A conversação de pessoas com transtornos mentais: um estudo dos turnos conversacionais, dos marcadores e do fenômeno da relevância

Abstract

This research presents an analysis of the conversation of mentally disturbed people focusing on three main aspects: it investigates the conversational markers used in their interactions, it verifies how conversation participants interact with one another and, finally, it analyses the relevance phenomenon. In order to reach our aim, we have analysed the conversation of thirty-five patients of the Centro de Atenção (CAPS) of Quixadá, in Brazil’s northeastern state of Ceará who had their conversations recorded during 1988, 1999 and 2000. The results of the analysis have indicated that both in periods of onset or not, mentally disturbed people give continuation to conversational turns that require the mandatory formation of na adjacency pair, use more post-positioned conversational signals than pre-positioned ones, and utilize more converging and enquiring conversational markers than diverging ones. The hypothesis that, when in crises, the conversation of mentally disturbed people present a greater weakening of the relevance phenomenon has also been confirmed. The study highlights that the conversation of such people is, to some extent, coherent and relevant. This fact calls for a revision as regards the conceptions that defend the isolation of these people by preconceiving them unable of social interaction