Pour une archéologie du sens figuré

Abstract

V. Nyckees : Towards an archeology of figurative meaning Cognitive semantics postulates that specific mental mechanisms belonging to the human imagination, namely metaphorical and metonymical mappings, are involved in semantic changes. Nevertheless, a thorough examination reveals the weakness of this theory. I therefore advocate a radically different analysis which allows us to do without these postulated cognitive mechanisms. Systematizing Meillet's observations about the role of « discontinuity in transmission » in semantic change, I propose, for each case studied, to look for what circumstances in collective experience can make the discrepancy between the new and the former meaning imperceptible to the speakers themselves. I argue that a semantic change at its decisive moment must most often perform in a covert way, without its instigators' knowledge. The efficiency and heuristic fruitfulness of this method is illustrated in this paper by the study of certain Latin polysemous words expressing not only a physical bond but also a juridical obligation (obligare, obligatio, nectere, obstringere, solvere, absolvere). Cognitive semantics postulates that specific mental mechanisms belonging to the human imagination, namely metaphorical and metonymical mappings, are involved in semantic changes. Nevertheless, a thorough examination reveals the weakness of this theory. I therefore advocate a radically different analysis which allows us to do without these postulated cognitive mechanisms. Systematizing Meillet's observations about the role of « discontinuity in transmission » in semantic change, I propose, for each case studied, to look for what circumstances in collective experience can make the discrepancy between the new and the former meaning imperceptible to the speakers themselves. I argue that a semantic change at its decisive moment must most often perform in a covert way, without its instigators' knowledge. The efficiency and heuristic fruitfulness of this method is illustrated in this paper by the study of certain Latin polysemous words expressing not only a physical bond but also a juridical obligation (obligare, obligatio, nectere, obstringere, solvere, absolvere).