Anglophone systemicists and French enunciativists: shall the twain never meet? [An article from: Language Sciences]

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Description:
Is a rapprochement between Systemic Functional Linguistics and the Theories de l'enonciation possible within the French university system? These seem to represent respectively inductive and deductive modes of thought. It is therefore of interest to look at possible points of contact and dissimilarities. The Theories de l'enonciation are metaphysical theories and as such are not subject to the Principle of Falsification. The domains of the Theories de l'enonciation seem conceptually close to the metafunctions of the systemic model. The Theories de l'enonciation might benefit from adopting the distinction between thematic and information structure common in the systemic approach. Systemic Functional Linguistics treats texts as a whole, whereas the Theories de l'enonciation tend to analyse individual segments within a text. They also tend to treat only those grammatical questions with which the theory deals well. The Theories de l'enonciation appear to have a link with formalist approaches in that they accept basic forms which are subsequently modified in the cognitive process; Systemic Functional Linguistics may have produced something similar in the concept of congruent forms. Although starting from diametrically opposed points, it might be hoped that these two theories are working towards each other, and might at some point meet.