From aphorism to aphoristic statement in some early 20th-century Mexican writers in light of authorial ethos and discourse analysis

Abstract

This article develops a conceptual proposal for studying contemporary aphorisms, divided into three sections: 1) Aphoristic system, which establishes the relationship between aphorisms and discursive genres; 2) Aphoristic statement, a proposal for nomenclature and unit of analysis, given that contemporary aphorisms parody and ironize their tradition while simultaneously updating their discursive function; 3) Aphoristic intelligence, understood as the interpretive behavior that the aphoristic statement demands of the reader. These concepts allow us to understand that the changes in the communicative intention of the aphorism are due to the incorporation of elements from the literary system.