Contenu du sommaire : Représentations du sens lexical

This paper reviews the primary questions raised by lexical Semantics on the basis of the artefact noun livre « book ». Lexical Semantics must account for the unity of the meaning of a given sign, as well as for the ways in which this meaning explains the relation to other signs, to contextual interpretations and to reference. The tension between unity and diversity can be resolved by the view according to which lexical Semantics crystallises the relation between the subject and the object, rather than the objective properties of the object in question. After providing arguments in favour of that view, it is used to propose that a book is an artefact made for reading. Why this proposal accounts for the extent of unexpected uses is considered. How the other contributions to this special issue address the questions of unity, diversity of interpretation and relations between signs is discussed.

The heterogeneity of the semantic aspects of a noun such as livre « book » is approached in this paper through a systematic comparison with the near synonym volume « volume ». The latter implies a partitive interpretation that warrants its reference to content and not only to the material support. This is in line both with our endeavours on part / whole relations as a structuring factor of lexical meaning, and of the meronymic integration principle. A metonymic relation integrates the different aspects of meaning of nouns such as livre and book, that cannot be separated as autonomous entities. The view demonstrated in several earlier publications is argued to provide a better account of new arguments by Croft and Cruse, and the sequence Two books in one supposes an access to both information and material shape.

This paper contributes to the study of lexical semantics of the noun book in French. It considers the diversity of the noun's interpretations by reference to the theoretical framework of dynamic meaning construction (Victorri et Fuchs 1996). Meaning construction is considered as a dynamic process : the interpretation of each unit in an utterance, and the global meaning of the utterance itself, result from mutual adjustments. This is formalised through a topological representation produced from automatic procedures applied to large corpora. The formalisation helps spelling out the semantics of the noun under scrutiny. The relation between the different interpretations is specified through a core meaning, and the actualisation of an interpretation of that meaning is shown to proceed from contextual compatibilities.

A number of works in lexical semantics have emphasised the importance of what Cruse called « facets ». Facets are elements of meaning that refer to subclasses of properties along different dimensions, such as the physical properties of a book as well as its informational properties. Facets have been considered to be crucially involved in quantification and predication, as in Mary read all the books that preferably refers to informational properties as does Mary began to read the book. In this paper, I suggest that the importance of facets has been overestimated. Concerning quantification, I show that the informational facet restriction is a particular case of an overall mechanism of individuation, which reflects general constraints on the distinction of entities. Concerning the French verb commencer (‘to begin'), its distribution depends more on the type of the accommodated predicate than on the meaning of the nominal complement taken in isolation. Although facets play a significant role in interpretation, their function seems to derive from a complex array of constraints, not from intrinsic properties.

We analyse the French noun livre « book » according to an argumentative conception of language. A summary is presented of the theories of Anscombre (Theory of stereotypes) and of Carel and Ducrot (Theory of semantic blocks), which are used to reveal the argumentative dimensions of livre. Argumentation is argued to derive from a common sense system (Sarfati) leading to the ascription of doxa in language governed by a topoï-based device, which corresponds to discursive object. Semiotisation is supported by phenomenological processes : the Indexicality of meaning (Lebas 1999, Cadiot and Visetti 2001) is concerned at the Linguistic level with the construction of semantic forms along three dimensions of meaning, known in the Theory of semantic forms as motifs, profiles, and themes. The contributions of the discursive levels to the constitution of a semantic form are raised in view of the phenomenon of lexical anticipation. What we call “inserted motifs” reveals the genericity of Discursive Formations. In the course of “profiling”, these motifs constitute a pre-syntactic zone of stabilisation. The “doxic profiles” allows the construction of topoï by thematisation.

This paper argues in favour of the experiential origins of concept formation. It shows that a phenomenological perspective accounts for the openness and creativity of concepts as reflected by lexical items. The semantic behaviour of lexical items does not warrant a fixed series of properties. This is shown with reference to problems created by categorical traits, hyperonyms, and the assessment of the information / object polysemy in the analysis of the French noun livre « book ». The openness involves thematical, praxeological and discursive aspects that will each be defined.