J`amène le champagne, tu apportes les verres

Marianne Videkull
- J'amène le champagne,
tu apportes les verres ?
La concurrence entre les verbes de déplacement
amener/apporter et emmener/emporter en français
moderne. Aspects sémantico-pragmatiques
Umeå, 1999
Institutionen för moderna språk
franska
Umeå universitet
901 87 Umeå
Akademisk avhandling
som med vederbörligt tillstånd av
rektorsämbetet vid Umeå universitet
för avläggande av filosofie doktorsexamen
offentligt försvaras i Hörsal G, Humanisthuset
fredagen den 21 maj 1999 kl. 10.15
ISBN 91-7191-614-8
ISSN 0345-0155

Marianne Videkull
- J'amène le champagne, tu apportes les verres?
La concurrence entre les verbes de déplacement amener/apporter et emmener/emporter en
français moderne : Aspects sémantico-pragmatiques
Department of Modem Languages / French, Umeå University
Umeå 1999, 200 pp. Monograph
Acta Universitatis Umensis, Umeå Studies in the Humanities 148
ISSN 0345-0155
ISBN 91-7191-614-8
Distributed by
Swedish Science Press, Box 118, S-751 04 Uppsala, Sweden
ABSTRACT
This monograph is an empirical study of the competition between the French movement verbs
amener/apporter and emmener/emporter, regarded as partial synonyms in the sense that they are
interchangeable in certain contexts. The main purpose of this study is to account for these
competing verbs from the perspective of actual language use, and to determine to what extent
they are synonymous. The study is based on a corpus of French newspaper texts, some literary
texts and the answers from a group of informants.
It is shown that these lexemes cannot be defined by the principle of shared properties of all the
senses represented. They are best analysed as polysemous within the framework of the prototype
theory, according to which there is a basic sense from which the other secondary senses are
derived through metaphor or metonymy. In the case of these verbs the competition between them
arises through the widening of the semantic content of the verbs amener and emmener, extended
to the use of inanimate objects uncapable of movement. This case normally calls for the use of the
verbs apporter et emporter.
In response to the question of the degree of synonymy between these verbs, when adopting a
cognitive perspective, it is argued that they are to be considered as lexical variants rather than as
perfect synonyms, in the sense that they focus on different aspects of the described movement. In
other words, there is an aspectual difference between these closely related lexemes which is
determined not only by inherent semantic properties, but to a large extent also by non-linguistic
properties, such as the perspective adopted by the speaker in describing the mouvement. Finally,
it is pointed out that the prototypical sense of each verb not only explains the different derived
senses it gives rise to, but also accounts for the aspectual difference between these competing
verbs.
Keywords : synonymy, polysemy, prototype, family resemblance, perception, cognitive
linguistics

- J'amène le champagne,
tu apportes les verres ?

Marianne Videkull
- J'amène le champagne, tu apportes les verres?
La concurrence entre les verbes de déplacement amener/apporter et emmener/emporter
en français moderne : Aspects sémantico-pragmatiques
Department of Modem Languages / French, Umeå University
Umeå 1999, 200 pp. Monograph
Acta Universitatis Umensis, Umeå Studies in the Humanities 148
ISSN 0345-0155
ISBN 91-7191-614-8
Distributed by
Swedish Science Press, Box 118, S-751 04 Uppsala, Sweden
ABSTRACT
This monograph is an empirical study of the competition between the French movement
verbs amener/apporter and emmener/emporter, regarded as partial synonyms in the
sense that they are interchangeable in certain contexts. The main purpose of this study is
to account for these competing verbs from the perspective of actual language use, and to
determine to what extent they are synonymous. The study is based on a corpus of French
newspaper texts, some literary texts and the answers from a group of informants.
It is shown that these lexemes cannot be defined by the principle of shared properties of
all the senses represented. They are best analysed as polysemous within the framework
of the prototype theory, according to which there is a basic sense from which the other
secondary senses are derived through metaphor or metonymy. In the case of these verbs
the competition between them arises through the widening of the semantic content of the
verbs amener and emmener, extended to the use of inanimate objects uncapable of
movement. This case normally calls for the use of the verbs apporter et emporter.
Li response to the question of the degree of synonymy between these verbs, when
adopting a cognitive perspective, it is argued that they are to be considered as lexical
variants rather than as perfect synonyms, in the sense that they focus on different aspects
of the described movement. In other words, there is an aspectual difference between
these closely related lexemes which is determined not only by inherent semantic
properties, but to a large extent also by non-linguistic properties, such as the perspective
adopted by the speaker in describing the mouvement. Finally, it is pointed out that the
prototypical sense of each verb not only explains the different derived senses it gives
rise to, but also accounts for the aspectual difference between these competing verbs.
Keywords : synonymy, polysemy, prototype, family resemblance, perception, cognitive
linguistics

ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UMENSIS
Umeå Studies in the Humanities 148
Marianne Videkull
- J'amène le champagne,
tu apportes les verres ?
La concurrence entre les verbes de déplacement
amener/apporter et emmener/emporter en français
moderne. Aspects sémantico-pragmatiques
Umeå 1999