Études romanes de Brno (Sep 2014)
Équivoque homophonique en français: polyvalence fortuite et ambiguïté volontaire
Abstract
To obtain a joke with homophonic resources requires that ambiguity is perceived in the mind of the person you are speaking to. Therefore you bind him/her to choose one of the two (or more) potential meanings, and he/she is responsible for the – right or wrong – choice he/she makes. Three main rules explain the high number of sentences containing homophonies in French: the end of a word moves according to the syllabic structure of its environment; written -e-; low or high number of syllables of prosodic groups. I analyse different cases where homophony may occur – daily life, playing time, gender, age, job, leisure, cultural activities, place of birth, etc. – to attempt to give responses to the following questions : Since when, where, when, who, for whom is it realized ? What are the means taken by speakers to 'make' them, and for what purposes? For the speakers, what are the differences – if there are – between deliberate homophonies and unintentional ones?
