Places-repère, localisation et routines : lorsque l’analyse du nom place rejoint celle de la préposition à

Abstract

This work addresses the analysis proposed by C. Vandeloise in order to capture the static functioning of the preposition à (‘at’; also ‘in’ and ‘on’ in English) and the semantics of the generic localization noun place (‘place’). It is shown that while the assignation of a “mark-place” to a target (localized entity) is often based on the specification of the position within a frame of reference (“specified location”), it can also involve a more social or conventional (non spatial) order. These two types of mark-places prove to be in direct relation with the usage rules governing the static uses of à (localization and social routines). The convergence of these two series of studies strikingly illustrates the complementary character of two possible points of view on the expression of space in language: analysis of prepositions/relations on the one hand and search for the ontological properties of spatial entities on the other hand. Reflection goes on with a comparison between the semantic dependencies displayed by both the generic localization nouns place and endroit and the Internal Localization Nouns (ILNs), with respect to the target entity and the frame of reference or whole entity of a description.

Keywords

• space
• mark-place
• target
• relation
• reference of frame
• Internal Localization Nouns (ILNs)