Nouveaux développements de l'imparfait

The uses of the French imperfect have undergone a vast extension throughout the history of the French language. It has become prototypical in contexts such as description where old French used simple past. The prototypical uses have resulted in a large number of stylistic uses: hypothesis, free indirect speech, and the so-called forain, hypocoristique, ludique and narratif. The wide range of uses raises the question of the semantic unity of that form in synchrony as well as in diachrony. Here are gathered for the first time discussions of emergent uses of the imperfect, that are tackled through a variety of approaches (Damourette and Pichon’s, Wilmet’s or Guillaume’s systems, logic semantics or relevance theory). This volume will be of interest for theoreticians interested in linguistic meaning and applied linguists concerned with its organization. Le tiroir de l'imparfait a subi une extension considérable de ses usages à travers l'histoire du français. Il est devenu prototypique dans des contextes comme la description où l'ancienne langue utilisait le passé simple. Ces emplois prototypiques ont donné lieu à un large ensemble d'usages stylistiques. : hypothèse, discours indirect libre, imparfait de politesse, forain, hypocoristique, ludique et narratif. La diversité des usages pose la question de l'unité sémantique de la forme, non seulement en synchronie mais aussi dans les cadres de son évolution diachronique et de son acquisition. Ce problème est appréhendé à travers les analyses de Damourette et Pichon et de Wilmet, par le guillaumisme, la sémantique logique et la pragmatique de la pertinence. Ces cadres permettent d'identifier les paramètres en jeu dans chaque emploi, et les modes de leur application à une problématique sémantique particulièrement délicate. Le présent ouvrage saura donc intéresser autant les théoriciens du sens linguistique que les praticiens concernés par son organisation.

The uses of whiteness: what sociologists working on Europe can draw from US research on whiteness

Whiteness studies are trans-disciplinary, but here the focus is principally on sociology and social history. Firstly, I identify, elucidate and synthesize the major ways in which whiteness in this literature has hitherto been problematized, to provide a sociological view of the multidisciplinary work so far. Five interpretations are identified; whiteness as absence, as content, as a set of norms, as resources and as a contingent hierarchy. Secondly, I make some proposals regarding the whiteness problematic’s degree of pertinence to European settings, with a brief discussion of the Irish case. Finally, I argue that whiteness is useful if conceptualized in a way that sets it within the parameters of studies of racism.