Mise au point sur la polyphonie

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reconsider the characteristics of Polyphony Theory from Le dire et le dit (Ducrot 1984), modifying some terms in a rather radical way. There are two points which are essential to us. The first one is to admit the existence of the triplet (speaker's attitude, énonciateur, content) existing in the meaning of every utterance in so far as the content is defined in an argumentative way. In so doing, we are opposed to the dualistic conceptions of polyphony which do not recognize the pairs (attitude, content) or (reported speaker, content). The second point which concerns the characters of the enunciation, is our dismissal of any individualization of the enunciators, as we consider them examples of guarantees, Persons (in the Latin sense of 'role') who validate the content : L, TU, IL, the World, the Witness.