Contenu du sommaire : Synchronie et diachronie: du discours à la grammaire, sous la direction de Hava Bat-Zeev Shyldkrot

« Synchrony, diachrony, and pragmatics : from a dichotomy of language to structure within language » The first part of this study is devoted to an analysis of the theoretical and empirical relationships between diachrony and pragmatics. This analysis is followed by an investigation into the attitude of linguists — Saussure, his predecessors and his followers — with respect to synchrony and diachrony, and with respect to the place that can be assigned to pragmatics. This investigation paves the way for a comprehensive study of the possibilities of interaction between diachrony and pragmatics ; for this purpose it is necessary to present a systematic overview of pragmatics and to point to the areas of contact with a diachronic vantage point. Finally, the general problem of the relationship between pragmatics and diachrony is dealt with from a theoretical point of view : it is here that we face the problem of grammatical description in its relation to the history of speech (and of speaking), and this allows us to appreciate the vistas opened by the integration of pragmatics within diachrony.

« De quelques débats sur le rôle de la langue parlée dans les évolutions diachroniques » This paper discusses some widespread arguments about the influence exerted by spoken French on the diachronic general evolution of French syntax. The focus is put on four main topics : the search for first attested instances of syntactic « errors » in spoken French ; the impact of young generations « errors » ; différents ways of counting syntactic features involved in those errors ; the relations between such « errors » and some of the general syntactic evolutions of French language that can be listed during XXth century. The conclusion would be that spoken language is less influencial on the general evolution than usually asserted.

« La dichotomie synchronie-diachronie dans l'œuvre de Gustave Guillaume » G. Guillaume has never denied the interesting aspects of comparative and historical grammar, but he has denounced more than once its limitations and its insufficiences. He notes that the saussurian distinction between synchrony and diachrony « remains a bit sketchy ». He considers that historical grammar must extend its observations towards the history of systems, that is to say towards the diachrony of synchronies. For the distinction between synchrony and diachrony, he finally substitues a distinction between two diachronies : the diachrony of historical contributions and the diachrony of systematic relations. G. Guillaume insists on distinguishing, within the historical explanation, the retrospective point of view, which suffices to explain the morphological facts, from the prospective point of view, which enables to give an account of the structure of the system.

« L'évolution sémantique et pragmatique des adverbes déictiques ici, là, et là-bas » The semantic and pragmatic value of the French deictic adverbs ici, là, and là-bas has changed significantly between the pre-Classical language and the present day. The development of these items involves subjectification — a tendency for meanings « to become increasingly situated in the speakers subjective belief state or attitude towards the proposition ». At the same time, the data enable us to conclude that semantic change involving metaphor takes place within a « window » , and that forms can be affected by a given change only if they exist during the relevant period.

« L'article défini en ancien français : l'expression de la subjectivité dans le discours » Nearly all previous work on definiteness treats definite articles as strictly referential items, that is, as elements that help establish the exsitence of and pick out entities in the domain of discourse. However, such an analysis cannot account for all the facts concerning the definite article in Old French, for example, cases in which the definite article occurs in NPs with non-identifiable referents. I propose instead that the definite article possesses an expressive funcion, as a marker of prominence, in addition to its referential function. In this sense, it is a manifestation of the speaker's subjectivity in discourse.

« Tout : polysémie, grammaticalisation et sens prototypique » This paper aims to provide an analysis of the lexical item tout, generally recognized as an adjective, a pronoun, an adverb, a noun and even a conjunction (tout....que). We claim that prototype theory together with grammaticalization could provide an explanation for the polysemy of tout, showing that a semantic common denominator that overrides syntactic categories is in fact present. Combining synchrony and diachrony we show that the development of tout corresponds to a semantic model of the type : quantity>quality >concession.

« Les mots ne sont pas des fromages » : la dichotomie saussurienne diachronie/synchronie et la distribution du couple an/année en français actuel The distribution of the quasi-synonymous pair an/année in modern French presents a real problem for foreigners who only have one term to express the same notion in their native language. The author, analyzing Halmøy 79, Berthonneau 89, and Danell 90, among others, concludes that this is a typical case of linguistic stratification, i.e. a case of « temporary integration in a given structure of a previous system » (« un cas d'intégration momentanée à une structure donnée d'un système partiel antérieur ». Flydal 1951 : 240). Modern French presents a consistent synchronic system as far as syntax is concerned. The « residual » use of an, as in bon an, mal an, or s'en moquer comme de l'an quarante, etc., can be traced back to an earlier stage of the language.

« Système et histoire du système : l'évolution de ce que introducteur de subordonnées » This paper argues that a diachronic approch to the development of ce que within the interrogative-exclamative-relative framework furnishes an indispensable complement to the understanding of its present functioning. The history of the system provides a standard for apprehending the variety of discourse values and for imposing a hierarchy and structure on the complexity of the synchronic data.