Givenness, procedural meaning and connectives: The case of French puisque

I argue that the communication of given information is part of the procedural instructions conveyed by some connectives like the French puisque. I submit in addition that the encoding of givenness has cognitive implications that are visible during online processing. I assess this hypothesis empirically by comparing the way the clauses introduced by two French causal connectives, puisque and parce que, are processed during online reading when the following segment is ���given��� or ���new���. I complement these results by an acceptability judgement task using the same sentences. These experiments confirm that introducing a clause conveying given information is a core feature characterizing puisque, as the segment following it is read faster when it contains given rather than new information, and puisque is rated as more acceptable than parce que in such contexts. I discuss the implications of these results for future research on the description of the meaning of connectives.

English and French causal connectives in contrast

Discourse connectives are often said to be language specific, and therefore not easily paired with a translation equivalent in a target language. However, few studies have assessed the magnitude and the causes of these divergences. In this paper, we provide an overview of the similarities and discrepancies between causal connectives in two typologically related languages: English and French. We first discuss two criteria used in the literature to account for these differences: the notion of domains of use and the information status of the cause segment. We then test the validity of these criteria through an empirical contrastive study of causal connectives in English and French, performed on a bidirectional corpus. Our results indicate that French and English connectives have only partially overlapping profiles and that translation equivalents are adequately predicted by these two criteria.

Car, parce que, puisque��� revisited: Three empirical studies on French causal connectives

In French, a causal relation is often conveyed by the connectives car, parce que or puisque. Since the seminal work of the Lambda-l Group (1975), it has generally been assumed that parce que, used to relate semantic content, contrasts with car and puisque, both used to connect either speech act or epistemic content. However, this analysis leaves a number of questions unanswered. In this paper, I present a reanalysis of this trio, using empirical methods such as corpus analysis and constrained elicitation. Results indicate that car and parce que are interchangeable in many contexts, even if they are still prototypically used in their respective domain in writing. As for puisque, its distribution does not overlap with car, despite their similar domains of use. I argue that the specificity of puisque with respect to the other two connectives is to introduce a cause with an echoic meaning.

L'oeuvre de Sade et le conte. Le retour refoul�� de Barbe-Bleue

Cet article s���int��resse aux diff��rentes fonctions que l���on peut attribuer aux ��l��ments fabuleux dans les ��uvres du marquis de Sade. Il s���agit en particulier d�����claircir les liens intertextuels entre Barbe-Bleue et un conte all��gorique que le marquis publie, en 1800, dans la s��rie de ses Crimes de l���amour, sous le titre de Rodrigue ou la tour enchant��e. Dans ce texte, la chambre interdite renvoie aussi �� un pass�� criminel, mais elle ne r��veille pas la mauvaise conscience et ne suscite aucun remords. Sade semble vouloir faire du conte de Barbe-Bleue le paradigme d���un refoulement manqu��, la figure d���une rechute malencontreuse dans un pass�� archa��que et indigne d�����tre examin�� moralement. Or, les ��uvres de Sade ne peuvent plus admettre l���univers surnaturel des contes de f��es, consid��r�� comme tout aussi r��volu que cette conscience morale qui s���exprime par le remords.

L'Aborig��ne de Riga. Anthologie de po��mes de Janis Rokpelnis. Choix, traduction et commentaire par Alain Schorderet. Avec des encres de Catherine Bolle

Ce livre pr��sente un choix de po��mes d���un des plus grands po��tes lettons des quarante derni��res ann��es, J��nis Rokpelnis. M��lant tradition et modernit��, ��rudition et banalit�� dans ses vers, influenc�� par les traditions occidentale et locale, J��nis Rokpelnis a su traverser des p��riodes mouvement��es avec une constance remarquable ; son ��uvre documente aussi, mais sur un plan abstrait et jamais politique au sens premier du terme, la transformation d���un pays entre Union sovi��tique et ind��pendance.