B. Pottier, Images and Models in Semantics - Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics

French Literature Reviews - 2026

B. Pottier, Images and Models in Semantics
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics

Bernard Pottier, Images and Models in Semantics

Paris: Honoré Champion, coll. "Champion Essais", 2012.

EAN 9782745323507.

  • 192 pages. Paperback
  • 30 Eur

Publisher's overview:

The study of various languages clearly demonstrates specific features while revealing parallels and homologies that determine certain universal behaviors. Thus, there are elementary figures of meaning of a universal nature, derived from careful observation of linguistic and discourse facts, which account for the variety of formal (morphosyntactic) manifestations. It is conceivable that all cultures, and the languages expressing them, have ways of conveying futurity, intensity, doubt, quantity, distinctions between humans and other categories, and the types of relationships between objects and people. The essential task then becomes to search, among all varieties of signifiers, for those which, in a given language, express a specific categorization.

The study of linguistic facts makes it possible to formulate more general hypotheses belonging to a so-called "conceptual" level, hence the use of visual representations (schemas and graphs). In this regard, the thought of G. Guillaume subtly underlies many parts of this discussion.

At the center of the framework is the communicating subject, upon whom depend the "points of view" regarding events, which are envisioned from kinetic and dynamic perspectives. The aim is therefore to explore, guided by motivated terminology, the domains of MEANING involved in the functioning of language, thereby complementing Mental Representations and Linguistic Categorizations (2000).

Bernard Pottier is Professor Emeritus of General Linguistics at the University of Paris-Sorbonne and a Member of the Institut de France. His publications focus on semantics, Hispanic studies, and Amerindian languages (www.bernardpottier.net/).

The study of various languages clearly demonstrates specific features while revealing parallels and homologies that determine certain universal behaviors. Elementary figures of meaning of a universal nature are derived from careful observation of linguistic and discourse facts, which account for the variety of formal manifestations across cultures and languages.

Visual representations such as schemas and graphs are employed to articulate conceptual levels, drawing upon the thought of G. Guillaume which subtly underlies many parts of the discussion. Bernard Pottier is Professor Emeritus of General Linguistics at the University of Paris-Sorbonne and a Member of the Institut de France. Readers interested in semantics and general linguistics may find this volume relevant.