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Project 2008-2012, funded by The Royal Academy of Letters, Sweden

‘Objectif’, ‘ambition’ and ‘intention’ in French debates in the European Parliament From semantics to discourse. Coco Norén, Uppsala University/the Royal Academy of Letters, Sweden coco.noren@moderna.uu.se. Project 2008-2012, funded by The Royal Academy of Letters, Sweden. Background.

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Project 2008-2012, funded by The Royal Academy of Letters, Sweden

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  1. ‘Objectif’, ‘ambition’ and ‘intention’ in French debates in the European Parliament From semantics to discourse.Coco Norén, Uppsala University/the Royal Academy of Letters, Swedencoco.noren@moderna.uu.se Project 2008-2012, funded by The Royal Academy of Letters, Sweden

  2. Background • Project:Europe onLine: The French speaking MEPs’ argumentation in parliamentary discourse. • Overall goal:causation, consecution, concession and finality • Theories: Argumentation within Language Linguistic polyphony, Geneva School (Ducrot, Anscombre, Nølke, Fløttum, Roulet, Rossari) • Data: C-ParlEur – Corpus de Discours du PARLement EURopéen, April 06- March 08, 919 debates

  3. Method: from data to contrast • Selecting types – frequency criteria • Counting tokens – Wordsmith Tools • Semantics and syntax – Gross & Prandi 2004 • Pragmatics and discourse – C-ParlEur • Comparing genres – News paper corpus

  4. Finality : basic definition Process: Il nous faut agir avec fermeté Relator: pour que Purpose: nos PME puissent avoir accès aux marchés publics. (Saïfi080218) We need to act firmly so that our SMEs have access to the public procurement sector.

  5. Some examples (1) Ilfaut en parler [nous devons en parler] pourpouvoirredonner du sens à la belle aventureeuropéenne.(Wurtz070314) We need to talk about this in order to restore meaning to the great European adventure. (2) Ils [les enfants pauvres] ont besoin d'une aide particulière afin qu'ils ne soient pas condamnés à l'exclusion sociale, et les États doivent avoir la responsabilité d'assurer l'accès de tous les enfants à la santé et à l'éducation, quelle que soit la situation de leurs parents, afin de garantir, l'égalité des chances pour tous. If they are not to becondemned to social exclusion, theythereforeneedspecial assistance, and governments must beresponsible for ensuringthat all children – whatevertheir parents’ circumstanceshave access to health and education,sothatequality of opportunity for all isguaranteed.

  6. Constraints Process: action, intentional agent Purpose event or state not occurred, human agent Cabs are yellow so that they can easily be spotted. The sun rises so that a new day can start.. The sunrise aims at starting the day.

  7. Finality vs Causality Il faut en parler parce qu’il faut redonner du sens à la belle aventure européenne. We need to talk about this because we must restore meaning to the great European adventure. Consecution On en a parlé, donc la belle aventure européenne a de nouveau du sens. We’ve talked about this, therefore the meaning of the great European adventure is restored. Condition Il faut en parler si nous voulons redonner du sens à la belle aventure européenne. We need to talk about this if we want to in order to restore meaning to the great European adventure.

  8. Selecting and counting in C-ParlEur (677 000 words)

  9. ’Objectif’, from semantics to discourse (1)L’achèvement du marché intérieur de l’énergie doit s’inscrire dans le cadre de l’objectif de cohésion économique, sociale et territoriale de l’UE.(Douay070709) The completion of the internal energy market must be part of the objective of the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the EU. (2)Notre objectif est simple mais clair: éradiquer les navires poubelles qui polluent.(Vlasto070424)Our aim is simple, but clear: to get rid of waste ships that pollute. (3)La substitution obligatoire était un bel objectif mais n’était pas une solution réaliste d’un point de vue technique.(Laperro061211) Mandatory substitution was a fine objective, but not a realistic solution from a technical point of view.

  10. Objectif Semantics: prospective location Syntax: any kind of article or pronoun any kind of modifier, but rare Pragmatics: positive or negative context speaker is committed or not Discourse: identifying the purpose arguing

  11. ’Ambition’, from semantics to discourse (1)Monsieur, il va vous falloir convaincre votre collègue, de ne pas freiner nos ambitions. Il y a, M. le Ministre, des combats qu’il va falloir soutenir(Grossetête070131) Mr Dimas, you will have to convince your fellow Commissioner not to hinder our ambitions. There are some battles which we will have to support. (2) Tout d’abord, votre Europe des résultats manque singulièrement d’ambition sur le plan politique. J’aurais aimé vous entendre plaider pour de nouvelles politiques communes, qui sont indispensables pour mieux préparer l’avenir.(De Sarnez060516) First of all, your Europe of results is singularly lacking in ambition when it comes to policy. I should have liked to have heard you advocating new common policies, which are vital in order to prepare better for the future.

  12. Ambition Semantics: prospective volition Syntax: possessive pronoun 3rd 10, 1st 5 only positive modifiers grande, réelle, noble, véritable, qualitative, considérable Pragmatics: positive context, committment to process and purpose Discourse: arguing for the purpose, accusing of not having a purpose

  13. ’Intention’, from semantics to discourse (1) Le Conseil doit immédiatement cesser de bloquer la décision-cadre contre le racisme et la xénophobie, sinon les grandes déclarations de bonnes intentions ne servent à rien. Nos gouvernements respectifs doivent montrer l’exemple et avancer dans ce combat pour l’égalité, le respect de l’autre et la tolérance. (Gaubert060614) The Council must immediately stop blocking the framework decision against racism and xenophobia, otherwise fine words and good intentions will serve no purpose. (2) La Commission se censure en permanence, face à un Conseil paralysé qui ne connait que les bonnes intentions, jamais suivies de faits.(Grossetête 060614) The Commission forever censors itself, confronted as it is with a paralysed Council that has nothing more than good intentions, never translated into action.

  14. Intention Semantics: prospective volition Syntax: possessive pronoun 2nd or 3rd person modifier: positive Pragmatics: positive ironically used negative context: verbs/adjectives say, display distanciation from the speaker Discourse: accusation of dishonesty

  15. Contrasting genres I

  16. Contrasting genres II

  17. Concluding remarks Comparing objective, ambition and intention Frequency 270 – 50 – 26 Semantics concrete location and abstract volition Pragmatics positive or negative – positive – negative speaker’s point of view Discourse stating, arguing – wanting – accusing

  18. All levels of analysis are intertwined and interdependent and must be equally regarded in order to analyze argumentative expressions.

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