Henning Nølke

French ènonciation linguistics : Some remarks on argumentation, polyphony and connectors

Abstract French énonciation linguistics deals with the énonciation taken as a whole, i.e. explicitly not accepting the sharp distinction between semantics and pragmatics which has given rise to so much debate in British and American linguistics. After a brief historical survey, I give a short introduction to my particular theoretical framework, arguing for a modular approach incorporating instructional semantics. I proceed to present two theories developed in this framework, namely the Theory of Argumentation within Language (TAL), which incorporates Lexical Argumentative Semantics, and the Scandinavian Theory of Polyphony, ScaPoLine. Finally the two theories are illustrated by means of a short study of some French connectors, with particular focus on donc.

The semantics of polyphony (and the pragmatics of realization)

Abstract Polyphony deals with the numerous points of view (POV) likely to be communicated through an utterance. After a brief historical review, this paper gives an introduction to the Scandinavian Theory of Linguistic Polyphony (ScaPoLine), which is a formal elaboration of Ducrots original ideas. The theory introduces a distinction between the polyphonic structure and the polyphonic configuration, which deal with linguistic coding and utterance meaning, respectively. The configuration is composed of POV, discourse entities (DE) held responsible for certain POV, and (enunciative) links between the POV and DE. The DE are constructed images of the discourse referents. The polyphonic structure is composed of instructions for the configuration and thus yields semantic constraints on the interpretation. The exact identification of the configuration is governed by general interpretation principles. The whole process is modelled in the theory, which thus proposes a formal description of the semantic-pragmatics interface. Special attention is paid to the speakers role, and it is shown how language creates different images of his verbal activities.