Cartas oficiais norte-riograndenses dos séculos XVIII, XIX e XX : constituição e caracterização de um corpus diacrônico

The diachronic studies marked the first decades of the 20th century in Brazilian linguistics, passing by an ostracism period after the 50s. Mainly from the 90s especially with the project, created in 1997, Para a história do português brasileiro (PHPB), which has systemized, in national ambit, the programme related to the area of diachrony the historical studies retake forces and have gradually increased since then. Our work is set in the new scene of Brazilian historical linguistics and it is associated to two research programmes: i) the constitution of a diachronic corpus; ii) the diachrony of text and discourse. As regards the first programme, we made effort to constitute a diachronic corpus of official letters about Rio Grande do Norte, we called cartas oficiais norte-rio-grandenses, written in 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The chosen for bureaucrat letters occurred for they represent a textual category very productive in historical contexts, mostly 18th and 19th centuries, in which the command of writing was the least and also because they bring, almost always explicitly, the information of where, when, for whom and from whom, as remembers Fonseca (2003). The rules for constituting the corpus were based, although not strictly, on the orientation from PHPB. In respect to the second programme, we set up on the ideas of coserian base came from the studies on discourse traditions (TD) (Koch, 1997; Kabatek, 2006) amongst which that the texts are shaped so as to follow their own tradition (Coseriu, 2007), and we turned to Diplomatics (Belloto, 2002) in order to do the characterization of this corpus by the application of concepts from Diplomatics and TD as well as by the presentation of the structures that form those official letters: their textual genres, a kind of TD, with their macrostructures; and some of their formulaic expressions (microstructures), another sort of TD. This stage of characterizing will pay attention, as far as possible, to the dynamic between tradition and innovation that happen in the actualization of those textual structures along the centuries. This work intends to contribute with the researches connected to Historical Linguistics in Rio Grande do Norte, more specifically the ones related to the constitution of diachronic corpora and to TD; and with the study of official documents, textual category about which there are almost no studies (cf. Silveira, 2007)

Slogans políticos em campanhas eleitorais no Rio Grande do Norte: a mídia na disputa ideológica.

To the observe the periods of electoral campaigns, we can realize sharply the abundance of political propaganda that announces the candidates, their campaign record, their proposed and everything that can carry them to the victory in the urns. The propaganda is today an essential tool in the votes dispute, in consequence of this, there is, in Brazil, the increasing participation of the Politics Parties in seminars of electoral marketing. They are varied strategies of the media used in the divulging of the candidacies, among them the slogan. Instigated by the explicit relation media/political, this work intends to investigate the ideologies (values) announced by the slogans of political propaganda that circulated in electoral periods. Thus, we base on the theory of the Circle of Bakhtin, who considers the statement as unit of the verbal communication, and that conceives the language as phenomenon dialogical, and, too, in the conceptions of alien words, social voices and dialogical relations formulated by the referred theory. We use, for better to comprehend, the slogan as strategy mediatic, of the classical study done by Olivier Reboul concerning the slogan; and, like starting point of a conception about ideology, studied John Thompson to comprehends the ideological phenomenon. Our corpus it constitutes of 14 political slogans announced in the campaigns for mayor of the cities in Natal and Mossoró, both located in Rio Grande do Norte s state, Brazil, in 1996, 2000 and 2004. For the analysis of these slogans, we consider the social-historical context in which were announced, being contemplated the linguistic and discursive aspect, according to the following methodological order: the identification of alien words (interdiscours); the social voices and the kinds dialogical relations established; and, finally, the ideology announced by the statement. This way, we can arrive to the conclusion that in the electoral context occurs a true ideologies war , in other words, in the political game of an electoral campaign, the slogans announces different values, which vary in several factors function, for example, the historicity, the subject that enunciates, the discursive positionings.

Inscrição discursiva da subjetividade homoafetiva na G Magazine

This thesis, which is entitled Registration discourse of subjectivity homo affective in G Magazine, is proposed to describe / interpret modes of subjectivity that is set in the discourse of homo affective confessions, recorded in letters addressed to G Magazine. The study is based on the theories of Discourse Analysis French, with a focus in the discussions Foucaultian remarkably discursive practices that produce meanings about the processes of subjectivity and sexuality. Methodologically, the research is of appreciative/qualitative character and falls in the field of Applied Linguistics (LA), at a press that the historical and cultural reality of the subject, establishing dialogues with many other fields of knowledge, which deal of the subject matter of speech and sexuality. Data analysis indicates that the magazine G Magazine works as a discursive space, where individuals on condition that homosexual, take it as the place that it gives security to talk to you, it's worrying, because the nature of the journal it suggests a belonging to the same discursive formation - that of homo affective . Thus, some of which are felt constructed for the investigation of the letters selected for this study showed that the forms of subjectivity of such homo affective are emerging in the game of the bans, the other is that as a subject of sexuality and to materialize in operation the confession. These homo affective, in a gesture of incessant registration of alternatives to be subject to its own truth of their sexuality, to seek his party in the case, the psychologist, a referral, a "light" that can guide them in an attempt to get rid of the forms of to subject. Installs itself in this way, as a point of resistance: the attempt to dissociate itself be of some states of submission, opening itself to other ways of being subject

Linguagem, cognição e mundo: o livro do desassossego e a construção discursiva da realidade

This study analyzes the processes of meaning construction in the Livro do Desassossego, by semi-heteronym Bernardo Soares - Fernando Pessoa. We use theoretical grounds from an interface between Cognitive Linguistics and Textual Linguistics to observe how certain linguistic mechanisms build a reality that tells us of a time, a being and his conceptions of language and writing. We focus on description and explanation of procedures of categorization and referentiation accomplished, for example, through metaphor and metonymy. For the construction of the intended theoretical interface, we use analytical categories proposed and developed by the Socio-cognitive Approach of Language, Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Mental Space Theory. Armed with this theoretical background, we observed the dynamics of language in relation to its social, cultural and historical features, as well as the cognitive aspects that underlie it. We seek, therefore, encourage discussions about the functioning of language considering primarily the creative processes that allow us to organize and shape our experiences. We also try to provide an approximation of Linguistics, Literature and Philosophy, with a view to relations between language structure, cognitive activity and socio-cultural organization. From the results obtained, we found that a literary text attests, with a particular property, the mutual relations between language, cognition and culture, as indicates cognitive approach to language studies

O leitor universitário e a construção das práticas de ler e escrever textos impressos e digitais

The construction of a mapping of the practices of reading and writing printed and digital texts, declared by graduating students from the Bachelor s degree in Science and Technology (BCT), has provided us the analysis of the course they are making in such a socio-historical moment characterized by the revolution of the post-paper. In this sense, the general objective of this research is to understand how that construction works under the point of view of those graduating students. For this, our reflection has been guided by the search of answers for some questions which have presented to us: what reading and writing conceptions BCT graduating students have; what reading and writing practices those collaborators develop; what collections they declare to have access to; what differences they declare to have between printed and digital reading and writing along the different social roles they develop; what the reader/writer identity relations of those collaborators are. To achieving the plausible answers, we have gathered a corpus composed by texts of three genres of the argument order: academic profiles (or self-portrait), opinion articles and argumentative letters. Besides, we have made semi-structured interviews and questionnaires in the online tool of the Google Docs. The methodology which supports this academic work is the qualitative research (SIGNORINI; CAVALCANTI, 1998)of ethnographic direction (THOMAS, 1993; ANDRÉ, 1995) in Applied Linguistics (CELANI, 2000; MOITA-LOPES, 2006) and the theoretical contribution comes from the bakhtinian perspective of language conception (BAKHTIN [1929] 1981); the socio-historical writing construction (LÉVY, 1996; CHARTIER, R., 1998, 2002, 2007; COSCARELLI, 2006; CHARTIER, A., 2007; ARAÚJO, 2007; COSCARELLI; RIBEIRO, 2007; XAVIER, 2009; MARCUSCHI; XAVIER, 2010); from the studies of the pedagogy of the writing (GIROUX, 1997); from the literacy studies understood as sociocultural practice, plural and situated (TFOUNI, 1988; KLEIMAN, 1995; TINOCO, 2003, 2008; OLIVEIRA; KLEIMAN, 2008), from the studies about identity in postmodernity (HALL, 2003; BAUMAN, 2005). The results of the analysis have pointed at a multiplicity of reading/writing practices of printed and digital texts developed by the BCT graduating students due to the coexistence of the modality printed and that one derived from the new mobile devices. In that multiplicity, the prevalent idea of the collaborators is that there is a continuum between printed texts and digital texts (not a dichotomy), since the option of reading/writing printed texts or digital ones is always linked to specific communication situations, which involve participants, objectives, strategies, values, (dis)advantages, besides (re)creation of discursive genres in function of the mobile devices to which those collaborators have access in the different spheres of activities that they participate. All of that has caused a deep intersection in the identity traces of college students readers/writers in the 21st century which cannot be ignored by academic formation

Um ser (tão) de vozes: o estilo e o acabamento estético na poesia de Patativa do Assaré

The present study aims at investigating the style of the Cearense 1poet Patativa do Assaré in his poetic discourse Cante lá que eu canto cá (2004). Such choice is due to the fact that Assaré‟s poetry is full of regional identities as well of different voices. In other words, our purpose is to analyze the way the author aesthetically expresses his own voice and the voice of others in his work. This study is based on a social and historical model of language, with language construed as a discourse practice with emphasis on the key concepts of style, voices, subject and dialogic relationships (BAKHTIN, 1992, 2003, 1995). Our documental research is situated within the area of Applied Linguistics and presents an interface with Literature. We start out with the premise that in this type of investigation knowledge is built from language. In this sense, we must consider the social relationships in which language is produced, as well as the world which (in) determines, interferes, represents, interpenetrates or else, reformulates language and the indisciplinary character of the research

O ensaio jornalístico na revista Veja: uma análise multidimensional

This work has as objective generality to make a multidimensional analysis in the genre journalistic assay, communicative genre that, beyond complex and multimodal, presents hybrid characteristics. Specifically, with the intention to propose defining criteria of the cited genre, this research looks for to establish differences and similarities between the assay and other genres of the same sphere, from the description and interpretation of used multimodal resources. The analysis of the formal, schematical and rhetorical resources identified in the formatting of the journalistic assay sample that the analyses are supported in the socio-semiotic and socio-rhetorical approaches. In the formal dimension, we contemplate elements that constitute design of the text, including the forms of representation from the typography, the colors, images, as well as the aspects communicative-linguistics: the modalization indices, the communicative operators and the category time; in the schematical dimension, we present the organizational structure, considering the rhetorical movements postulates for Swales (1990) and in the rhetorical dimension we observe the categories: who writes, for who it writes, on what it writes and where writes. The adopted methodologicals postulates are of qualitative nature and the procedure is documentary, data that in we are valid them written texts of this genre as analysis object. Corpus it is constituted by a composed sample for 14 extracted texts of a set of 173 propagated journalistic assays weekly for the magazine Veja, in the period between August of 2004 and January of 2008. The analysis of the data showed that the journalistic assay, object of this study, materializes through multiple symbolic representations and multiple subjects that turn since a small episode of the daily facts of great social relevance in the present time, of historical and cultural nature, nationwide or international. Used for the first time by Montaigne in 1580, to assign, in saying of the proper author, written fast on its life and historical events, which could nor be remembered later , the term `assay' was enriched with other specifications, of form to enclose the one that if they call scientific assay today, academic assay, journalistic assay and other types of specific assays. These denominations have to see with the enrollment of the members of diverse of practices communities, in virtue of the multiplicity of activities carried through in these spheres. The conclusions the one that we arrive had been the following ones: 1. the discursive genre is not a pure entity, in virtue of the multiplicity of situations where the sorts if insert in the social actions; 2. the institutions define the configuration of one definitive genre, also its proper assignment, since for backwards of all discursive genre a voice exists to discipline - institutional voice, and in the case of the assays for analyzed us, the institutional voice if it presents, really, as a defining trace; 3. the journalistic assay, for its multiple symbolic representations, multiple subjects and for passing explicit or implicit opinions of its author, resembles it other genres, being able, therefore, to be inserted in a colony of opinionatives genres

Vozes sociais e dimensão ética da lingüística aplicada: a construção discursiva da área nos CBLAs

This research deals with Applied Linguistics and its structure as a scientific field, in compliance with knowledge produced within the range of the Brazilian Congresses of Applied Linguistics (CBLA). The purpose of this research is to understand the meanings disclosed by the voices that make up the scientific discourse on this field, pointing toward its course of development, the ethical position that is peculiar to it and how this position is represented in its scientific practice. The scientific discourse typical of the production of knowledge of Applied Linguistics is now construed as leading to practices that define the production of this field of learning whose object is to study man and man s relationship to language. Theoretical groundwork is anchored on the work the Social Sciences have developed on the paradigmatic crises of science and the social changes resulting from modern and post-modern times, on Applied Linguistics researches on the identity of the field of study, its courses and ethics, and on the bakhtinian theory that supports a view of language as a social practice built under the aegis of the subject s ethics and responsibility. The corpus of this work comprises qualitative and quantitative data made into articles presented at the CBLA. The research methodology conforms to the interpretive paradigm and has the concept of social voices as its category of analysis. Results point towards the progress of Applied Linguistics that, from its role as a mediator discipline between linguistic theory and practical applications, is assuming a position in a field of study of its own, independent, with transdisciplinary characteristics, pursuing through its quests and redefinitions to get closer to the dimension of life and assuming the ethical position of taking on responsibility for its doings and sayings

O latim, uma língua morta?: uma metáfora em análise: o olhar da lingüística aplicada e suas implicações para o ensino

The focus of this research is the teaching of the Latin language. Due to the fact that its teaching has been facing a growing crisis in the last four decades, which currently persists, we ponder about external and internal causes of its decline, aiming at pointing out an alternative that enable us to find a way out of this situation. So, our research questions mainly concern how the teaching of Latin is viewed amongst the academic society, also investigating if it has kept up with the development of the scientific reflection about human language and the new approaches on language teaching. Furthermore, we analyse the contribution that the study of Latin can provide to the academic formation of language teachers and try to identify the areas of knowledge that can contribute to a reshaping of its teaching. Based on these guidelines, we have established as the goals of this research: 1) to reflect about the current situation of the teaching of Latin and the causes of its decline; 2) to determine its social representation among teachers and students of the Language Courses, as a way of defining the role it fulfills in the academic formation of teachers; 3) to accomplish an exploratory study of some handbooks that show alternative proposals on how to teach Latin, in order to detect their adequacy to current times and to the goals of the academic study of languages; 4) to offer an alternative proposal on how to teach Latin that takes into account the principles of Applied Linguistics, considering the socio-historical and cultural aspects of the language, enabling it to meet the requirements set by modern times. This research is divided into two parts. The first part presents the theoretical framework. We map the studies about Latin teaching inside and outside Brazil and argue against the concept of Latin being a dead language, presenting arguments set on changing this view. Then we describe and comment the notions of literacy, genre and culture, which helped us understand the reasons for the decline of the teaching of Latin and to point out suitable ways to overcome the crisis. The second part is dedicated to reflecting on the literacy practices in Latin teaching. We began by examining the answers to the questionnaires given to students and teachers about the view of Latin in the Language Courses; then we reflect on the teaching-learning of Latin as an academic literacy practice followed by an analysis of the didactic material used in teaching Latin. Finally, we suggest an approach of the familiar letter genre in ancient Rome as a means of teaching Latin in a contextualized way

A construção da imagem de leitor em memórias de leitura

In this work, we analyzed reading memories of mother language teachers in continuing education context. Our objective was to understand how each individual has built his/her reader image. Our theoretical approach to the construction of selfimage was based on the concept of discursive ethos, understanding it with Charaudeau (2006) as something constructed in the intersection of glances (of the self and the other). To understand how each teacher has built his/her reader image in that intertwining of glances (of the self and the other) we are on the contributions of Bakhtin (2003, 2010b) on exotopic glance or distant/external glance. Therefore, in the analysis, we tried to capture the exotopic glance of the teachers about themselves in the various stages of their reader formation and from our exotopic look of researcher; we gave provisional finish of the reader image that teachers built of themselves. For the analysis, we adopted other theoretical assumptions: about genres, theme, composition and style, statement and social voices we based on Bakhtin (1997, 2003, 2010a, 2010b); on the notion of the discursive ethos we anchored in studies conducted by Maingueneau (2008a, 2008b); about reading, we adopted the theoretical references of Rojo (2005, 2008, 2009a, 2009b, 2009c, 2009d), Garcez (2002), Freire (2008) and Silva Neto (2007). For the discursive genre reading memories makes reference to the theme memory as well as is related to the context of teacher training, the study was supported in Aragão (1992) and Nóvoa`s (2007) theory. Situated in the area of Applied Linguistics, the research aligns with qualitative-interpretative approach of socio-historical basis. Finally, from the analysis of the corpus, data that emerged from the findings, we conclude by stating that readers have created images of themselves as active readers, readers interested in both readings, the ones respected and the ones unappreciated by the official culture

Cidade e identidade: discursividades imagético-espaciais e a construção da identidade espacial do Recife, Veneza Brasileira

This treatise analyzes the identitary setting called Veneza Brasileira (Brazilian Venice) which is subscribed to the discoursive materialization related to the imagetic setting (literary and mediatic) produced about the city of Recife. The main investigation of this research is to examine the way how the identitary setting called Veneza Brasileira has been constructed in the imagetic setting practices about the city of Recife in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This study is subscribed to the Applied Linguistics and considers the theoretical perspectives that come from the Cultural Studies which investigation basis is focused on authors such as: Hall (2006); Bauman (1999; 2001;2005); Silva (2000); and Castells (2000) related to the discussion over identity, as well as the discussion over Urban Studies presented in Santos (1997; 1999); Ferrara (1998); and Pesavento (2001). Moreover it is also based on the theoretical basis found in Foucault (2004; 2006; 2007). Furthermore theoretical-methodological approaches rely on the French Discourse Analysis (DA) found in Orlandi (2001); Gregolin (2007); and Courtine (2006). On being so, this treatise aims to: analyze the meaning effects over the production of the identitary setting, especially the so-called Veneza Brasileira, in the imagetic setting discoursive practices (Poems, Post Cards and Touristic Guides) which are produced over the urban setting of the city of Recife. This research is characterized by being qualitative and interpretative and the theoretical analytical approaches contributed to the reading of both poetic and iconic images presented in the excerpts of poems from the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in: Manuel Bandeira s poems, Carlos Pena Filho s poems, and João Cabral de Melo Neto s poems which were produced in the early and late twentieth century. Moreover, this study observed some photographic images in Post Cards and Touristic Guides related to the visiting of historical sites in Recife. One could conclude that the imagetic setting discourse about Recife produced different identitary effects over the so-called Veneza Brasileira along these three centuries: in the nineteenth century, the poetry constructed the utopia city along with the meaning effect of identitary unit; as for the twentieth century, one observed an oscillation between a utopia/heteroutopia city meaning effect of both united and fragmented identity, the latter one is prevalent. As for the twenty-first century, the media reconstructed over again the utopia city, and consequently, produced meaning effect of identitary unit. These same meaning effects of identity either corroborate or contradict to/with the concepts of the postmodernism over identity along these three centuries. In other words, considering the imagetic setting, this oscillation occurs in the proportion of one finds an (ex) inclusion of social agents that construct these same identities.

A argumentação como elemento discursivo na mídia digital: um estudo sobre o blog fatos e dados

This thesis studies the use of argumentation as a discursive element in digital media, particularly blogs. We analyzed the Blog "Fatos e Dados" [Facts and Data], created by Petrobras in the context of allegations of corruption that culminated in the installation of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry to investigate the company within the Congress. We intend to understand the influence that the discursive elements triggered by argumentation exercise in blogs and about themes scheduling. To this end, we work with notions of argumentation in dialogue with questions of language and discourse from the work of Charaudeau (2006), Citelli (2007), Perelman & Olbrechts-Tyteca (2005), Foucault (2007, 2008a), Bakhtin (2006) and Breton (2003). We also observe our subject from the perspective of social representations, where we seek to clarify concepts such as public image and the use of representations as argumentative elements, considering the work of Moscovici (2007). We also consider reflections about hypertext and the context of cyberculture, with authors such as Levy (1993, 1999, 2003), Castells (2003) and Chartier (1999 and 2002), and issues of discourse analysis, especially in Orlandi (1988, 1989, 1996 and 2001), as well as Foucault (2008b). We analyzed 118 posts published in the first 30 days of existence of the blog "Fatos e Dados" (between 2 June and 1 July 2009), and analyzed in detail the top ten. A corporate blog aims to defend the points of view and public image of the organization, and, therefore, uses elements of social representations to build their arguments. It goes beyond the blog, as the main news criteria, including the posts we reviewed, the credibility of Petrobras as the source of information. In the posts analyzed, the news values of innovation and relevance also arise. The controversy between the Blog and the press resulted from an inadequacy and lack of preparation of media to deal with a corporate blog that was able to explore the characteristics of liberation of the emission pole in cyberculture. The Blog is a discursive manifestation in a concrete historical situation, whose understanding and attribution of meaning takes place from the social relations between subjects that, most of the time, place themselves in discursive and ideological dispute between each other - this dispute also affects the movements of reading and reading production. We conclude that intersubjective relationships that occur in blogs change, in the form of argumentative techniques used, the notions of news criteria, interfering with scheduling of news and organization of information in digital media outlets. It is also clear the influence that the discursive elements triggered by argumentation exercise in digital media, trying to resize and reframe frames of reality conveyed by it in relation to the subject-readers. Blogs have become part of the scenario information with the emergence of the Internet and are able to interfere in a more effective way to organize the scheduling of media from the conscious utilization of argumentative elements in their posts

A construção estilística das identidades poéticas da cidade de Natal: um olhar bakhtiniano

The purpose of this work is to bring forward cultural identities of the city of Natal that are built upon representations contained in the work of Twentieth-Century Potiguar1 poets. We started out with the premise that the urban tissue owes its formation to the effect of the feelings produced and to the individuals that give shape to them, thus causing the city to abound with feelings and meanings that are relevant for both society and the individual. As cities and their identities may be studied and interpreted from different viewpoints, we have used in this study poetic discourse that functions as a memory to the city and takes shape out of a set of historically established social practices. Our research is situated within the area of Applied Linguistics, an area of knowledge focused mainly in language that is increasingly expanding its investigation limits in an interdisciplinary way. Therefore, this study is based on a social and historical model of language, with language construed as a discourse practice (Bakhtin and Circle), and presents an interface with cultural studies (Hall, Canclini), taking into account the fact that culture builds up values and brings forth differences in respect of the conditions under which such values and differences are produced. In this sense, we have tried to ―listen‖ to what the poets say, by understanding and interpreting the meanings produced by their discourse, in order to identify the formation of the identities of the city that arise out of distinct points of view and diverse stylistic marks. Analysis of these poetic utterances lead to multifold cultural identities of the city, ranging from a naive and multicolored Natal to a city that builds itself on its characters and on to an insurgent, usurped Natal

Narrativas de professores em formação sobre a didatização de podcasts para o ensino de inglês na floresta

Considering the following conditions: (1) the fluency demands of students in an undergraduate program in Languages and Literatures/English in the Amazon region; (2) the listening and speaking needs of pre-service teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL); (3) my continuing education as a professor of EFL and my academic literacy as a teacher-researcher and pre-service-teacher trainer, this study, which is based on Narrative Inquiry, reports on a teacher experience of working didactically with oral genres through podcasting an activity that emerged with the advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Through this process, I engage with some theorists who promote teaching as a process that is driven by a concept of language as social practice. Subsequently, I make use of the notions of context of culture and context of situation, derived from Systemic Functional Linguistics, as well as the concept of genre and register derived from the perspective of this theory. Based on these principles and beliefs, the Amazon region constitutes the register (situation) of the genres used in this study. These principles also provide, opportunities for building learning strategies appropriate to this local context, and also to teach listening and speaking skills from a task-based approach. During the experience, based on the reflective teacher-education model, the participants produced narratives about the process, which I then analyzed according to Ely, Vinz, Downing and Anzul (2001), who propose possibilities of composing meanings in Narrative Inquiry. Based on this perspective, I discuss the following topics, which were highly emphasized in the participants narratives: the lack of didactic activities using oral genres; the relevance of context within teacher education; and collaborative work as a strategy to overcome gaps in digital literacy, language fluency and teaching skills. The meanings I thereby compose point to a paradigm shift in English language teaching within this context. I also argue for a pedagogical practice that is engaged with historical and socio-cultural issues, and with the development of language skills, also one that promotes the implementation of ICTs at the very start of teacher training programs, adopting teaching and learning strategies that correspond to the demands of fluency in this particular context, and deficiencies imposed by geographical isolation