Le Cluny, le Champollion : d'un emploi non prototypique de nom propre modifié

Abstract

Beside the French pattern Le Hugo de 1870, la Bretagne des années 30, another naming structure which has not been studied yet can be found: it combines a syntactical modifying process and a semantic feature in a new type of proper name allowing a speaker to refer to individuals such as a restaurant (le Cluny), a theater (le Champollion), a litterature prize (le Goncourt)… Through a morphosyntactical analysis, one first naming pattern can be isolated; this pattern is characterized by a speaker’s choice between a type LE N Npr (le prix Goncourt) and a shorter one, LE Npr (le Goncourt). Another type can be found where the actual naming form is the shorter one: Le Cluny vs ?le restaurant Cluny; le Champollion vs ?le cinéma Champollion. Then we assume that the definite article can be interpreted in a naming theory model where a proper name like Cluny in Le Cluny is no longer a true proper name but a special sort of uniquely qualifying predicate. We finally show that the choice between LE N Npr and LE Npr is based upon a sort of pragmatic regulation we call a descriptive naming (signalétique de nomination) which can be exemplified in the same way, but in the field of class naming, by modified trade names like un Renault, un Bic.