Sens de l'enonce et carte neuronale

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

It is by no means unusual for linguistic theories to dispense with constraints from adjacent disciplines, and to do so, on perfectly legitimate methodological grounds. However, where is a need to refer to sub-personal aspects (such as “cheminement interprétatif” or “topos”), linguistic theories are particularly at risk of postulating entities and processes that may not be supported by cognitive or neurocognitive findings. Is this the case for Anscombre and Ducrot’s argumentation theory (TADL)? I will argue that despite its anti-cognitive stance, the TADL presents some systematic correlations with Damasio’s model of brain functions. Its conception of utterance meaning, in particular, bears a strong resemblance to Damasio’s brain maps for objects, in that in both cases we are dealing with a tripartite structure which includes references to the context of production (or perception), and to appropriate responses, alongside information concerning the object of representation. The hypothesis being put forward is that utterance meaning inherited this structure from brain maps, and is subject to the same mode of memory encoding, one construed in terms of convergence-divergence zones. This level of correlation is not surprising if argumentative phenomena, as construed by the TADL, were to be looked upon as linked to survival.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)85-106
Number of pages21
JournalRevue de Semantique et Pragmatique
Volume? 2011
Issue number29-30
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2013

Keywords

  • utterance meaning, topos, argumentative component, brain map, convergence-divergence zone. sens de l'enonce, topos, composantes argumentatives. carte neuronale, zone de convergence et divergence

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