Euphémisation du discours journalistique et cadrage dialogique

Abstract

In the socio-discursive perspective of Bakhtinian dialogism, we examine some euphemisms that circulate in informative texts of the current French-language digital press. They build diffuse references to what is said in the doxa, summoning shared opinions and views. In the designation of an object, the euphemistic expressions turn out to be elements carrying external echoes that the speakers use a priori for reasons of self-control with respect to others. By relying on a semantic and pragmatic approach, we will see how the meaning evolves and the subject is minimized. Thus, the discourse oscillates between saying what has been said elsewhere and not really saying what is really at stake in discourse. In addition, the euphemisms appear formally without any distinctive graphic mark which isolates them from the rest of the utterance, whether they belong to the journalist or they derive from a reported speech.