Page 27 - Oswald Ducrot, Slovenian Lectures, Digitalna knjižnica/Digital Library, Dissertationes 6
P. 27
Lecture I
sion: I will say that “There are seats” moves towards the possibility of sitting
down and so too “They’re comfortable”.
***
In what follows I will be speaking in a far more detailed way about but
but I would like to finish this lecture by a very quick analysis of a small ex-
ample which will show you how, in my opinion, that description of but (ac-
cording to which but counter-orients the utterances it relates) can be ap-
plied. My example is a short text from Proust’s Swan in Love1.
The narrator shows how in the small aristocratic world he moved around
in, Swan’s image came to be defined as from the moment when Odette’s in-
fidelity to him was known (or imagined):
In the past, people used to think: “he’s not handsome in a standard way
if you like (a), but he has great style (b). What with that quiff, that eyeglass,
that smile of his! (c)...” When Odette started not loving him any more, peo-
ple thought: “he’s not positively ugly if you like (a’), but he’s ridiculous (b’).
What with that eyeglass, that quiff, that smile of his! (c’)”
With the abbreviations I have proposed, the two successive segments of
discourse can be schematized in the following way, (c) and (c’) being super-
ficially quasi-identical:
I = a but b. What with c!
II = a’ but b’. What with c’!
The counter-orientation which, according to me, is always implied by
but is clearly confirmed here: a moves towards an unfavourable appraisal
of Swan whereas b, on the contrary, moves towards a favourable appraisal,
and, conversely, a’ is favourable whereas b’ is unfavourable.
A second feature of but is also confirmed. It is the point that the overall
movement of an X but Y string is the same as that of Y. Thus, the first part
of the first discourse segment (a but b, where b is the favourable apprais-
al “He has great style”), taken as a whole, amounts to praising Swan, at the
time when the success of his relationship with Odette gave him the image
of a happy man. Similarly, the first part of the second segment of discourse
(a’ but b’, where b’ is the disparaging judgment He’s ridiculous) amounts, on
the contrary, to criticizing Swan. Thus, what betokens Swan’s downfall is
merely the switch in position of the favourable and the unfavourable judg-
ments from one side of but to the other.
1 Paris: Gallimard, Pléiade: first edition, pp. 319-320; second edition, pp. 314-315.
sion: I will say that “There are seats” moves towards the possibility of sitting
down and so too “They’re comfortable”.
***
In what follows I will be speaking in a far more detailed way about but
but I would like to finish this lecture by a very quick analysis of a small ex-
ample which will show you how, in my opinion, that description of but (ac-
cording to which but counter-orients the utterances it relates) can be ap-
plied. My example is a short text from Proust’s Swan in Love1.
The narrator shows how in the small aristocratic world he moved around
in, Swan’s image came to be defined as from the moment when Odette’s in-
fidelity to him was known (or imagined):
In the past, people used to think: “he’s not handsome in a standard way
if you like (a), but he has great style (b). What with that quiff, that eyeglass,
that smile of his! (c)...” When Odette started not loving him any more, peo-
ple thought: “he’s not positively ugly if you like (a’), but he’s ridiculous (b’).
What with that eyeglass, that quiff, that smile of his! (c’)”
With the abbreviations I have proposed, the two successive segments of
discourse can be schematized in the following way, (c) and (c’) being super-
ficially quasi-identical:
I = a but b. What with c!
II = a’ but b’. What with c’!
The counter-orientation which, according to me, is always implied by
but is clearly confirmed here: a moves towards an unfavourable appraisal
of Swan whereas b, on the contrary, moves towards a favourable appraisal,
and, conversely, a’ is favourable whereas b’ is unfavourable.
A second feature of but is also confirmed. It is the point that the overall
movement of an X but Y string is the same as that of Y. Thus, the first part
of the first discourse segment (a but b, where b is the favourable apprais-
al “He has great style”), taken as a whole, amounts to praising Swan, at the
time when the success of his relationship with Odette gave him the image
of a happy man. Similarly, the first part of the second segment of discourse
(a’ but b’, where b’ is the disparaging judgment He’s ridiculous) amounts, on
the contrary, to criticizing Swan. Thus, what betokens Swan’s downfall is
merely the switch in position of the favourable and the unfavourable judg-
ments from one side of but to the other.
1 Paris: Gallimard, Pléiade: first edition, pp. 319-320; second edition, pp. 314-315.
