Lexis and periods of literary history
[Lexique et périodes de l’histoire littéraire]
Michele Paolini
DOI: 10.18355/XL.2018.11.01XL.31
Abstract
Defining periods of literary history (not only in France) follows the facts that must be summarized. They do it on the basis of cultural conventions. « Nomina sunt consequentia rerum,» names are the consequence of things, and not vice versa. However, sometimes these lexical phenomena are more complex, depending on the different types of enunciative act. As this work begins to describe, in this lexical subsystem, on the one hand, neology plays an important role, and on the other, the national bases of the cognitive frameworks that are involved can never be ignored.
Key words: literary history, periodization, cognition, lexis