Cycnos | Numéros | Volume 23.1 - Le Qualitatif

Résumé :

How can we define the borderline between a quantitative and a qualitative reading as far as ALL, SOME and NO are concerned ? This paper aims at giving some clues about that issue by comparing the two kinds of interpretation with regard to the three above-mentioned quantifiers. This will lead us to take into account three parameters to distinguish between the two levels of reading: the kind of predicative relation which is at stake, the type of elements involved in the relation and the way the relation is viewed by the speaker. Thus, to try and define the operation which is at play in a qualitative reading, let’s say the speaker takes hold of a relation of identity already built between a subject and a notion so that he can re-adjust it or test its validity by means of a quantifier. On the one hand, it is no longer the notion itself which matters, but rather its contents which are - so to speak – screened by the speaker to be compared with the properties of the subject. On the other hand, the quantifier itself, because it serves as a screen, will lend some of its features to the final meaning.

Date de publication : 2006-06-30