Hacia una caracterización del género discursivo de la sentencia constitucional venezolana

Abstract

In this article, I propose to approach the characterization of the discursive genre of the Venezuelan constitutional judicial sentence. This work is part of a line of research that I promote in the Venezuelan Judicial Power together with the Central University of Venezuela. I assume that gender (discursive) is made up of a series of common features, for example, frequent formulas and stereotyped structure (Montolío, 2000). In the first place, this leads me to consider categories such as the communicative function, the (argumentative) intentionality and the superstructure of the judicial sentence; and, secondly, to observe some aspects present in these texts / discourses such as opacity, the use of connectors and cognitive metaphors. For the analysis, I consider a corpus of constitutional judgments issued in the period 2016-2017, which are framed in a political context of confrontation between the judicial and legislative powers in Venezuela. The methodology is that of a scientific article of an interpretive monographic nature. The results suggest that Venezuelan constitutional rulings are complex, heterogeneous texts / discourses (due to their variable superstructure), with a high degree of persuasion, in which decisions that are justified within the legal framework of the Venezuelan Constitution; that present some linguistic-discursive uses that obey the communicative function, intentionality and superstructure of these texts / discourses and that respond to the context (political and legal) in which they are produced.