Conceptualisation and Evolution of concepts. The example of French Linguist Gustave Guillaume

Mathieu Valette (1)

1 ATILF - Analyse et Traitement Informatique de la Langue Française

When Humanities scientists are writes, their theories can considered as text. Our purpose is to discuss the consequences of this claim, sketching out a methodology based on text semantics and corpora linguistics. In a certain way, we hope to continue European philogical tradition. Our analysis is based on a 1,600,000-word corpus mad eup of conferences, books and articles written by French linguist Gustave Guillaume (1883-1960). After a brief epistemological introduction, the paper will focus on three topics : (i) the correlated evolution of lexicon and conceptual systems during the inception of theory (from philosophical speculation to scientific theory) ; (ii) linkage between lexicalisation and conceptualisation by means of morphemic variations and lexical creativity (concept of "act" and its derivations) ; (iii) recourse to trope analysis to characterise and define a concept regardless of the scientist's aim (concept of "mechanism).

Mots clés: guillaumisme; linguistique

Domaines: Linguistique

Mathieu Valette. Conceptualisation and Evolution of concepts. The example of French Linguist Gustave Guillaume. Kjersti Flottum, François Rastier. Academic discourse - multidisciplinary approaches, Novus Press, pp.55-74, 2003. ⟨halshs-00150134⟩