FRENCH DISCOURSE ANALYSIS Glyn Williams
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FRENCH DISCOURSE ANALYSIS The method of post-structuralism Glyn Williams London and New York I ELLIW HAF First published 1999 by Routledge Fy nghariad a' m cymar. 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1999 Glyn Williams Typeset in Bembo by Keystroke, Jacaranda Lodge, Wolverhampton Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham plc, Chatham, Kent All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any fonn or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library cifCongress Cataloguing in Publication Data Williams, Glyn French Discourse Analysis: The method of post-structuralism/Glyn Williarns. Includes bibliographical references. 1. French language--Discourse analysis. 2. Poststructuralism. I. Title. PC2434.WSS 1998 440.1'41-dc21 98-13943 ISBN 0-415-18940-3 CONTENTS Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 1 Modernism and the philosophy of language 11 Modernism 11 The Enlightenment, reason and philosophies rf language 12 Language 21 Discourse 2 6 Conclusion 3 2 2 Structuralism 33 Sign and signifier 35 Langue and parole 40 Influences 44 Uvi-Strauss 48 Lacan 53 Conclusion 61 3 Post-structuralism 63 Bachelard and the philosophy rf science 64 Canguilhem on science as discourse 65 Althusser's anti-humanism 67 Foucault and discourse 7 6 Subject, object, concep ts and enonciative modalities 85 The production rf discourse 89 Power and resistance 94 Conclusion 98 Vll CONTENTS 4 Materialism and Discourse 100 Interpretation 2 80 Introduction 100 Conclusion 284 Th e Althusserian influence 103 normativity and the ontology of being 285 The methodology cifAAD69 112 9 Post-structuralism. New directions 116 Foucault and normativity 285 The Munchausen iffect 122 FDA, ideology and the normative 288 Taking stock 125 Sociology and normativity 294 Discourse as society 297 5 The struggle with idealism 130 Linguistics and normativity 306 Theoretical anti-humanism 130 Whither FDA? 309 New voices 133 314 Linguistics and the subject Notes 144 316 A voice at the periphery 153 Bibliography 327 Translation and meaning 161 Index Conclusion 164 6 Form and discourse 166 Orthodox beginnings 167 Predication and positioning 170 Bnonciation 173 Bnonciative linguistics 182 Meaning, heterogeneity and interdiscourse 190 Dialogism 198 Dialogism and language play 204 Conclusion 210 7 Lexicology and distributionalism 213 Introduction 213 Distributionalism and enonciation 217 Lexicometry 229 Anaphora and deixis 2 40 Conclusion 245 8 Methodological issues 250 Post-structuralism and method 250 FDA and methodological models 252 The model 255 Constructing a corpus 258 Description in terms cifenonciation 261 Description cifthe notion 275 viii 1X ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the time when I have been learning about FDA, visits to France have been supported by both the British Council and the ESRC. I am grateful to both institutions. It is inevitable that the personal interest in FDA which covers more than twenty years has spawned a number of close and enduring friendships. I owe a debt of gratitude to these friends from whom I have learnt so much. Martin Clarke made several useful corrections to the manuscript. Bernard Conein and Fran<yoise Gadet have been kind enough to read and comment on the manuscript. Such good friends should not be held responsible for my mistakes! There was also Pierre Achard. His tragic, early departure has left a void. At the time of his death he was reading the manuscript with the intention of helping to improve the contents. His intelligence and generosity will be sorely missed. X1 INTRODU CTION This book is about a particular phase in recent French intellectual work as it relates to what is termed critical and cultural theory. It covers the period since 1960 and focuses upon ideas which have had a profound influence, not only upon intellectual activity across a range of disciplines, but also on politics. Under the label of post-structuralism this body of work has tended to focus upon the contribution of a relatively small number of highly prolific authors Deleuze, Derrida, Lacan, Foucault and Althusser. Whereas post-structuralism has become something of a catch-all with reference to French intellectualism, leading to disagreement about whose work should be included within its confines, its effects have been far-reaching. Post-modernism in some respects has drawn upon post-structuralism (Boyne and Ratansi, 1990:10). It became fashionable in Anglo-American circles following the publication of The Postmodern Condition, written in 1979 and published in English in 1984 by Lyotard, who, hitherto, tended to be a relatively marginal figure within post-structuralism in France. Without wishing to enter a debate, I view the two as distinctive problematics which share a particular orientation towards modernism. This book is not about post-modernism. The emergence of post-structuralism as an alternative to Enlightenment materialism has led to a polarisation between idealism and materialism, leading to strong feelings on either side about the validity of their respective positions. The idealist camp proclaims a kind of triumphalism in which it is claimed that the age of Enlightenment and all that it entails is at an end, the decentring having undermined the rationalism upon which it was premised, while the consequence can only be that the essence of truth is denied. The opposition rises to the bait. Norris (1996:xiv) has recently vehemently argued that the consequence of the emergence of post-modernism is 'a failure- or a down right refusal - to conceive that science can actually make progress in attaining a more adequate (causal-explanatory) grasp of real-world occurrent objects, processes and events'. During (1990) on the other hand claims that the unease with post-structuralism in some circles is merely a re-presentation of Burke's detestation of French 'men of theory'. This is reiterated in a recent review of the impact of French ideas on British culture (Appignanensi, 1989), a 1 l N T K U V U <....- 1 1 V 1'1 FRENCH DISCOURSE ANALYSIS while imultane?usly collection which betrays a limited knowledge of what is at stake, while dis point around the issue of modernism/non-modernism, � would clari� the debate. It 1s even cla1med playing a clear antipathy towards even the few notable names which have had ignoring the central elements which . and lingmsts that denves from the some impact on the subject at hand. to lead to a rift between post-structuralists the latter among the former (Graham, Not that this kind of ethnocentrism characterises the work of the more limited understanding of the concerns of it is equally clear that most linguists sophisticated commentators such as Norris, far from it. What is interesting is 1992; Pavel, 1990; N orris, 1996). However, for post-structuralism, a�d in par that such a dogmatic position is accompanied by departure from thecustom are ign9r-antof the relevance of linguistics . overlap between the two mterests 1s ary insistence upon objectivity so that it becomes a manifestation of an overlap ticular of the work of FDA, where the that the two camps stand on different between explicit political agendas and science. In this respect it is reminiscent most complete. It is hardly surprising of the philosophes of the eighteenth century who made litde attempt to conceal ground. work of Fauclough (1992), who has their political objectives of state formation and political change in pursuing An exception to this omission is the of work. However, eve ere, ther� �re their philosophical discourses. In this respect it can be claimed that sociology sought to take charge of this body � � . reference to enonoauve li�gmstlcs, has its origins in political science. Whereas Marxism developed as an explicit glaring omissions, particularly with stone of FDA. None the less Fauclo�gh manifestation of this political agenda, much of the rest of social science has which, in many respects, is the corner have sought to take on board socw sought to deny any such interest in the name of objectivity, even refusing to has been among the few linguists who of linguistics for sue issues. His work recognise the political materialism that is embedded in its concepts. The political issues and the relevance . � of French lingu1sts to an extent that recent political events and the emergence of neo-liberalism as the dominant encompasses both Marxism and the work linguists such as Hodge and Kress. discourse withina global economy mean that Marxismis challengedfrom two is not evident among the Hallidayan . from a dissatisfaction among Marx1sts quite different directions, the one challenging its claim to truth through In some respects FDA emerged of ideology and the ue of ' content reason, and the other challenging the entire relevance of reason. seeking to come to terms with the nature ::U for conte t an ys1s to reat v�rbal It is clearly ev ident that this debate cannot be resolved in that it is a debate analysis' for textual analysis. The tendency � � � clashed W1th a v1ew wh1ch cla1med about the very elements that are central to any resolution - the nature of 'truth' material as simple conveyors of information as transparent representations of the social or 'reality'. In this respect it is the kind of futile debate that can only lead that texts should not be understood reflect. Thus, in a very general sense, FDA to polemic rather than resolution. None the less, it is an important debate in subjects which they were claimed to of textual reflection, but in a more that it does oblige each sideto adopt a reflexiveor ientation towards their respec derives from the philological tradition and post-structuralism, which, in tive positions.