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La polyphonie discursive: Pour un dialogisme ancré dans la langue et dans l’interaction
No full textThe aim of the present thesis is to develop a theoretical and methodological framework for the study of polyphony in discourse, and to apply it to the analysis of a speech by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to the European Parliament (EP). The Scandinavian theory of linguistic polyphony (ScaPoLine) describes the manner in which different linguistic markers – such as reported speech, epistemic modality, pragmatic connectives and negations – signal voices which do not correspond to that of the speaker at the time of utterance. When President Sarkozy says that “We must not be afraid of identities”, the negation signals that someone else has the opposite point of view. The identity of this individual or collective is not linguistically encoded, but might be inferred with the help of co(n)textual information. However, the presence of such voices does not depend on specific linguistic markers. Inspired by the philosophy of the Russian semiotician Mikhail Bakhtin, the linguistic theory of praxematics considers the presence of such voices to be a ubiquitous phenomenon. Discourse is fundamentally dialogical. No one speaks in complete isolation from what has been said before or without considering how the message will be received. The voice of “the other” is therefore present in any utterance, whether or not this presence is signalled by specific linguistic markers. The question is how this property of discourse can be theoretically described and systematically analysed. The ubiquitous nature of Bakhtin’s dialogism risks impeding its applicability. How can one analyse that which is everywhere? This theoretical problem can be resolved by delimiting a discursive polyphony, corresponding to the voices which occur as a function of the speaking subject’s communicative intention. Imagine telling an unsuspecting friend: “Your wife is faithful”. He would likely wonder who has said otherwise. There is an implicit voice which is not linguistically signalled but which appears in light of the utterance’s co(n)text. The theoretical discussion is followed by the development of a methodological framework for the analysis of discursive polyphony. The challenge is both to explain the interpretation of utterances containing polyphonic markers in co(n)text, as well as to account for possible polyphonic interpretations of utterances which do not contain such markers. The modular approach developed by the Geneva school of discourse analysis represents a systematic analytical tool, by treating discourse as a complex phenomenon which consists of several linguistic, textual and situational subsystems, or modules. In the analysis of discursive polyphony, the linguistic phase (based on the ScaPoLine) is coupled with the analysis of the relation between different parts of the text structure (e.g. argumentation or reformulation), as well as with situational parameters. This framework is applied to a segment of Sarkozy’s speech, in which he promotes a European identity while maintaining the need to preserve national identities. By doing so, he positions himself between federalist and nationalist voices in the EP, thereby striking a conciliatory note. He then says: “Human rights are part of the European identity”. Linguistically monophonic, the utterance gives rise to other voices in light of co(n)textual factors. In this case, Sarkozy is in opposition to a collective Euro-sceptic voice, while aligning himself with a federalist and interventionist voice. The notion of discursive polyphony can serve to describe how voices are mobilised and constructed strategically in verbal interactions, by means of both linguistic and discursive mechanisms
Diskursiv polyfoni: en dialogisme med forankring i språk og samhandling
No full textThe aim of the present thesis is to develop a theoretical and methodological framework for the study of polyphony in discourse, and to apply it to the analysis of a speech by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to the European Parliament (EP). The Scandinavian theory of linguistic polyphony (ScaPoLine) describes the manner in which different linguistic markers – such as reported speech, epistemic modality, pragmatic connectives and negations – signal voices which do not correspond to that of the speaker at the time of utterance. When President Sarkozy says that “We must not be afraid of identities”, the negation signals that someone else has the opposite point of view. The identity of this individual or collective is not linguistically encoded, but might be inferred with the help of co(n)textual information. However, the presence of such voices does not depend on specific linguistic markers. Inspired by the philosophy of the Russian semiotician Mikhail Bakhtin, the linguistic theory of praxematics considers the presence of such voices to be a ubiquitous phenomenon. Discourse is fundamentally dialogical. No one speaks in complete isolation from what has been said before or without considering how the message will be received. The voice of “the other” is therefore present in any utterance, whether or not this presence is signalled by specific linguistic markers. The question is how this property of discourse can be theoretically described and systematically analysed. The ubiquitous nature of Bakhtin’s dialogism risks impeding its applicability. How can one analyse that which is everywhere? This theoretical problem can be resolved by delimiting a discursive polyphony, corresponding to the voices which occur as a function of the speaking subject’s communicative intention. Imagine telling an unsuspecting friend: “Your wife is faithful”. He would likely wonder who has said otherwise. There is an implicit voice which is not linguistically signalled but which appears in light of the utterance’s co(n)text. The theoretical discussion is followed by the development of a methodological framework for the analysis of discursive polyphony. The challenge is both to explain the interpretation of utterances containing polyphonic markers in co(n)text, as well as to account for possible polyphonic interpretations of utterances which do not contain such markers. The modular approach developed by the Geneva school of discourse analysis represents a systematic analytical tool, by treating discourse as a complex phenomenon which consists of several linguistic, textual and situational subsystems, or modules. In the analysis of discursive polyphony, the linguistic phase (based on the ScaPoLine) is coupled with the analysis of the relation between different parts of the text structure (e.g. argumentation or reformulation), as well as with situational parameters. This framework is applied to a segment of Sarkozy’s speech, in which he promotes a European identity while maintaining the need to preserve national identities. By doing so, he positions himself between federalist and nationalist voices in the EP, thereby striking a conciliatory note. He then says: “Human rights are part of the European identity”. Linguistically monophonic, the utterance gives rise to other voices in light of co(n)textual factors. In this case, Sarkozy is in opposition to a collective Euro-sceptic voice, while aligning himself with a federalist and interventionist voice. The notion of discursive polyphony can serve to describe how voices are mobilised and constructed strategically in verbal interactions, by means of both linguistic and discursive mechanisms
The Polyphony of Politics: Finding Voices in French Political Discourse
No full textThis paper has been written with the dual aim of demonstrating the need for a systematic inclusion of contextual elements in the analysis of discourse, as well as the advantages of basing such an analysis on a theory of linguistic polyphony. By highlighting the danger of permitting models of context to rely on the social representations of the analyst, the paper calls for and proposes a set of methodic-theoretic principles to serve as a possible basis for future models for contextual reconstruction. These principles are then applied to the analysis of an op-ed by the French Socialist Party figure Laurent Fabius, written with the explicit purpose of obtaining a majority opposed to the European constitutional treaty in the referendum of May 2005. The theoretical tool of the analysis is the Scandinavian Theory of Linguistic Polyphony (the ScaPoLine), which serves to identify the presence of different points of view in one single utterance. The linguistic phenomena under analysis are primarily reported speech and concessive argumentative constructions. Demonstrating how Fabius relates his own points of view to those of others, the analysis aims to give insight into the manner in which he discursively constructs the political debate on the European Constitution
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Le dialogue des récits climatiques : une analyse narrative et polyphonique
Full text linkCette contribution constitue la mise en œuvre d’une double perspective narrative et polyphonique, dans l’analyse de quatre déclarations à l’occasion de l’Assemblée générale de l’ONU en septembre 2018. Les discours analysés sont ceux des Seychelles, de Finlande, du Népal et du Nigéria. Dans ce contexte diplomatique, quels sont les ‘récits climatiques’ racontés, et de quelles manières se rencontrent-ils dans les déclarations des uns et des autres ? Ces rencontres sont-elles implicites ou explicites, convergentes ou divergentes ? En considérant la polyphonie non seulement comme la rencontre de ‘voix’ sur des contenus propositionnels précis, mais aussi comme une rencontre de récits, l’analyse vise à élargir la perspective de l’hétérogénéité énonciative en situant chaque occurrence dans un contexte discursif plus étendu. Autrement dit, dans une situation d’enjeux politiques, l’interprétation polyphonique de marqueurs comme la négation, les connecteurs (contre-)argumentatifs, la phrase clivée, le discours rapporté, et autres, peut se concevoir comme l’émergence ponctuelle d’un récit autre que celui du locuteur. L’analyse des quatre déclarations montre un dialogue entre chacun des locuteurs et des voix qui ne sont pas identifiées dans les textes, mais qui représentent toutes une attitude d’inertie et d’autosatisfaction concernant le problème du dérèglement climatique et les efforts nécessaires pour le combattre.This contribution brings a dual narrative and polyphonic approach to the analysis of four speeches at the UN General Assembly in September 2018. The speeches are those of the Seychelles, Finland, Nepal and Nigeria. In this diplomatic context, which ‘climate stories’ are being told, and in what manner do they encounter each other in the various speeches? Are these encounters implicit or explicit, and are the narratives convergent our divergent? By considering polyphony not only as a meeting of ‘voices’ within the confines of specific propositional content, but also as a meeting of narratives, the analysis aims to broaden the perspective of “multivoicedness” by situating each occurrence in a larger discursive context. In other words, in a situation of political stakes, the polyphonic interpretation of markers such as negation, (counter-)argumentative connectives, cleft sentences, reported speech, etc., could be conceived of as the a particular emergence of a narrative other than that of the speaker. The analysis of the four speeches shows a dialogue between each of the speakers and voices that are not identified in the texts but that represent an attitude of inertia and self-satisfaction regarding the problem of climate change and the necessary efforts to fight it
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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