Manoel de Barros, Arranjos para assobio ## I. INTRODUCTION This contribution analyzes the poetic writing of Ondjaki (born Ndalu de Almeida) following the approach developed in Degli Atti (2023[^9]). In the context of the perspective we adopt, the meaningful learning of foreign languages is seen as exploiting the dynamics of interrelation between linguistic, literary and (inter)cultural education (BAGNO e RANGEL, 2005; BALBONI, 2008, 2012, 2018; BALBONI e CAON, 2015; CAON e SPALIVIERO, 2015; COSSON, 2020; MENDES, 2011; SPALIVIERO, 2020). Starting from the concept of language as language-culture ('lingua-culturà': MENDES, 2011) and of literature as a language and a repertoire (COSSON, 2020), we propose an analysis of Ondjaki's work Ḥá predisajens com o xão - o segredo humido da lema & outras descoisas (2002) - which is characterized by a solid dialogic component with the Brazilian Manoel de Barros's poetry - illustrating how the construction of meaning takes place through the indissoluble interconnection between linguistic, literary and cultural levels. Study and reflection on the literary text is a tool to access this three-dimensionality of language and constitutes a precious opportunity for a language-culture insight experience for PFL (Portuguese as a Foreign Language) learners, contributing to training them as foreign language specialists and helping to build them as individuals. The first part of our contribution clarifies the theoretical and methodological foundations of our analysis. Ondjaki's work is then introduced, primarily focusing on his relation with poetry and the fundamental lines of the poetic discourse that emerge in his second book of poems. Subsequently, we proceed to the analysis of Há predisajens com o xão, highlighting how the language-culture-literature triad occurs through literary language; specifically, we display the distinctive linguistic features illuminating the parallels with Barrosian poetic discourse (DEGLI ATTI, 2023) and the choices that uniquely distinguish the processes activated by the Angolan writer following his conceptions of writing and poetry. Our conclusions summarize the results of our examination, demonstrating how the approach to literary language as a triple dimension proves to be highly productive in deciphering the strategies of meaning construction. ## II. THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS In his lecture given in 1988, Antonio Candido declares: (...) [a literatura] não é uma EXPERência inofensiva, mas uma aventura que pode causar problemas psíquicos e morais, como acontece com apropria vida, da qual é imagem e transfiguração. Isto significica que ela tem papel formador da personalidade, mas não segundo as convenções; Serbia antesingletona aforcaindiscriminae e poderosa dapropria realizada. Por isso, nasmando do leitor o livre pode ser fator de perturbação e mesmo de risco. (CANDIDO, 2012: 19) Later in the same speech he adds: Primeiro, verifique que a literatura correponde a uma necessidade universal que deve ser satisfeito sob pena de mutilar a personalidade, porque pelo fato de dar forma aos sentimentos e a visão do mundo ela nos organiza, nos liberta do caos e portanto nos humaniza. Negar a fruição da literatura é mutilar a russa humanidade. (CANDIDO, 2012: 30) The lecture's theme was the right to literature, "O direito à literatura", a topic addressed by the Brazilian sociologist and literary critic within a broader vision of human rights. The scholar focuses on the fundamental role of literature in the formation of the individual. Candido's position was taken up and developed by Bagno and Rangel (2005), who drew the concept into the debate on preconceptions about language (BAGNO and RANGEL, 2005). According to the authors, it is the task of linguistic education to embrace all the sociocultural factors that allow the individual to "ampliar o conhecimiento de/sobre sua lingua materna, de/sobre outras linguas, sobre a linguagem de um modo mais geral e sobre todos os demais sistemas semióticos" (BAGNO and RANGEL, 2005: 63), embracing all areas of knowledge that contribute to defining 'linguistic imaginary' and 'linguistic ideology', including "crenças, superestrções, representações, mitos e preconceitos que circulam na sociedade em torno da lingua/linguagem" (BAGNO; RANGEL, 2005: 63). Therefore, linguistic education is complete only if it allows us to benefit from the literary heritage since individuals can fully realize their potential and be the protagonist of their own story only if they can have full access to the ideas and discourses that have contributed to mark the essential references and the imaginary of the nation, shaping its identity traits. Having access to literature means being able to enjoy the text in light of its literariness, i.e., the qualities that make it a literary text (SPALIVIERO, 2020); achieving this goal requires a spectrum of skills, which includes, but is not limited to, linguistic competence, since a deep understanding of the text involves a complete mastery of deciphering layers that lie both within and beyond the linguistic level. Adopting Mendes's point of view (2011), we see how language presents itself as a complex social and symbolic phenomenon, language-culture, through which we structure our experience of the reality that surrounds us, giving it meaning. The dual nature of language-culture finds complete application in the literary domain since it is in this terrain that it has the opportunity to unfold its potential at the highest level. In line with Cosson (2020), we envision literature as a discourse articulated in a repertoire through which we express our understanding and interpreting of the world, "um reperto río de textos e praticas de produção e interpretação,Pelos quais simulizamos nasPALAVRAs e pelasPALAVRAs a nós e o mundo que vivemos" (COSSON 2020: 177). Literature plays a fundamental role in the production and circulation of both linguistic and identity imaginary, contributing to weaving a dense network of mutually related contents that exposes the experience of the world through a process of reconfiguration when translated into literary production. Literature is a language that uses language: "uma linguagem que usa apropria linguagem para dar sentido ao mundo e aos sujeitos, palavras que ao se aparecem somente como palavras criam e recriam simbolicamente a existência de cada um de nos" (COSSON, 2020: 200). Candido (2012) refers to the specific use of language in literature as "palavra organizada": Todaística é antes de mais nada típica de algo que se estou feito. De fato, quando elaboram uma estrutura, o poeta ou o Narrador nos propoem um Modelo de coerência, gerado pelaforcesdapatalavraorganizada.(...) Mas asPALAVRAS organizadas sào mais do que a presenca de um código: elas comunicam sempre alguma coisa,que nos toca porque obedece a certa ordem. quando recebemos o impacto de una producao literaria, oral ou escrita, ele é devido à fusao inextricavel da mensagem com a sua organização. quando digo que um texto me impressiona, quero dizer que ele impressiona porque a sua possibuldade de impressionar foi determinada pelaa ordenação recebida de quem o produziu. (...) O caos origínario, isto é, o material bruto a partir do qual o produtor escolheu uma forma, se torna ordem; por isso, o meu caos interior también se ordena e a mensagem pode atuar. Toutaística literária pressupõe esta superação do caos, determinada por um arranjo especial dasPALAVRAS e fazendo uma proposta de sentido. (CANDIDO, 2012: 20-22) The identification of the 'order' imposed on the text by the author and the decoding of the techniques applied for its creation are critical steps; they can profoundly change the reader's experience of the text, requiring even higher levels of active participation in the construction of meaning. Among the different literary manifestations, poetry stands out for its ability to broaden and deepen the semantic texture of the text; this is done by exploiting aspects such as phonetics and linguistic transgression (GARDES-TAMINE, 1992). Maria Helena de Moura Neves (2007: 88) asserts the extreme mutual connection between poetry and grammar: (...) há relações essenciais, fundadoras, entre a gramática (ou seja, o arranjo lexicogrammatica para produção de sentido) e a poesia (ou está, a ação de significados naquela esfera meio impalpavel que se tem chamado de "literatura"). Naorda, se poesia é um fazer linguístico, no reverso se pode affirmar que é a lingua (a sua "gramática") que faz poesia. O que digo é que há GRAMÁTICA na POÉTICA, e que disso también se pode - e legitimamente - fazer corpo de doutrina, porque uma reflexão sobre tal fato é exatamente o que nos há de fazer comprehender a literatura como "criação", como coisa de "poeta". A full ability to access the poetic text and decipher it challenges the reader's understanding of the 'rules' employed by the author in its organization; identifying the principles that regulate the 'order' of the text means making the underlying structure visible and discriminating the contribution of linguistic, literary and socio-cultural factors to the construction of meaning. In terms of foreign language teaching-learning, this means giving the learner access to an increasingly advanced level of understanding of language mechanisms; this comes with exposure to different perspectives on reality, symbolized through language and literature. Thus, it will be possible to gradually understand the linguistic-cultural imaginary of the language studied and develop associated skills. In the specific case of PFL, it would be not only inappropriate and limiting but misleading to isolate the study of language from the other facets of the three-dimensional relationship between language-culture-literature: ignoring the lively debate in this regard would lead the potential specialist in PFL to develop a short-sighted vision that ignores the cultural and sociolinguistic implications consciously or unconsciously inherent in the choices made by native speakers and evident to them. The analysis of the literary work through an integrated approach allows us to exhibit the language in use in the literary text, revealing its mechanisms in the context of reference, creating awareness regarding the regulations that govern the construction of meaning, and thus orienting the learner to in-depth deciphering procedures and complex levels of competence (DEGLI ATTI, 2023: 136-137). Considering what has been said, Ondjaki's Há predisajens com o xão is illustrative of complex dynamics of construction of meaning. The book shows strong affinities with the work of the Brazilian poet Manoel de Barros, in particular concerning the strategies of language organization and manipulation used in the construction of the meaning, denoting a peculiar literary language. Our paper contributes to studies on Ondjaki's writing by examining the literary language created by the author in this work. Ondjaki's verses demonstrate the confluence of literary and cultural elements for the creation of a poetic diction that owes part of its captivating appeal to Barros's teachings. The study of the language used in Há predisajens com o xão offers the reader an internal perspective on the mechanisms of word formation in Portuguese and shows the Angolan poet's original approach to manipulating the semantic potential of the language. The writer organizes a personal language that playfully deviates from the precepts of standard Portuguese and incorporates substandard linguistic features to achieve exciting results of semantic broadening. ## III. ON ONDJAKI AND POETRY The intellectual and artistic trajectory of Ondjaki is eclectic and varied, embracing literature, sociological research, documentary film production, and activities in figurative arts. The author's literary productions include short stories, novels, children's and youth literature, poetry, and theatrical plays; the latter present the smallest number of works, while an ample space is covered by narrative. Poetry has a marginal position compared to narrative, which proves to be more prolific and studied; still, Ondjaki's poetry writing has proven to be constant, starting in 2000 with the publication of Actu sanguíneu, followed by Há predisajens com o xão - o segredo húmido da lema & outras descoisas (2002), Materiais para confecção de um espanador de tristezas (2009), Dento de mim faz Sul, seguido de acto sanguíneo (2010), Os muitos do marmore (2015) and, finally, Há gente em casa (2018). Six books spanning eighteen years. The relationship with poetry emerges from the author's declarations as driven by an irresistible force. Talking about Dentre de mim faz Sul, seguido de acto sanguino (2010), the author refers to his poetry books as "portas que conduczem a um lado mais interno...um lado mais cicatrazo de mim" (ONDJAKI, 2010: 8). Ondjaki admits that he has difficulty understanding the poetry he writes and the reasons that compel him to compose (ONDJAKI, 2013): poetry presents to the poet, who accepts it without analyzing the origin of the verses. The writer surrenders to poetry, renouncing to dominate it in a rational way: "É talvez importante, para mim, não saber o "porque" deisas coisas no mundo da literatura" (ONDJAKI, 2013). In another interview, he states: Faz-se poesía porque se precise dela, ou de a partilhar. Mas sobretudo fazer poesía é uma necessidade. (...) Escreve-se um poema como uma urgência interna, e por vezes há uma estória (mais intima) por detrás do poema. Mas é preciso aceitar que a poesía é también mistério. (ONDJAKI, 2011b) Writing poetry is, therefore, an intimate necessity, activated as a spontaneous and immediate reaction in the poet, who attempts to discipline sensations and emotions. He writes about his early poems: actu sanguíneu era una reunión, talvez extensa, de poemas escritos no fim da adolescência,onde a descoberta de manobras linguíticas se tornara vvúculo para dizer os mundos que me andavam por dentro. Eram viagens internas que apelavam a «instantáneos» poemas vestidos de cores,cheiros,dores.Ecos do que también andava a ler e a describir, e sobretudo(EC),quepas explosões sensoriais que eu buscava controlar por via dePALavra corrigida,mil vezes relida. (ONDJAKI, 2010:8) The need to give voice and form to the poetry that visits him is supported by the reading of authors and poets during his formative years. Poetry is a constant company; Ondjaki confesses that he always has a book of poetry with him when he travels: it is a pure necessity, "é uma coisa fisica, de sentido a poesia perto de mim" (ONDJAKI, 2022). Among his favorite reads is Manoel de Barros's work, which the Angolan poet reports as his beloved travel companion. It is not surprising that the reading of Barros's impressive poetry influenced Ondjaki to the point of becoming a point of reference in his poetics, as emerges noticeably in his second book of poems, Há prendsajens com o xão, published in 2002 (from now on referred to as HPX[^1]). Briefly summarizing the affinities between the two poets, we identify the centrality of the word as a catalyst element of the poetic discourse, articulating the converging lines of poetics, exposed below: (A) Exaltation of the minor and the insignificant, related in both poets to the semantic sphere of the microscopic, the humble, the low, the dirty, and symbolized by the ground, 'chão'. However, we remark in Barros a subversive and ironic charge that has no correspondence in HPX since Ondjaki's verses reflect the posture of absorbed observation and introspective emphasis reminiscent of Barros's mature and final phases. The selection of vocabulary belonging to the semantic domains associated with the marginal, the low, the tiny, and the absence of capital letters serve this component of poetics; - (B) Childhood as a privileged locus of knowledge, associated with memory, autobiographical contexts, and play; strategic in this respect is the insertion of language play and lexicon recalling children's play; - (C) Poetry as an instrument of knowledge and understanding of the world, and writing poetry as a means of self-discovery, from which repeated references to teaching and learning arise. Manoel de Barros insists on the didactic function of poetry, seen both as a learning path for the poet – who can reach the state of being thing through the word – and as a tool for disseminating good practice, teaching the reader to be close to the ground, spreading the message of his poetry, that has the potential to shake the foundations of a society dominated by false values and bring people back into contact with themselves, redeeming humanity to a new happiness. Learning comes through a corporeal experience of the world: As plantas me ensinavam de chao. Fui aprendendo com o corpo. (BARROS, 2010: 115) It is relevant to note that Ondjaki clarifies to the reader the centrality of 'learning' in an annotation placed as a comment on HPX's epigraph, explaining some aspects already introduced by the title of the book: "aprendizagem é aPALavra que, ela sim, ramifica e desramifica uma pessoas; (...) aprendizar não é repessoar-se?" (HPX: 5). In both poets, the poetic quest is conceived in ontological terms; nevertheless, we recognize in Barros the presence of the poet-prophet and the projection of the didactic dimension towards the reader, as well as in an autodidactic function, while Ondjaki's attitude is closer to that of the disciple and the indications related to learning are essentially self-referential. In HPX, the perspective of the process from the point of view of the learner is therefore emphasized, as evoked by the sequences of instructions - expressed through constructions of final value (such as 'para + infinitive') and exhortations ('ha que + infinitive'; "seja") - and by references to the discoveries achieved, in the form of definitions and as a consequence of the insisting use of the verb 'saber'. Self-referentiality is demonstrated by the abundant use of first-person singular oblique/ reflexive pronouns and by the alterations in the degree of transitivity of the verb. (D) tension towards communion with entities and things of nature, which results in the semantics of metamorphosis: in Manoel de Barros's conception, transfiguration represents the ultimate conquest of the apprenticeship process and the utmost poet's goal; in HPX, we do not find the presence of a definitive stage to which the author aims and the transformation is seen as part of a process that takes place according to indefinite time and unspecified routes. On a linguistic level, the literary language modeled by Ondjaki is marked by derivational neologisms and recurrent use of word blending, uncommon in barrosian poetry, with the coining of a high number of portmanteau words; - (E) Orality as a fundamental referential. Both Barros and Ondjaki give emphasis to the organization of a literary language that reflects the authenticity of the spoken language, composing verses that feature colloquialisms, idiomatic expressions, and grammatical deviations. The scope of the impact of orality in Ondjaki's writing is out of the ordinary, though, and sinks its roots into African traditions, configuring the main lines of his poetic discourse. The lexicon of orality and the use of textual genres that recall traditional storytelling open the text to a dimension in which invention and imagination do not emerge in contradiction with facts, like fabrication, but intervene to expand and enrich reality; - (F) What has been stated in the previous point regarding orality is linked to the questioning of the discrepancy between fiction and reality. Both Barros and Ondjaki love to escape from labels, cultivating in their texts and interviews a taste for doubt and for puzzling what is considered the 'truth', a valid and objective fact, considered by the two poets as a limiting constraint. Both employ strategies to destabilize the reader and thus allow the initial rupture of the status quo, the consolidated and commonly accepted narrow vision of the surrounding world. Overcoming the barrier between fiction and reality presents fascinating effects in terms of the relationship between reader and literary work; a significant example is the way of dealing with paratextual elements. The poems of Manoel de Barros embrace the paratext by exploiting the hybridity of textual genres for the purposes of constructing meaning, with a movement that brings the paratext from the outside to the inside of the verse; this strategy contributes to the characterization of the poems as anti-academic and is functional to the deepening of the polemical and ironic implications of the Barrosian discourse. Ondjaki's poetic texts, on the other hand, transgress the boundaries of the poem to invade the paratextual components of the book, generating a movement in the opposite direction, from inside to outside, resulting in paratext contaminated by poetry; this leads the reader to question his beliefs regarding the structure of the book and what within it should be considered 'poetry', problematizing the concept of objective truth. The lines presented in (E) and (F), and to some extent in (B), converge his 'poetics of estórias'. Ondjaki writes in the book of short stories Momentos de agua (2001): Depois sim, vieram as estórias. Eram tantissimas. Eu era uma propria estória em movimento. Acusavam-me: você inventa...! Minha desatença no escatar desembocava em meusumentos no contear. Minha avó sorria, ela me está a esperantar esta mania. E eu mesmo gostava de fazer colagens das estórias dos mais velhos – meu barro premató. (ONDJAKI, 2001: 9) On several occasions, the writer refers to the practice of augmenting reality through imagination as a phenomenon typical of everyday life in Luanda. He declares in an interview: "Luanda é uma%cidade ondaseas pessoas são viciadas em historiarias, de inventar e contear, maisdoque escrever" (ONDJAKI, 2014), and further explains in another occasion: Eu sou uma pessoa que gosta muito de estórias, eu sempre gostei de ouvir estórias... e de conta quando, acho que foi a partir dessa oralidade das estórias que eu cheguei à escrita, que eu comecei a escrever contos (...) eu cresci em Luanda e Luanda é uma%cida cheia de estórias tu não consugues combinar uma coisa com uma pessoa, se a pessoa chega atrasada em vez de simplesmente se desculpar a pessoa vai conta uma estória, normalmente vai inventor uma estória... normalmente apropria realizade em Luanda escreve melhor do que os escritores... que os escritores é que seguem a realizade tentando entender um pouco de como é que poderão trazer esta realizade às estórias... o povo angolano é um povo que sofreu muito por varías razões, a guerra, outras privações, mas nunca perdeu esta capacidade de sonhar (... É verdade que o que comanda a minha escrita são as estórias, e mesmo quando estou a escrever poemas eu quero contar estórias (ONDJAKI, 2009) The art of "contar ou inventor estórias" (ONDJAKI, 2001: 82) is therefore experienced and presented by Ondjaki as culture-specific, as a peculiarity of the inhabitants of Luanda and of the Angolan people. In the preface to Ondjaki's Momentos dequiry, the Mozambican writer Mia Couto identifies childhood as the inaugural moment in which oral narration and imagination begin their visits: "Estadependência da fabulaçãomergulha sempre na infúncia. Este desejo de escrever não na páginasmasnaproprieriavoz (...)Esta visitaçãoaos multitosque somos,—asmultiplas dimensoes da)nossaexistência" (COUTO, 2001: 13). We identify the core lines of Ondjaki's poetics with orality and the expansion of reality in a playful way, which in HPX are combined with the dense correspondence with the poetic universe of Manoel de Barros, emerging in key elements associated with: the ground and the marginalized, minor beings that populate it; childhood and the ability to marvel at the little things and small gestures of everyday life; poetry as an instrument of knowledge and understanding of the world and of personal maturation, sublimated in metamorphosis. All this finds expression in a literary language that translates the architecture of the Angolan writer's poetics with a distinctive voice. ## IV. HA PRENDISAJENS COM O XAO- O SEGREDO HUMIDO DA LESMA & OUTRAS DESCOISAS (2002) The work, Ondjaki's second poetic book, includes twenty-five poems interpolated from four poetic prose texts and followed by an appendix containing four texts, two of which are glossaries, one is a comment about a 'special guest' and one is an author's note. Under what has been stated in (F), however, we should list in the complete composition of the book the epigraph, which comes with an accompanying note/comment by the author, and the acknowledgments, written in the form of a poem, for a total of thirty-five texts. The destabilizing action toward the reader begins in the title, containing references that immediately project the work into a dialogue with Barros's poetry and bind it to one of the cornerstones of his poetics: the progressive communion with the ground and its inhabitants. Coming into contact with the ground is a goal that can only be achieved with constant and systematic application, observing the essence of what surrounds us; in the contemplation of insects, snails, stones, the human being discovers that he is an infinitesimal part of this world, to which he renders in total abandonment becoming himself stone, animal, soil. The discovery of this profound communion moves and conquers Ondjaki, who is intimately marked by reading Barros's verses. It is not wonder that the connection with the Brazilian poet is already established in the title; Ondjaki stated in a conference held in October 20222 that he has always been fascinated by the titles given by Manoel de Barros to his works and this admiration shines through in the title of HPX. In ᮀ predisajens com o xão - o segredo húmido da lesma & outras descoisas, we find a wordplay produced through the division and alteration of the noun "aprendizagens" in the syntagmatic formation "Há predisajens", which produces the double-reading phrase "Há predisajens com o xão" – "learnings with the ground"/ "firm grips on the ground are occurring". The orthographic alteration of "chão" into "xão", without modifying the phonetic level, intervenes as a dissonant element that causes the reader to abandon the automatic reading of the title to stop and reflect on its meaning, marking the progression of the rhythm appropriate to the reading of HPX right from its cover. The subtitle adds two other focal points of Barrosian poetry. The 'lesma', the slug, represents a key element as a minor and often despised being, an inhabitant of the soil that moves through intimate corporeal contact with the earth, leaving a luminous trail, writing with its body: ### LESMA Caracol é uma casa que seanda E a lesma[^1] é um ser que se reside. Nota 1: A fim de percorrer uma lesma desde o seu nascimento até sua extinção, terei que aprender como é que ela recebe as manhãs, como é que ela anoitece. (...) Terei que produzir em mim a gosma dela a fim de lubricar os caminhos da terra. (...) Terei de marcar com a minha saliva o chão dos poemas.(BARROS, 2010: 371) Descoisas represent the objects that emerge transfigured from poetic writing: Barros's verses prefer beings and things that are considered insignificant in everyday life and redeem them through the power of imagination. Writing poetry for Barros means "desinventar objetos" (BARROS, 2010: 300), and the significance of the creative process is summarized in the semantics of the prefix des-, subverting the ordinary meaning attributed to the word to which it is applied. Leafing through the first pages of HPX, you come across the epigraph, taken from La quête intermittente, by Eugène Ionesco. The initial part seems to be directly connected to what Ondjaki stated in an interview about poetry, contradicting it ("Eu realmente tenho dificuldade em Ocender a poesia que escrevo, ou as razões por que o fazer"; ONDJAKI, 2013). Digo, apesar de todo, a sós comigo: seiporque escrevo[...] Amanheceu. O mundo é verdade. Sim, sim, é palpavel. (ONDJAKI, 2011a, p. 5) The quote refers to the quest for actual knowledge of the world, generating a tension between affirmation and denial, which acquires further complexity if we consider that, in the original text, Ionesco completes by asserting the inscrutability of the world: #### 4.IX.1986 Il fait jour. Le monde est vrai. Oui, oui, c'est palpable. L'illusion n'est pas mensonge, n'est pas tromperie, n'est pas de la non-réalité?! Seulement, le monde est fait de façon incognoscible. (IONESCO, 1987: 125) Immediately following, on the same page, is the author's annotation: #### também: aprendizagem é aPALAVRA que,ela sim,ramifica e desramifica umepessoa;ela enlaça,abraça;mastiga um algueém cuspindo-o a si mesmo, todo para novas géneses pessoas. estasPALAVRAS SAI,elas sim,para pessoas que se autorizam constantes aprendicismos,mostly maneiras. viveres. até sangues.NOWLEDizar não é repessoar-se? (HPX: 5) In this comment about the word, Ondjaki develops a movement of thought: learning leads people along new trajectories, transforming them, drawing them in contact with their humanity through continuous abandon to change. The transfiguring potential of this process is rendered at a lexical level by forming pairs of words, as is the case of the combinations ença/abraça, modos/maneiras and pessoas/repessoar-se, and above all of aprendizagem/aprendicismos and ramifica/desramifica, obtained by prefixal/suffixal derivation. The semantic domain of learning also stands out as a consequence of the creation of two neologisms by suffixal derivation: the noun aprendicismos and the verb aprendizar; the comparison with the other two neologisms identifiable in the text, desramifica and repessoar-se, highlights the exceptional nature of the learning process to which Ondjaki refers, allowing the learner to experience a life out of shared experience and capable of changing us profoundly. The acknowledgements mention Manoel de Barros twice: the first time in relation to the Angolan poet Ana Paula Tavares, who gave Ondjaki "um manoel de barros para eu viajar" and a second time when he is identified as a master: "manoel de barros - distante, me ensinou a tanta/importante do chão: que deve ser promovido" (HPX: 6). The opening poem of the book ("Chão") is still dedicated to Manoel de Barros as well as the text that closes the work, a "Nota do autor" in which Ondjaki refers to a letter written by Barros and containing his opinion on the work: "Há em você a consciência plena de que poesia se faz abandonando as sintaxes acostumadas e criando outras. São asPALAVRAPoética não serve para expressar ideias - serve para cantar, celebrar" (Ondjaki, 2008: 67). Manoel de Barros is thus a fundamental reference, openly accredited by Ondjaki, and a background note in all the texts that compose HPX. The work on language through the deviation from the usual and the configuration of new principles is undoubtedly an aspect of convergence with Barros and one of the salient characteristics in Ondjaki's poetic work. In the next paragraph, we illustrate the most recurring aspects in the work to spotlight the regularities of HPX's literary language. ## V. THE LITERARY LANGUAGE OF HA PRENDISAJENS COM O XAO (2002) We expose below the specificities of the literary language organized by Ondjaki in HPX, focusing particularly on neologisms, traits of orality and spoken language, language play, syntactic peculiarities, and characteristics of the style that strengthen orality in the text. We present examples to show the results of Ondjaki's language manipulation. ### a) Neologisms The most striking feature in HPX's literary language is the high number of neologisms, which include blends, compound words, and neologisms derived by affixation, prefixation, and parasynthesis. Although the increased use of neologisms is a meeting point with Barros's poetry, we distinguish some peculiarities of Ondjaki's writing. First of all, the frequent use of blends, mostly nouns, obtained from the union of key terms from the poetic lines commented above with the effect of generating portmanteau words; blends with minimal alteration and compound words are more limited in number. (1) emochões (HPX: 8) emocão (sing.) + chão (2) chāotoria (HPX: 9, 48) chāo + oto- + (sabad)oria; a/so: chāo + autoria (HPX: 47) (3) existenciações (HPX: 12) existência + ações (4) formigabiríntico (HPX: 12) formiga + labiríntico (5) sanguenhecer-me (HPX: 13) sangue + conhecer (6) lágrimaterrizagem (HPX: 16) lágrima + aterrizagem (or also: a- + terra +(AP) (7) lacrinealeijar (HPX: 16, 46) lacrimar + aleijar (8) palhintimidade (HPX: 20) palha + intimidade (9) percursação (HPX: 20) percurso + ação (10) passipiência (HPX: 20) pássaro + sapiência (11) resultacto (HPX: 21) resultado + acto (12) voolência (HPX: 21, 42, 46) voo + silência (13) repensaçao (HPX: 22) repensar + ação (14) pulantas (HPX: 22) pular ou pulante + planta(s) (15) borboletabirinto (HPX: 33) borboleta + labirinto (16) inventoado (HPX: 33) inventado + à toa (17) visgadeira (HPX: 34) visco + madeira (18) fluorquestração (HPX: 38) flor + orquestração (19) lentadinosa (HPX: 42) lento + libidinoso (20) helibélula (HPX: 42) helicóptero + libélula (21) mundhumana (HPX: 46) mundo + humana (22) noitidia (HPX: 47) noite + dia (23) todivalent (HPX: 42) todo + qualquer (24) péspezinhadas (HPX: 43) pé + espezinhar (25) supremaproximação (HPX: 33) suprema + aproximacao (26) gargantadentro (HPX: 7) garganta +除去 (27) maior interna (HPX: 22) maior + interna (28) péafagadas (HPX: 47) pé + afagadas (29) chao-cheiro (HPX: 12) (30) aqui-margem (HPX: 35) (31) castanho-raiz (HPX: 30) (32) cinzento-nuvem (HPX: 30) (33) crianca-calema (HPX: 41) (34) cesto-sentido (HPX: 46) Derivational neologisms in HPX are formed by prefixation, suffixation, and parasynthesis; the procedures are similar to those observed in Barros (DEGLI ATTI, 2023). However, we note the absence of neologisms for transcategorization (zero derivation), while grammatical category shifts are productive through derivation by suffixation, resulting predominantly in nominal verbs and deverbinal nouns; we also observe the regular occurrence of parasynthetic neologisms. The neologisms derived by prefixation demonstrate the propensity for the use of the prefix 'a-', which represents a distinctive feature in Ondjaki's verses, as also shown in parasynthetic formations. It is a prefix that can have different meanings, even antithetical; according to the Novo Diccionario Aurélio da Língua Portuguesa (2009), such meanings include distancing, separation, denial, excess, intensity, approximation, direction, and transformation (FERREIRA, 2009). It is interesting to note that it can also represent a prosthetic element, added for euphony needs, without the interference of meaning or with a strengthening effect, a trait that leads to associating the prefix with the sphere of oral expression, the relevance of which for the poet we have already discussed. The polysemy of the prefix 'a-' reverberates in the verses, amplifying the semantic domain of reference composed by the author and revealing its complexity. Taking into consideration (51), extrapolated from: "essa estória não era verdadeira, mas de tanto accreditar{nela, a coisa se revoltou para averdades", we can note how the affixing of the prefix adds connotations that refer to transformation and intensity, while also exploiting the implicit play on the potential meaning of separation and denial. Prefix 'a-' therefore intervenes to problematize the reader's automatic decoding, and its widespread presence in the text refers to the architecture of the poetic project underlying HPX, which shows its functioning in the construction of meaning through the semantic stratification that revolves around seeking knowledge of the surrounding world. Table 1: Derivational neologisms <table><tr><td>Prefix derivation</td><td>α-</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(35) compañero barbosa/me atraz noidades (HPX: 8)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(36) o maisCERTO apastoreiro! (HPX: 8)subst.</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(37) o grilo aquieto (HPX: 8)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(38) para fazer-me (HPX: 11)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(39) picos achuviscados (HPX: 13)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(40) prescrevo assilências (HPX: 13)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(41) em continuado aquestionamento (HPX: 16)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(42) apalmilhar um quintal (HPX: 18)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(43) existe palhintimidade/num aninho? (HPX: 20)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(44) simples janela arredonda (HPX: 20)adj.</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(45) o mosquito voa acontecido (HPX: 21)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(46) acontecido do escrevinho/mundo (HPX: 38)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(47) Aminúsculo (HPX: 47)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(48) repletos de amínúsculo (HPX: 21)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(49) DOMINA O AMÍNUSCOLO (HPX: 42)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(50) num gritar aprofundó (HPX: 22) adj.</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(51) a coisa se revolteu para averdades (HPX: 22b)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(52) já linguém sabia de vivier sem assolçar (HPX: 23)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(53) olhares aqueiros (HPX: 23)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(54) em arretorno (HPX: 29)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(55) aviragem (HPX: 34)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(56) para não ficar alonginqueo (HPX: 34)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(57) a viagem me adesculpe (HPX: 34b)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(58) em função de arreciclo (HPX: 38)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(59) fogo aquece, aderrete, aqueira. (HPX: 38)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(60) para aprofunde tacto (HPX: 38)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(61) poder apostoreiro do grilo (HPX: 41)adj.</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(62) por affirm (HPX: 41)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(63) Aterminação (HPX: 41)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(64) atentáculos (HPX: 44)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>des-</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(65) des-ser-me (HPX: 7) (/descer)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(66) adescaem (HPX: 10, 38)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(67) despalavrear; despalavreação (HPX: 16, 47)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(68) desnoço/desnoções (HPX: 18, 42)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(69) desanonimato (HPX: 18)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(70) desinante (HPX: 20, 47)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(71) desamor (HPX: 22)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(72) desconto-lhe (HPX: 23)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(73) desressequir (HPX: 32)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(74) desmiragem (HPX: 34)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(75) desmissão (HPX: 34)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(76) desegoísta (HPX: 41)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(77) desmultiplicação (HPX: 46)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(78) descair (HPX: 46)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(79) desaprendizagem (HPX: 47)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(80) desmomento (HPX: 47)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(81) desestado (HPX: 47)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>others</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(82) enquerendo (HPX: 19, 22, 23, 42, 47)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(83) ensendo fio de cabelo (HPX: 19)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(84) embatindo com levezas (HPX: 35)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(85) enchegada a hora (HPX: 39)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(86) irisonha (HPX: 16)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(87) implumagem (HPX: 34)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(88) trans-sensações (HPX: 32)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>(89) biolabirinto (HPX: 15)</td></tr><tr><td>Suffix derivation</td><td>(90) poucochinho (HPX: 7) (91) passarada (HPX: 20) (92) solucência (HPX: 23) (93) cimentagem (HPX: 34) (94)madeirume(s) (HPX: 36, 46) (95) orvalhamento(s) (HPX: 38, 39) (96) orvalhação (HPX: 39) (97) geadação/geadações (HPX: 38, 39) (98) geadamento (HPX: 39) (99) concupiscio (HPX: 11) (100) juntalizei (HPX: 35)</td></tr><tr><td>Suffix derivation with grammatical category shift</td><td>noun &gt; verb (101) as estrelas grilaram-se (HPX: 9) (102) de tanto grilar seu sons (HPX: 42) (103) uma estrela grilada (HPX: 46) (104) ursos linguanotes (HPX: 10) (105) grilos estrelam-se (HPX: 10) (106) eu libelulizo-me (HPX: 10) (107) a mandioca tuberculiza o chão (HPX: 15) (108) de tanto risar tanto (HPX: 16) (109) gentifica a arve (HPX: 19) (110) o pássaro discipulou-se ao sapo (HPX: 20) (111) narcisar-se (HPX: 26) (112) estáava agua-se (HPX: 35) (113) o mundo pesçoçando-se (HPX: 39) (114) para existenciar-se (HPX: 41) (115) saudadeando-me (HPX: 46) verb &gt; noun (116) enternecitudes (HPX: 8) (117) ouvitudes (HPX: 8, 41, 46) (118) desfalecências (HPX: 8) (119) ouvimentos (HPX: 11) (120) espreitações (HPX: 16) (121) aclarão (HPX: 38) subst. (122) encaminhação (HPX: 38) (123) iluminossilabos (HPX: 43) (124) explicamento(s) (HPX: 34, 46) adjective &gt; verb (125) infinituar-me (HPX: 37) (126) nuar (HPX: 38) adjective &gt; noun (127) molhadezas (HPX: 32) noun &gt; adjective (128) goticules (HPX: 16) verb &gt; adjective (129) brincalhoso (HPX: 35)</td></tr><tr><td>parasynthesis</td><td>α- (130) raposas agalinham-se (HPX: 10) a- + galinha + -am [-ar](131) estrelas agrilam-se (HPX: 10) a- + grilo + -am [-ar](132) acontinenta o galho (HPX: 19) a- + continente + -a [-ar](133) aburacações varias (HPX: 12) a- + buraco + -çôes [-ção](134) apulgo-me (HPX: 13) a- + pulga + -o [-ar](135) bitroncalizo galhos (HPX: 13) bi- + troncar + -izo [-ar](136) a folha (...) acontinenta o galho (HPX: 19) a- + continente + -a [-ar](137) como se amoSquitadamente (HPX: 21) a- + mosquito + -ado + -mente (138) momento assolçado (HPX: 23) a- + soluço + -ado (139) saltitados assolçamentos (HPX: 23) a- + soluço + -mentor (140) beijo alinguado (HPX: 33) a- + lingua + -ado (141) assinona-se (HPX: 34) a- + sinônimo + -a [-ar](142) me acandeeirem (HPX: 34) a- + candeeira + -em [-ar](143) avomiterações (HPX: 34) a- + vomitar &gt; vomiterar + -çôes [-ção](144) agalinhamentos (HPX: 44) a- + galinha + mento(s) others (145) despalavreação (HPX: 16) des- + palavrear + -ção (146) desrespeitamento (HPX: 35) des- + respeitar + -mentor (147) engolfinhoan-se (HPX: 10) en- + golfinho + -am [-ar](148) entunam-se (HPX: 10) en- + tuna + -am [-ar](149) sub-hienado (HPX: 16) sub- + hiena + -ado</td></tr></table> ### b) Traits of orality and spoken language The features of spoken language appear as a varied set of elements that include metaplasms (150-153), colloquial expressions (154-156) and spoken structures such as 'estar + infinitive' (157-162), pseudocleft and reduced pseudocleft constructions (163-168), sentences with synthetic formulation and/or suppression of elements for communicative economy (169-172). We also report a case of alteration of concordance (173). (150) predisajem (HPX: 15) (151) lém de{nossa vizinha (...) lém de transpirar (HPX: 19) (152) lém de com sua respectiva mosquita (HPX: 42) (153) arve (HPX: 19) (154) a modelos que quintal (HPX: 18) (155) a pontos que atómico (HPX: 46) (156) ah pois e sim? (HPX: 8) (157) estou pedir a cegueira... estou pedir me acandeeirem... estou pedir esta desmissão (HPX: 34) (158) overstava aguar-se (HPX: 35) (159) estao requerer voltar (HPX: 35) (160) estou procurar coisas (HPX: 44) (161) mundo está isolar pessoas (HPX: 47) (162) este homem está falsar verdades (HPX: 41) (163) poisinhaeraquefazer (HPX:23) (164) o poro da vela é que emite (HPX: 46) (165) ela é que espera por nós (HPX:16) (166) o grilo ganha é abraço com estrelas.... o grilo estreia é intimidade com a magia (HPX: 8) (167) a hiena lacrinealeija é sementes (HPX: 16) (168) para mim as flores servem é para alcatifar o mundo (HPX: 45) (169) me perguntaram porque de viajar em jangada (HPX: 34) (170) mestre em todo que acuse molhadez (HPX: 42) (171) pedir alquém solçasse (HPX: 23) (172) querem ver os tronquinhos está chorosos? (HPX: 35) (173) bicha muita simples (HPX: 42) Repetitions are among the characteristics that strengthen orality in the text, appearing in HPX on multiple levels, including: - reduplication of the word, a phenomenon especially linked to Kimbundu, as in "quase-quase igual nela" (HPX: 23) and "logo-logo" (HPX: 27); - consecutive repetition of words ("simples. simples.", HPX: 38; "simples, simples" HPX: 46; "dificil..., dificil...", HPX: 47), repetition of the word in the sentence ("de tanto risar tanto", HPX: 17), repetition of words or parts of words within other lexemes ("cessa o canto, o encanto", HPX: 9; "carochinha aova voa", HPX: 10; "entorno enternecitudes", HPX: 8; "entornador de enternecitudes", HPX: 41; "cestosentido. (...) ou sera ressentido?", HPX: 46; "terra prende. apreende", HPX: 39); - alliteration: "para por paz" (HPX: 10), "ser sorratoiro" (HPX: 18), "desminando rebentamentos" (HPX: 18), "pata, patinha, patitas" (HPX: 20), "a passarada/faz passar ar" (HPX: 20), "para palavrear prosas" (HPX: 28), "para afastar teus tigres" (HPX: 28), "auto-entorná-lo cuidadosamente, / em arretorno de essências." (HPX: 29), "tambem atrai gotas" (HPX: 38), "alumeia. almeja. almofadeia", HPX: 38, "domina o dom alquímico nominado 'aminúsculo'", HPX: 42); - anaphoric structures ("folha é parede verde / (...)/ folha é uma outra narina (...)", HPX: 15; "seja ruido/seja(bejo /-seja voo /-seja andorinha (...)", HPX: 30; "e quinto: (...)/ e mim: (...)/ e guante (riso): (...)", HPX: 34; "como se adormecidamente. / (...)/ como - se antecipadamete / (...)/ como se amosquitadamente.", HPX: 20; "sei/ (...)/ sei: ", HPX: 22; "mundo está (...)/ mundo está (...)/ mundo está", HPX: 32; "quero so/ o silencio (...)/ quero so/ o silencio (...)", HPX: 37; "vento é (...)/ vento é (...)/ vento é (...)/ vento é (...)", HPX: 38; "terra (...) / terra (...) / terra (...) / terra (...) / terra (...) / HOX: 39) e ripresa di versi con variazioni ("para paz/ (...)/ para repaz", HPX: 13; "para ser um ser / (...)/ para voltar a ser um ser", HPX: 29); - syntactic parallelism ("libélulas aoam danças/aranhas cospem tranças; / morcegos ralham noites/ursos linguam potes; (...)", HPX: 10; "a folha/enquerendo ser lago/acontinenta o galho/o galho/ensendo fio de cabelo/gentifica a arve (...)", HPX: 19; "borbulha - é um resultato de fornicação. / comichão - é um sémen denunciando solidões", HPX: 20); A parallel structure is also exploited in two of the four prose texts inserted among the poems, "estória para wandy" and "estória para lueji", which present the same story narrated from two different points of view. The two texts show elements of the fairy tale genre and characteristics of the story performed orally, with direct interaction with the reader, reconstructing the atmosphere of the story narrated by the griot and of the social and ritual experience of storytelling: "quero dizer-lhe: muito mais velhos começam assim uma estória: "quero dizer-lhe: muito mais velhos começam assim uma estória: 'era uma vez...', não começaremos em mais crença: é uma vez umamina uma menina que sabia uma estória." (HPX: 22). The reconstruction of oral interaction is sought through the use of punctuation and by addressing the reader directly throughout the work ("mas!,essa, dificil..., dificil...", HPX: 47; "mas!, o segredo:", HPX: 20; "quero dizer-lhe:", HPX: 22; "se não me põe crenças, queira explicar:", HPX: 22, 23; "- desconto-lhe esse segredinho -", HPX: 23; "[enquerendo conhecer a outra vertentea estória, procure lueji]", HPX: 22, "[enquerendo conhecer a outra vertentea estória, procure wandy]", HPX: 23). Characteristics of Angolan Portuguese emerge in the texts in a limited but significant way: in addition to the word reduplication mentioned before, we point out the presence of words of Kimbundu etymology, such as the noun "soba" (HPX: 11), which indicates the tribal chief, or the verb "xinguilar" ("xinguilar-me em cócegas", HPX: 13) to indicate a 'state of trance', from "(ku)xingila", and the use of the oblique pronoun 'Ihe(s)' in place of direct object pronoun (174-178): Orality is also linked to the author's utilization of phonosymbolism, with particular reference to the association of the postalveolar fricative [f] with the semantic domain of the ground ('chão') and the palatal nasal [n] with the semantics of knowledge ('conhecer'). These associations operate by interpolation in the formation of words to increase the semantic layers of the words, as happens in "poucochinho" (ex. 90), which combines the semantics of the minor and the ground, or in "sanguenhecer-me" (ex. 5), which associates physical pain and self-knowledge, or again in "chãonhe-ser-me" (ex. 180), in which the sphere of the ground and that of knowledge are merged. Finally, we record the inversion of noun and indefinite adjectives, with an emphatic effect that suggests a pause in the rhythm, once again recalling performed storytelling ("é missão para uma toda vida", HPX: 22; "essa toda gente veio falar", HPX: 22; "o todo universo se soluça constantemente", HPX: 23; "em cegueira chegou-te uma tamba vida", HPX: 28). ### c) Language play Language play in HPX combines ludic elements that refer to childhood and linguistic manipulation and includes puns, wordplays obtained by word division into syntagmatic formations, and transformation by analogy through lexical blending or substitution. Syntagmatic formations (179-184) are obtained by breaking a word into syntagms to get homophone or pseudo-homophone expressions for the source word, playing on the polysemy created by the layering of new meanings on the semantic traits of the original word. This intriguing technique, not frequent in Manoel de Barros (an example is "tuiuiú" > "tu-you-you", BARROS, 2010: 341), occurs on several occasions in HPX; the relevance of this type of wordplay is demonstrated by its use in the title of the book. (179) arre pio-me (HPX: 8, 34) > arrepio-me (180) chāonhe-ser-me (HPX: 7) > conhecer-me (181) des-ser-me (HPX: 7) > descer-me (182) há predisagens (HPX: 1) > prédisagens (183) Arve Jánāoélógica (HPX: 19) > genealógica (184) Quinto Mim Guante (HPX: 34) > minguante Of a more playful nature are the manipulations of names that exploit analogy, forming new terms following the patterns of the source words but with interferences introduced by the transformation. Thus, for example, (185-186) are re-created respectively after Dom Quixote de la Mancha and Grande Sertão: Veridas and the names of the masters honored by Ondjaki refer to them as salient characteristics: writing in prose (187) and the preference for short fiction (190), the poetics of the soil and the dirty, 'sujo' (188), the city of Luanda/Luuanda (189). (187) guimarães prosa (Guimaraes Rosa) (188) manoel de barro (Manoel de Barros) (189) luuandino vieira (Luandino Vieira) (190) miaconto (Mia Couto) Another type of pun (191-195) is based on the associations evoked by the morphemes that make up a word, exploring deviations in meaning based on false etymologies, or providing explanations on the etymology of words that compose neologisms: (191) existe o piar dopio? (HPX:20) (192) a passarada/faz passar ar/ou passeia no ar? (HPX: 20) (193) visgadeira é o visco de recolocar madeira (HPX: 34) (194) nuar / (que não é so estar para nudezes mas aínda ser nu) (HPX: 38) (195) chāotoria: quando encostando ouvido no chāo (...ouve-se uma opera-de-chāo, à qual también se chama chāotoria. (HPX:47) Even the repetitions, a constitutive specificity of HPX, contribute to language play, especially through the repetition of elements with inversion of the suffixes, as in (196) and (197): (196) ríos na madeira para aquecimento de ouvidos (...) cócegas na árvore para aquecidos ouvimentos (HPX: 11) (197) geadações e orvalhamentos (...) orvalhação e geadamento (HPX: 38-39) Youth and carefree play are also recalled by the reference to tickling and laughter ("cócega", "comichão", "riso/risada") and by the extensive use of diminutives (among others: "poucochinho", "corridinho", "distanciaçãozinha", "patinhas", "patitas", "segredinho", "farpinhas", "madereinhas", "tronquinhos", "barulhinhos", "sorrisinhos", "segundinhos"). Childhood also echoes in questions of curiosity and discovery, as in the poem "Mas existe?", and in the tone of complicity that is established in the verses ("mas! o segredo:", HPX: 20; "- desconto-Ihe esse segredinho -", HPX: 23). ### d) Syntactic deviation From the point of view of syntax, in addition to the features highlighted for the spoken language (see 5.2.), we find a peculiar use of the prepositions 'para' and 'de', alterations in the degree of transitivity, and an overabundance of first-person singular oblique/reflexive pronoun. The prepositions 'para' and 'de' are widespread, helping to summarize key concepts in just a few words. 'Para' can have the meaning of: direction towards; proximity, being about to; concerning; capacity, adequate to; intention; utility, for the benefit of; for the purpose of (HOUAISS, 2001): (202) aburacações varías para laboriosas existênciações (HPX: 12) (203) furo peles para o chão sanguenhecer-me (HPX: 13) (204) folha é parede verde para sol chegar (HPX: 15) (205) o suicidado foi um apressado/para desconhecimientos (HPX: 16) (206) sementes para flores salinas (HPX: 16) (207) enrazoado para espreitações (HPX: 17) (208) sementes para flores salinas (HPX: 17) (209) ser folha é nem sempre estar para sol (HPX: 19) (210) o pássaro/ganhou enjoo para chão? (HPX: 20) (211) a coisa se revoltou para averdades (HPX: 23) (212) espelho para céu narcisar-se (HPX: 23) (213) you fingir-me para doenças (HPX: 34) (214) eu desaguava también para ríos? (HPX: 35) (215) tendência para ferrugem (HPX: 35) (216) não é só estar para nudezes (HPX: 38) (217) um bicho apetece-se para dizeres (HPX: 38) (218) tem vontade para risos (HPX: 44) (219) ganha dependências para a sede (HPX: 44) In the recorded occurrences, the use of prepositions can intervene to alter the syntax, as in (201), (210), (213), and in many cases, it can contain more than one meaning; for example, in (198) the preposition can express both the meaning of 'direction' and 'being ready' or 'adequate to', while in (204) it can mean 'being adequate to', 'being ready to' or 'about to', or even 'have the purpose of'. In the juxtaposition of the meanings of displacement, purpose, and function, 'para' summarizes transformation, and change of state in a meaning close to that of the construction 'estar para + noun/infinitive' (as in ex. 216), whose meaning is 'being on the verge of' (HOYOS, 1980), also intensified by the presence of the expression 'a punto de' ("a punto de cócegas MUTUAS", HPX: 31; "afogar-se a punto de âncora", (HPX: 38): in the advancement of existential research through poetry, metamorphosis, the "repessoar-se" (HPX: 5) opens a new cycle of research, marking the stages of a path that is completed precisely by its incompleteness, since there should be no limit to the individual's capacity for change and regeneration through poetry. In this ceaseless transfiguration, the role and function of the individual and the entities involved are reconfigured in the ramifications and repersonifications that the writing process allows, in that multiplication of the experience suggested by Couto (2001), and symbolized in Ondjaki's HPX by the form of a labyrinth ("borboletabirinto", "formigabirintico", "biolabirinto"). The semantic sphere of function and purpose observed in relation to 'para' is also reiterated through the preposition 'de', among whose various meanings we stress for Ondjak's discourse: instrument, way, means, cause, purpose, possession: (224) visco de recolocar madeira (HPX: 35) (225) grita de estar sozinho (HPX: 46) The preposition also occurs with different functions in sentences like: "pode acrescer de una vida" (HPX: 16), "fui revisitarao de vozes" (HPX: 34), "encarecem-se de espelhos" (HPX: 39). We also report the more sporadic presence of the preposition 'a' in structures with syntactic deviation, as in "imitando-me ao morcego" (HPX: 23), in which both the preposition and the reflexive pronoun are superfluous, or in "você compromete-se a returnos" (HPX: 34), in which the preposition is followed by a noun, while the regency would require the presence of the verb. The same type of unfamiliar effect is obtained by using the noun to replace sentences, as is the case of the 'conjunction + noun' pattern in "em cima de mimengo quando chão" (HPX: 46). Ondjaki's writing hence relevantly involves prepositions in the construction of meaning, contributing to the brevity of the verses and their semantic expansion: the insistence on a limited number of prepositions suggests their strategic use, which leads back to the conceptual sphere of function altered from the common conception to transformation. A similar effect is produced through alterations in the degree of transitivity of the verb: (226) libélulas avoam danças (HPX: 12) (227) desorbito olhos/e reorbito-me luas (HPX: 13) (228) iris desfalecendo humididades (HPX: 16) (229) salivo sois (HPX: 13) In the example above, the degree of transitivity of the verb has been increased, suggesting the flow of the action directly on the object. There are numerous cases in which the action or transformation expressed by the verb falls directly on the poetic subject, as evidenced by the extremely high occurrence of the oblique and reflexive pronoun of the first person singular 'me', both in standard syntax and in contexts of syntactic deviation. (230) chovo-me folhas (HPX: 13) (231) reorbito-me luas (HPX: 13, 48) (232) afogueiro-me fumos (HPX: 13) (233) chovo-me lágrimas/em sacudir de mins (HPX: 14) (234) cuspir... gargantadentro (...) engolir-me para mim (HPX: 7) (235) esculpir-me aarro (HPX: 7) (236) atropelo-me por bichinhos (HPX: 13) (237) imitating-me ao morcego (HPX: 27) (238) fingir-me de adoenças (HPX: 35) (239) exercitei-me de raiz, (240) eu libelulizo-me (HPX: 10) (241) apulgo-me (HPX: 13) (242) em saudadeando-me (HPX: 47) (243) infinituar-me (HPX: 37) (244) na provação, soube-me (HPX: 16b) (245) pensei-me (HPX: 42) (246) chaonhe-ser-me (HPX: 7) (247) sanguenhecer-me (HPX: 13) (248) reattribuir-me a atomo (HPX: 7) (249) arre e pio-me de silencios (HPX: 8) (250) banho-me de pingos (HPX: 13) (251) xinguilar-me em cócegas (HPX: 13) (252) chibatando-me de ventos (HPX: 13) (253) compus-me de lamas. (HPX: 16b) (254) vitimizei-me (HPX: 16b) (255) assim revelei-me (HPX: 27) (256) posso emprestar-me a cor do sol (HPX: 33) (257) me acandeeirem (HPX: 34) (258) refiz-me ao rio (HPX: 35) (259) descansei-me (HPX: 35) (260) afogar-me (HPX: 37) (261) me inciei nestas "predisajens" (HPX: 42) Cases (230-233) attest to the presence of the reflexive pronoun and direct object, while in (234-239), we observe syntactic deviations generated by the oblique complement; the lyrical subject of (240-243) is both the subject and the object of the verb denoting a change of state. The selected examples illustrate the overabundant presence of the first-person singular pronoun that focuses on the lyrical subject as the protagonist of HPX. ## VI. CONCLUSIONS HPX is in a dialogic relationship with the poetry of Manoel de Barros: the book represents a tribute to the Brazilian master and it takes up key features of his discourse, both on the poetic level and in the linguistic processes activated for the construction of meaning. However, the analysis of the literary language of this work reveals elements that differentiate Ondjaki's poetic writing, making it exclusive. We highlight in HPX the use of more radical techniques of language manipulation and language play, such as word blending, word division into syntagmatic formations, and alteration by analogy. Although the process of neological derivation is exceptionally productive in both poets, we note in Ondjaki the greater frequency of neologisms derived by parasynthesis and the formation of words with the prefix 'a-, by far the most productive in HPX, both in prefixation and parasynthesis neological formations. In contrast, in Barros the fulcrum of the poetics revolves around the prefix 'des-', less frequently occurring in HPX and referential connection to the Barrosian discourse. On the other hand, zero derivation neologisms (transcategorizations) are not recorded in HPX, whereas the process of suffixal derivation with grammatical class shift is a peculiar trait in both poets. The processes of syntactic deviation are less frequent in Ondjaki's work compared to Barros. However, our analysis detected a remarkable use of prepositions, especially the preposition 'para', and alterations in the degree of transitivity of the verb, with particular reference to cases in which the action falls on the lyrical subject. This feature demonstrates the different attitudes of the two poets: Barros seeks his answers in nature and, through its contemplation, dissolves himself to the point of being nature; Ondjaki, instead, engages in a quest of himself, directing the observation of external reality towards the goal of internal discovery. It is revealing that the book's opening composition, dedicated to Manoel de Barros and his chão, is devoted to this theme: Chao palavras para manoel de barros apetece-me des-ser-me, reattribuir-me a atomo. cuspir castanhos graos mas gargantadento, isto seja: engolir-me para mim poucochinho a cada vez. um por mais um: areios. assim esculpir-me a barro e re-ser chāo, mucho chāo. apeteceme chaoonhe-ser-me. (Ondjaki, 2002: 11) The external world as the ultimate goal of annihilation of the self, in Manoel de Barros; the self as the ultimate goal in which to dissolve the experience of the external world, in Ondjaki. Another central factor in HPX is orality, a dimension that embraces not only traits and constructions of the spoken language but also mechanisms and strategies of storytelling, with particular reference to repetitions and the reconstruction of the participatory dimension of narration. The immediacy of the interaction is also reflected in the different approaches to childhood and poetry. Whereas in Barros, we witness a reflective and absorbed writing in which childhood re-emerges recalled by memory beyond the indefinite space interposed by time, in HPX, youth is a manifestation of the present, as appears in the playful attitude towards verse. The imaginative power of the word permeates the border between reality and fiction in the poems, making it a fragile, insignificant barrier in the face of the potential of the world augmented by spontaneous creativity. In Barros, the cancellation of the distance between fiction and reality is a side result of the search for coincidence between object and word, in a destructuring path that proceeds towards the reduction to the essential, also exploring the absence of word and the existential nothingness; on the other hand, Ondjaki offers a semantic expansion implemented by incorporating meaning by a process of addition. It is no coincidence that, according to what the author reported in the appendix to HPX, Manoel de Barros referred in his correspondence with Ondjaki to the presence of "exagers," exaggerations, in his work (HPX: 50). The tension towards overabundance that characterizes HPX's poems is also reflected in the dilatation of the formal space of the poetic text, which invades the paratextual elements, integrating them into the poetic project, exploring their potential in the construction of meaning and demonstrating how everything in Ondjaki flows into the conception of literature as a performing art. In light of what has been said, we can see that the profound deciphering of HPX's literary language in its three-dimensionality as a linguistic-literary-cultural phenomenon demonstrates how the main lines of poetics are expressed in a language with its peculiarities. This language is intimately influenced by the dimension of orality, and is articulated in a dense network of correspondences organized at a linguistic level to activate the polysemy of the text, also through dialogue with the work of Manoel de Barros, configuring a unique work in the context of Ondjak's production. [^1]: The quotes in this paper are taken from the 2011 edition reported in the References (ONDJAKI, 2011a). _(p.3)_ [^2]: ONDJAKI, Lectio Magistralis "A Literatura e a História de Angola: os caminhos pos-coloniais", 21 Oct 2022, University of Salento, Italy, unpublished. _(p.5)_ [^6]: (199) engolir-me para mim (HPX: _(p.12)_ [^7]: (200) as estrelas grilaram-se para sonos (HPX: _(p.12)_ [^9]: (201)下乡, 23 _(p.12)_ [^35]: (221) flores de sacudir sal (HPX: _(p.12)_ [^38]: (222) ponte de levar pessoas (HPX: _(p.12)_ [^41]: (176) rode Ihes adormecer (HPX: _(p.11)_ [^42]: (177) Ihe abocanhe (HPX: _(p.11)_ [^46]: (223) agua rara de ser ingerida a conta ras gotas (HPX: 29) _(p.12)_

Generating HTML Viewer...