Page 79 - Oswald Ducrot, Slovenian Lectures, Digitalna knjižnica/Digital Library, Dissertationes 6
P. 79
Lecture IV
you go down one, the more you go down the other. Those two forms cannot be
separated: you cannot refuse the one but accept the other. Now, that duali-
ty of topical forms, which stems necessarily from the scalarity of a topos, ex-
plains a lot of things I think: it explains a number of linguistic issues, which
we will speak about later, and it also explains certain rhetorical phenome-
na, such as the one I have just analysed.
***
Now, with the help of topoi theory which I have introduced, I would
like to answer a question which Žagar asked me. Žagar said to me: “when
you speak about polyphony, you always take examples in which there are
only two enunciators. I would very much like to find examples in which
there are several enunciators”. So, I am going to try to give you one. I will
perhaps not have time to justify my analysis completely but at least I will
give you the result I have reached.
Let us suppose you have to describe a string made up with but, for exam-
ple the string (you must be getting to know it by now): “It’s warm, but I’m
tired”, a string used to answer, and reject, a suggestion for a walk. Someone
has suggested going for a walk, because the weather was warm and you an-
swer: “It’s warm, true, but I’m tired”. For me, there are at least four enuncia-
tors in that string (there would certainly be even more, if the two segments
were more complex, for the segments are rather simple ones). Two enunci-
ators are related to the first segment and two other ones, to the second seg-
ment: E1 and E2, are related to “It’s warm”; E3 and E4, to “I’m tired”. E1 de-
scribes the weather: he describes it by saying “It’s warm”. But “It’s warm” is
represented as an argument in favour of a walk. So, when he says “It’s warm”,
he is alluding to a particular type of warmth, that type of warmth which fa-
vours walks. So, I will say that, about the situation you and he are speaking,
that is about the weather, E1 calls up a topical form like The warmer it is, the
more pleasant whatever is. According to him, that situation justifies the use
of the topical form The warmer it is, the more pleasant whatever is about that
situation. Then, another enunciator, E2, comes in, who from E1’s point of
view concludes to the walk. After having characterized the weather as hav-
ing that type of warmth it takes to make a walk pleasant, there is the con-
clusion that a walk would be a good idea to take advantage of the weath-
er. E3, on the contrary, whose voice can be heard in the segment “I’m tired”
uses a topical form like The less one’s physical state is good (being tired is not
a very good physical state), the less going for a walk is pleasant. So, in giving
“I’m tired” as an argument for not going for a walk, the physical state is be-
you go down one, the more you go down the other. Those two forms cannot be
separated: you cannot refuse the one but accept the other. Now, that duali-
ty of topical forms, which stems necessarily from the scalarity of a topos, ex-
plains a lot of things I think: it explains a number of linguistic issues, which
we will speak about later, and it also explains certain rhetorical phenome-
na, such as the one I have just analysed.
***
Now, with the help of topoi theory which I have introduced, I would
like to answer a question which Žagar asked me. Žagar said to me: “when
you speak about polyphony, you always take examples in which there are
only two enunciators. I would very much like to find examples in which
there are several enunciators”. So, I am going to try to give you one. I will
perhaps not have time to justify my analysis completely but at least I will
give you the result I have reached.
Let us suppose you have to describe a string made up with but, for exam-
ple the string (you must be getting to know it by now): “It’s warm, but I’m
tired”, a string used to answer, and reject, a suggestion for a walk. Someone
has suggested going for a walk, because the weather was warm and you an-
swer: “It’s warm, true, but I’m tired”. For me, there are at least four enuncia-
tors in that string (there would certainly be even more, if the two segments
were more complex, for the segments are rather simple ones). Two enunci-
ators are related to the first segment and two other ones, to the second seg-
ment: E1 and E2, are related to “It’s warm”; E3 and E4, to “I’m tired”. E1 de-
scribes the weather: he describes it by saying “It’s warm”. But “It’s warm” is
represented as an argument in favour of a walk. So, when he says “It’s warm”,
he is alluding to a particular type of warmth, that type of warmth which fa-
vours walks. So, I will say that, about the situation you and he are speaking,
that is about the weather, E1 calls up a topical form like The warmer it is, the
more pleasant whatever is. According to him, that situation justifies the use
of the topical form The warmer it is, the more pleasant whatever is about that
situation. Then, another enunciator, E2, comes in, who from E1’s point of
view concludes to the walk. After having characterized the weather as hav-
ing that type of warmth it takes to make a walk pleasant, there is the con-
clusion that a walk would be a good idea to take advantage of the weath-
er. E3, on the contrary, whose voice can be heard in the segment “I’m tired”
uses a topical form like The less one’s physical state is good (being tired is not
a very good physical state), the less going for a walk is pleasant. So, in giving
“I’m tired” as an argument for not going for a walk, the physical state is be-
