{"id":5745,"date":"2021-10-26T10:26:11","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T08:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/?p=5745"},"modified":"2025-05-04T10:44:49","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T08:44:49","slug":"topos-in-semantic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/topos-in-semantic\/","title":{"rendered":"Topos in Semantic"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOPOS IN SEMANTICS<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

In Ducrot and Anscombre’s theory of the argumentation in language, a topos <\/em>is defined as a general gradual<\/em> principle, that relates two predicates<\/strong>, and is \u00ab\u00a0presented [by the speaker] as accepted by the group<\/span>\u00a0\u00bb (Ducrot 1988, p.\u2009103; Anscombre 1995a).
\nThe word topos<\/em> (pl. topoi<\/em>) will be used to refer to this specific concept as distinct from classical argumentation schemes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Topoi are pairs of predicates (indicated by capital letters). The factor (+<\/strong>) or (–<\/strong>) indicates that these predicates are gradual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
+ A, + P<\/strong>
\nmore… more…<\/td>\n		The higher you go on the P<\/strong> scale, the higher you go on the Q<\/strong> scale<\/em> (Ducrot 1988, p. 106):
\nTopos: (+<\/strong>) democratic regime, (+<\/strong>) happy citizens<\/em>
\nArgumentation: Syldavia is a democratic regime, SO its citizens must be happy<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2013 B, – Q<\/strong>
\nless… less…<\/td>\n		The more you go down the P <\/strong>scale, the more you go down the Q<\/strong> scale<\/em>
\nTopos: (–<\/strong>) working hours, (–<\/strong>) stress<\/em>
\nArgumentation: But now you only work half time, so you should be less stressed<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
+ C, – R<\/strong>
\nmore\u2026 less…<\/td>\n		The more we have P, the less we have Q<\/em>
\nTopos: (+<\/strong>) money, (–<\/strong>) real friends
\nArgumentation: He is rich, so he has many friends<\/em> (topos +<\/strong>M, +<\/strong>F<\/em>),
\nbut<\/em> not so many real friends( <\/em>topos: +<\/strong>M, –<\/strong>F)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
– D, + S<\/strong>
\nless… more…<\/td>\n		The less you do P, the more you are Q<\/em>
\nTopos: (–<\/strong>) sports, (+<\/strong>) heart problems<\/em>
\nArgumentation: He stopped doing sports, AND (SO) now he has heart problems<\/em>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This kind of linking between predicates was also observed by Perelman & Olbrechts-Tyteca in their discussion of values<\/a> ([1958], pp. 115-128).<\/p>\n

All predicates are gradual. For example, in a Syldavian subculture, the following topos might structure a conversation about \u00ab\u00a0being a real man\u00a0\u00bb<\/em> (M<\/strong>) and \u00ab\u00a0drinking BeverageB\u00a0\u00bb<\/em>, (B<\/strong>); this relation is expressed by the topos (+)M, (+)B<\/strong><\/em>; advertisers claim that \u00ab\u00a0real men drink BeverageB<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0; the more of BeverageB you drink, the more of a real man you are.<\/p>\n

The same predicate can be associated by the four topical forms,<\/strong> for example in the following argumentations.<\/span><\/p>\n

(+<\/strong>) Money (–<\/strong>) Happiness: He is a rich financier, so he has many fears and sleeps badly<\/em>
\n(–<\/strong>) Money (+) Happiness: Money can’t buy happiness: <\/em>The poor cobbler sings all the day<\/em>[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(–<\/strong>) Money (–<\/strong>) Happiness: L<\/em>ack of money is terrible<\/em>
\n(+) Money (+) Happiness: Money buys everything<\/em><\/p>\n

In the case of sports and health:<\/p>\n

(+) Sports (–<\/strong>) Health: Champions die young<\/em>
\n(–<\/strong>) Sports (+) Health: To stay healthy, abstain from sports<\/em> (Churchill, \u201cno sport<\/em>\u201d).<\/p>\n

(–<\/strong>) Sports (–<\/strong>) Health: When I stop exercising, I feel bad<\/em>
\n(+) Sports (+) Health: If you exercise, you will feel better<\/em><\/p>\n

In such cases, the predicates are linked by four different topoi < +\/- S<\/strong>, +\/- H <\/strong>>; nevertheless, communities have preferences, in this case for the last two.
\nIn other words, the four topical forms define the \u00ab\u00a0opinion space\u00a0\u00bb defined by the issue \u00ab\u00a0sports, health\u00a0\u00bb; having an opinion here means choosing one of these links.<\/p>\n

These topoi are the exact linguistic expression of the \u201cactive associative nodes for ideas\u201d mentioned by Ong<\/span><\/strong> (1958, p. 122);\u00a0see collections-1<\/a>. They express the possible linguistic associations between \u201chaving money<\/em>\u201d and \u00ab\u00a0being happy\u00a0\u00bb<\/em>, between \u00ab\u00a0living a healthy life\u00a0\u00bb<\/em> and \u201cexercising<\/em>\u201d.
\nApparently, in Syldavia, the current talk about money and happiness prefers the (-, -) association, which doesn’t mean that the (+,+) association is also preferred: Certainly (-, -), but I can’t say whether (+, +).
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Such associations will emerge in the discourse as reasonable and convincing<\/em> inferences. <\/span>In ordinary discourse a complex causal elaboration such as \u201csome\/all plant protection products are the\/a cause of the disappearance of bees<\/em>\u201d boils down in ordinary Syldavian talk to an accepted, doxical association (+)PPP, (-)bees<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

These expressions are semantic inferences, and are pseudo-reasoning insofar as they say nothing about reality; discourse is an inference machine, an argumentative machine; language can and does speak. This vision justifies the skepticism of the theory of argumentation in language about ordinary argumentation as a form of reasoning, see critique<\/a>. Reasoning emerges from ordinary talk only under certain conditions; there might be a big step between debating<\/em> and learning<\/em><\/strong> (Buty & Plantin 2009).<\/p>\n

\n

[1]<\/a> According to La Fontaine, \u00ab\u00a0The Cobbler and the Financier\u00a0\u00bb, Fables<\/em>, Book VIII, Fable 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TOPOS IN SEMANTICS In Ducrot and Anscombre’s theory of the argumentation in language, a topos is defined as a general gradual principle, that relates two predicates, and is \u00ab\u00a0presented [by the speaker] as accepted by the group\u00a0\u00bb (Ducrot 1988, p.\u2009103; Anscombre 1995a). The word topos (pl. topoi) will be used to refer to this specific […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5745"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14173,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5745\/revisions\/14173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}