new division between the rulers and the ruled. While individuals with higher income enjoy rich texts, taken from cultured language, the productions aimed at the disadvantaged "facilitated" access to knowledge by the vulgar tongue, which also allows for maintenance of intellectual power, for which the minority dominant producing a work was considered superior.

According to Cavallo Chartier and (1998), in the nineteenth century comes a new group of readers, which includes women, children and workers, thus completing the expansion of written production. At this time, all individuals of society had the opportunity to access to books designed for every type of reader, and also disseminate a language charged with a thought of the role of each in society.

Hereafter comes the Contemporary Age, where he was continuity given the changes initiated earlier. It is clear the influence that reading, language and society generate one over the other, and also the close link between the act of reading and language, which developed together to reach the level where they are today.

The speech is the combinations of linguistic elements (phrases or assemblies built of many sentences), used by speakers in order to express their thoughts, speaking from the outside world or your inner world, to act upon the world. The speech is the outward manifestation of psycho-physiological discourse. It is strictly individual, as is always me who speaks and performs the act of externalizing discourse (FIORIN, 2006, p. 11).

In examining this thought can have a sense of what language is and what is the place of reading within its structure. Through its development in history, the act of reading was responsible for spreading the language for all individuals in society. Of course here the major reference is made in the book, but thinking in the speech, you can see that the texts are speeches, or statements of an individual coming to several people, who become objects of interpreting each player achieved not only the ideas contained therein, but also the language used, being transferred and transformed.

As reading is a socializing skill, which is effected not only through written texts, but also through speaking, the contact of self with the other I, it is clear that it would be impossible the development of language and even their learning outside the act of reading. It's through this action that occurs in language learning and the advancement of the same structure, causing it to become the brand the company owns, showing the reality of that community.

3 FINAL THOUGHTS

 After the development of this small study it is clear what has already been explained sometimes in other research on reading and society. First here is the idea of unity, but not as we know, that is, the two one. In reality are two different elements that work within the structure in favor of the same thing, which is language.

For this reason, reading, language and society here has proven its connections within the development of human history. Perhaps the eyes of others is a simple training, or rather obvious, but to unveil her she becomes complex, especially for an element that permeates the construction of all other elements that constitute the social structure of language: man.

Everything is involved with the individual, is the social formation, which are more human beings, be they language, which is the way they use to communicate with others and express your ideas, experiences and conceptions of life, or by reading channel by which I take to themselves the intellectual constructs of other self through reflection and thereby expand their knowledge about life, about society itself and about himself, that is, man.

Having this information in hand, you can fill the main objective of this work, which is to discover relationships that exist between the individual, the act of reading, language and society. Outside explained above that the structure of language revolves around the man and that it permeates all elementary formations of the structure, ie without human beings, or rather, not the self that expresses action there is no language, and, Therefore, there is no communication.

Here is the explicit relationship that places greater reading as fuel in this gear, which is the socialization function of the same, enabling the communication. The act of communicating there exists the possibility of learning the language, since this is part of the communication structure, which comprises projecting the self into another self, putting his thoughts to another to think of them and take possession of them.

In complying with this goal paper notes that can not happen outside of language learning in reading, as this act allows communication of language and its structural transformation, which occurs for the better to put in the time that is being used in society to which it belongs.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

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CAVALLO, G.; CHARTIER, R. Introdução. In: CAVALLO, G.; CHARTIER, R. (orgs.) História da leitura no mundo ocidental. São Paulo: Ática, 1998, v.1, p. 5-40.

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HOUAISS, A. Grande Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2001.

RIBEIRO, O. M. Por uma engenharia da leitura: construindo trajetórias para a leiturização. Linguagem e Ensino, V. 6, n. 2, Pelotas, p. 107-148, jul./dez. 2003.

VYGOTSKY, L. S. Psicologia Pedagógica. Tradução Paulo Bezerra. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2001.

ZILBERMAN, R. Leitura: História e Sociedade. Série Idéias  n. 5. São Paulo: FDE, 1988, p. 13-17.

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[1] Educator in the form of early childhood education, specializing in English by the Integrated Faculties of Jacarepaguá and graduated in pedagogy at Cândido Mendes University.

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