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Kalbotyra
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This is an Open Access Journal

Open Access journal
ISSN (Print) 1392-1517 - ISSN (Online) 2029-8315
Published by Vilnius University

[38 journals]

Editorial Board and Table of Contents
- Authors: Aurelija Usonienė
  Pages: 1 - 9
  PubDate: 2021-09-15
  Issue No: Vol. 74 (2021)
Présentation. «Le mot dans la langue et dans le discours: la
construction du sens»
- Authors: Vita Valiukienė
  Pages: 10 - 13
  PubDate: 2021-09-15
  Issue No: Vol. 74 (2021)
À contrecœur ‘unwillingly’, de bon cœur ‘heartily’, de tout
cœur ‘with all my heart’: On the compositionality of idioms
- Authors: Thomas Bertin
  Pages: 14 - 34
  Abstract: This study deals with meaning construction in idiomatic phrases (locutions figées/figements). We focus on three French idioms involving the word cœur (à contrecœur, de bon cœur, de tout cœur). To begin, we give a brief account of idiomaticity’s typical criteria, insisting on the common idea that idioms are semantically opaque (non-compositional): their meanings are not a combination of literal meanings (Gross 1996). We argue that another point of view is productive. Indeed, using the notion of “holistic compositionality” (Gosselin 2013), we investigate the way meaning may arise from the combination of words’ abstract semantic contributions (compositionality principle) and take shape contextually (contextuality principle). The primary goal of the study is to analyze the meaning of à contrecœur, de bon cœur, de tout cœur using this approach – which happens to be more accurate than the literal meaning combination approach. To achieve this goal for each of these three idioms: (1) we examine a sample of 200 utterances (and the contexts in which they occur) coming from a large data-source (frWaC) and (2) we take advantage of previous semantic descriptions of cœur (Bertin 2018, 2019), contre (Amiot & De Mulder 2003; Paillard 2003), bon (Katz 1964) and tout (Bat-Zeev Shyldkrot 1995). These two methodological tools shed light on the operation of the semantic mechanism and emphasize the relevance of the “holistic compositionality” approach when applied to idioms’ meaning construction.
  PubDate: 2021-09-15
  DOI: 10.15388/Kalbotyra.2021.74.1
  Issue No: Vol. 74 (2021)
Downward movement: (se) baisser ‘to fall’
- Authors: Joanna Cholewa
  Pages: 35 - 48
  Abstract: This article aims to disambiguate the French verb baisser, which describes the downward movement of an entity, and to present its conceptual structure. Our approach is strongly based on the belief that the meaning of the word is conceptual, and that it reflects the world being looked at, not the real world (Honeste 1999, 2005). Our interest will focus on the locative and abstract meanings of the chosen verb, the uses of which we will study. Each use is a set formed by a predicate, defined by its arguments whose field is delimited by the predicate itself (Gross 2015). Arguments are defined using object classes. Each use is illustrated by a single sentence and a translation into Polish, the translation being a synonym of a word in another language. The type of event described by the verb will be studied, taking into account: the situation described by the verb (kinematic, dynamic, according to Desclés 2003, 2005); belonging to one of the four groups of verbs of movement, distinguished by Aurnague (2012) according to two parameters: change of location and change of elementary locative relwation; polarity (initial, median and final, according to Borillo 1998). Baisser has twelve uses (locative and abstract). Their invariant meaning is downwards movement, which is conceptualized in different ways: displacement of an entity downwards in physical space, but also as a decrease along a scale: of quantifiable value, of sound, of luminosity, intensity or quality, and finally of physical strength and of quality.
  PubDate: 2021-09-15
  DOI: 10.15388/Kalbotyra.2021.74.2
  Issue No: Vol. 74 (2021)
On the discursive construction of the multiple meanings of
francophonie/francophone viewed through the prism of argumentative
semantics
- Authors: Ana-Maria Cozma
  Pages: 49 - 71
  Abstract: This paper addresses the issue of polysemy, and more precisely of multiple meanings in the case of the words francophonie/francophone from the perspective of argumentative semantics. The aim of the paper is to examine the mechanisms that account for the multiple meanings of francophonie/francophone, i.e. the semantic and discursive mechanisms involved in the (re)construction of lexical meaning as the words occur in discourse. The data analysed in this paper consists of a set of discourse fragments about francophone identity, discourses that vary according to the speaker, the geographical location and the media support. The study is carried out within the framework of the SAP theory (Semantics of Argumentative Possibilities), following a procedure based on a pre-built reference meaning – i.e. a description of the argumentative potential of the lexeme – that will be used when analysing the discursive occurrences. First, the paper briefly presents the SAP theory and the pre-built reference meaning of the lexemes francophonie/francophone (described in terms of core-elements, stereotypes and argumentative possibilities). It then illustrates several discursive mechanisms of meaning construction. The analysis highlights a series of meaning construction mechanisms: transgressive activation of the argumentative potential, reconfiguration by scission of the core-elements or by deletion of one of the elements, modality addition, transgressive reconstruction of the core meaning, and finally core circularity. Thus, the paper indicates, from the perspective of argumentative semantics, that the multiple meanings of the words francophonie/francophone, i.e. the various semantic configurations attached to these words, can be seen as reconfigurations of a single lexical meaning.
  PubDate: 2021-09-15
  DOI: 10.15388/Kalbotyra.2021.74.3
  Issue No: Vol. 74 (2021)
The adjective: an eminently syncategorematic part of speech
- Authors: Jan Goes
  Pages: 72 - 87
  Abstract: In this article we propose an alternative to the theories which subdivide the adjective into three major types (qualifier, relational, adjective of the third type), themselves subdivided into several subclasses. We believe instead that there is only one adjectival lexeme with different uses (unitary hypothesis). To do this, we start from the two ways of looking for the adjectival prototype: on the one hand, the abstract prototype built by accumulating criteria, on the other, the semantic prototype. We examine the behavior of occurrences of the abstract prototype (admirable, monumental) and the semantic prototype (grand) with respect to gradation, the attributive function (more specifically the place of the adjective) and the predicative function. The examples show not only that the two prototype models can be reconciled, but above all that the behavior and the meaning of any adjective depend in large part on the noun it qualifies, a result which confirms our unitary hypothesis. The syntactic-semantic dependence of the adjective on the supporting substantive is such that it can be concluded that the adjective is a syncategorematic part of speech, rather than a polysemous one.
  PubDate: 2021-09-15
  DOI: 10.15388/Kalbotyra.2021.74.4
  Issue No: Vol. 74 (2021)
Functioning and oral interpretation of initialisms and acronyms in the
French daily press
- Authors: Ulfet Zakir oglu Ibrahim
  Pages: 88 - 103
  Abstract: This article explores initialisms and acronyms taken from newspapers in the French press. In this article, using data from our study of abbreviated words, we attempt to answer the following questions: How can we shorten a word in French' What are the correct forms (means) of pronunciation of initialisms and acronyms' Can an initialism be considered as a separate (common) word' Before investigating the origin and function of various abbreviations in the French press, the preferred modality of each era, or even the basic rationales behind using such abbreviations, we define a term for abbreviated forms. It seems important to us to present our own definition and to illustrate in detail the problems of the subject. French uses four forms of abbreviated words to help create new words and build vocabulary. These four main forms of abbreviated words are: initials, acronyms, abbreviations, and truncations. At the same time, our goal in this article is to clarify the problem of pronunciation of initialisms and acronyms. To achieve our goal, we used a survey methodology conducted among people from different social groups and ages, in order to determine forms of oral speech and decipher abbreviations of the French daily press. Based on our research, we created a data table on the pronunciation of initialisms in French. The corpus elements and the survey conducted provide us with reliable data on the functioning, interpretation and decoding of abbreviated words in modern French. The survey results allow us to observe the fact that there are two main ways of using abbreviations in French: reading and spelling. Our analysis shows that the obligation to use reading to write an acronym depends, in part, on a number of formal conditions. One of these conditions is the syllable and phonetic structure of acronyms. In conclusion, based on the survey results, we describe the table and types of abbreviations in the corpus of our study.
  PubDate: 2021-09-15
  DOI: 10.15388/Kalbotyra.2021.74.5
  Issue No: Vol. 74 (2021)
Outline of a Linguistic Model for the Study of Emerging Naming
- Authors: Agata Jackiewicz
  Pages: 104 - 123
  Abstract: The article presents the outline of a linguistic model that is part of a methodology for identifying and analyzing emerging or referentially unstable namings, such as cultural appropriation, street harassment, climate refugee or ecocide. The model and the method are intended to guide the interpretation – manual or semi-automatic – of the referential expressions, according to the semantic-cognitive type of the designated entity (human entity, social process, event, etc.), but also taking into account interdiscursive negotiations that affect the choice of terms and their uses. The proposed approach is original and is based on several guiding ideas: (1) take into account the complexity of the naming and the entanglement of his different facets which are categorization, meaning, performativity and valuation (desirability, preferences, social norms), (2) target the development phase of the naming (observe how speakers deal with the unstable): for this purpose, we will use the notion of identification between weak or identified entities and strong or reference entities, (3) report in an integrated way the referential elaboration of knowledge, the lexical and semantic elaboration of expressions, and the expression of intersubjective attitudes. The scientific framework combines three main disciplinary areas: automatic language processing (construction and representation of knowledge, reference), semantics (elaboration of meanings) and discourse analysis (interdiscursive elaboration of concepts and terms).
  PubDate: 2021-09-15
  DOI: 10.15388/Kalbotyra.2021.74.6
  Issue No: Vol. 74 (2021)
Qualifying Adjectives and Saturation by Ethos
- Authors: Dominique Maingueneau
  Pages: 124 - 140
  Abstract: Since the end of the 1990s, research on discursive ethos – the image of the speaker which is projected by his or her utterance – has been very active in discourse analysis. It contributes to a better understanding of how an enunciation can attract the support of addressees. But in general, this research 1) focuses on isolated texts or individual speakers, not on discursive formations, 2) does not take into account the lexicon when it does not have clear ideological content. On the contrary, this article deals with the role played by some French polysemous adjectives (simple, doux, clair) to make the incorporation (Maingueneau 1999) of readers or listeners possible, to make them adhere to the universe of meaning that is proposed to them. This point of view is first illustrated by the study of an advertising text, before being applied to large discursive formations: a religious movement (“devout humanism”) of the first half of the 17th century; and, in the political field, two antagonistic positions in France under the French Third Republic (1870–1940): the handbooks of Republican School and the monarchist movement “l’Action Française”. We are led to conclude that adjectives, by their polysemy, “saturate discourse.” Through ethos, discourse does not only persuade by the ideas it delivers: it also sets the addressee in a speech scene that partakes of the semantic characteristics of the ideological universe that discourse aims to promote.
  PubDate: 2021-09-15
  DOI: 10.15388/Kalbotyra.2021.74.7
  Issue No: Vol. 74 (2021)
Author Guidelines and Bibliographic Data
- Authors: Aurelija Usonienė
  Pages: 296 - 296
  PubDate: 2021-09-15
  Issue No: Vol. 74 (2021)