Modalization of enunciation and attenuation of the illocutionary force: a study of some of its markers

Abstract

This paper highlights the necessity of taking into account the concept of modalization of enunciation as a part of the study of discourse markers, some of which can be used as mechanisms of attenuation/reinforcement of assertion. Such is the case of a good number of phraseological units in french formed with the verb dire, among which we find the attenuators pour ainsi dire and si j’ose dire, whose morphosyntactic and semantic-pragmatic features are described here with the aim of both showing similarities between them, and discovering the specificity of each one.

Keywords

• marcadores discursivos
• modalización
• atenuación
• pour ainsi dire
• si j’ose dire