La construction du patrimoine by Valérie Rochaix

Abstract

Reviewed by: La construction du patrimoine by Valérie Rochaix H. Jay Siskin Rochaix, ValÉrie. La construction du patrimoine. L'Harmattan, 2020. ISBN 978-2-343-19317-5. Pp. 268. Rochaix's work is certainly a noteworthy achievement. Her analysis of the word/theme of patrimoine is subjected to a variety of critical approaches, clarified by visuals that distill the essence of her argument. At the same time, the scope of her achievement is limited. It is expected that technical writing be expressed in a high register, in a jargon shared by fellow specialists. In this case, given the content and Rochaix's writing style, it is clear that the intended audience is her equally specialized peers, a very small group comprising her immediate academic environment. Chapter 1 starts out tamely, in terms of comprehension. The author analyzes the etymology and diachronic evolution of the term patrimoine. Although the subject matter is specialized, it is expressed in a fully comprehensible manner (albeit with a few speed bumps) until the final statement of the argument. It is at this point that I began to despair that the book might alienate readers due to its extreme opacity: "Postulant que l'intégration d'un artefact dans le champ patrimonial modifie les propriétés sémantiques du nominal qui le désigne, par quels mécanismes sémantico-discursifs et pragmatico-discursifs s'opère ce processus de cinétisme ?" (26). I am not criticizing the author for her choice of language, which appropriately reflects her credentials. I cite it rather as an exemplum of the comprehension barriers that become more and more frequent as the reader seeks to understand the content of the subsequent chapters. Rochaix outlines the theoretical bases of her work in chapter 2. These are many and complementary, although I suspect that they are not entirely familiar to a North American linguist. Of course, speech act theory has been widely disseminated and elaborated. The specialized sémantique des arguments possibles (SPA) is perhaps less known, but occupies a prominent place in this chapter. Other scholarly points are even further removed from the knowledge set of the researcher. Chapter 3 is devoted to an intensive and exclusive analysis of the notion of patrimoine, in particular its occurrence in collocations, which occupies a great deal of textual territory. Equally elaborated in chapter 4 is a semantico-discursive analysis of the noun and verb patrimonialisation/patrimonialiser. As a finale, Rochaix hopes to open the discussion to a larger audience. Trop tard! From its very inception, it is clear that this is a work for the initiated. Given Rochaix's mastery of the topic, I can strongly recommend it to philosophers of language, whose research spans the fields of diachronic linguistics, with a particular attention to semantic theory. Nonetheless, as I have demonstrated, this audience is quite restricted and does not resonate with the pedagogical goals of our organization. [End Page 268] H. Jay Siskin University of California, Santa Cruz Copyright © 2022 American Association of Teachers of French