Tension des mots et néologie par télescopage dans la publicité

This paper shows how lexical telescoping in advertising arouses significant tensions on the language. Some of them are discursive, due on the one hand to the blend of two words that dislocates the integrity of the linguistic sign, and on the other hand to different breaks in the production of advertising statements. Other tensions are pragmatic in that lexical telescoping recategorizes our concepts and reference to the world to win the public acceptance in the direction wished by advertisers. In the end, while illustrating the power of infl uence of words, lexical telescoping creates an antilexicon in order to make advertising communication more effective

La rhétorique des figures : entre formalisme et énonciation

Depuis toujours, la rhétorique des figures a oscillé entre deux pôles qu’elle a eu du mal à harmoniser : d’une part, celui du formalisme qui voit en elles des tournures plus ou moins remarquables ; d’autre part, celui de l’énonciation qui les considère comme des points d’ancrage privilégiés de l’engagement de leurs producteurs. En premier lieu, cet article dresse un bilan critique sur ce statut instable des figures. Après avoir mis en évidence la gestion inégale entre structure et expression figurale chez divers théoriciens, cette étude analyse l’apport du Groupe µ dans la constitution d’une rhétorique intégrée qui concilie le donné sémiotique des figures et leur actualisation en discours. En second lieu, dans le prolongement des travaux du Groupe µ et à partir du cas typique de l’oxymore, un plaidoyer est formulé sur la nécessité de voir, dans les figures, des structures discursives modelées par leur prise en charge énonciative. Comme le montre l’oxymore, si les figures sont des schèmes saillants, ceux-ci sont façonnés par les motivations des sujets communicants.The rhetoric of figures has always oscillated between two poles which could hardly be harmonized: On the one hand, the pole of formalism, which considers figures as more or less striking expressions. On the other hand, the pole of enunciation, which considers them as privileged cornerstones of its producers’ point of view. First of all, this article draws up a critical balance sheet of this unstable status of figures. After emphasizing the unequal management of figurative structure and expression by several theorists, this study analyses the contribution of the Groupe µ to the constitution of an integrated rhetoric which reconciles the semiotic content of figures and their realization in speech. Secondly, following the same lines as the studies of the Groupe µ and falling back on the typical case of the oxymoron, we will formulate a plea about the necessity of seeing in the figures discourse structures which are modelled by their enunciative value. As it is illustrated through the oxymoron, if figures are salient schemata, these are shaped by the motivations of the communicating subjects

La réception de l'hyperbole publicitaire

Die Studien zur rhetorischen Hyperbel konzentrieren sich meist auf deren Produktion, obwohl das Verständnis ihrer pragmatischen Funktionsweise auch die Berücksichtigung ihrer Rezeption erfordert. Ziel dieses Artikels ist es, die Probleme bei der Rezeption von Hyperbeln anhand eines Textkorpus zu analysieren, welcher stark von dieser Figur Gebrauch macht: die Werbesprache. Zunächst werden wir einige Faktoren untersuchen, welche die Rezeption der Hyperbel beeinflussen. Letztere fällt insbesondere durch ihre epideiktische Wirkung, ihre sowohl sprachlichen als auch bildlichen Hilfsmittel und ihre Zweideutigkeit auf. Anschliessend werden wir sehen, wie Werbespezialisten versuchen, mithilfe verschiedener Strategien die Interpretationsschwierigkeiten bei der Rezeption der Hyperbel abzuschwächen. Zu diesen Strategien gehören vor allem naturalisierende Operationen und spielerische Praktiken

The exhibition of taboos in the modern slang literature. The example of Alphonse Boudard

If slang always broke taboos, such a transgression evolved for some time with its development in the modern novels. Indeed, it does not any more restrict to put forward prohibitions banished by the good use, but it confers to them an aesthetic dimension in the process of the literary creation. We are interested in the transgressive reprocessing of taboos in the Alphonse Boudard’s representative work. On the one hand, we show that this one finds its themes in the exhibition of domains traditionally tabooed. On the other hand, we see how the transgression of taboos in Boudard arouses a strong narrative productivity and an innovative linguistic recycling. The latter concerns the complex relations between dysphemism and euphemism, the creation of neologisms which explore the limits of the language and a rhetoric playing with the linguistic prohibitions. These pratices lead to an appreciation of the tabooed terms and to the genesis of a writing itself without taboos.Si l’argot a toujours transgressé les tabous, une telle transgression a évolué depuis quelque temps avec son développement dans les romans modernes. En effet, il ne se borne plus à mettre en avant les interdits bannis par le bon usage, mais il leur confère une dimension esthétique dans le processus de la création littéraire. Nous nous intéressons au retraitement transgressif des tabous dans l’oeuvre représentative d’Alphonse Boudard. D’une part, nous montrons que celle-ci trouve ses thèmes dans l’exhibition de domaines traditionnellement tabouisés. D’autre part, nous voyons comment la transgression des tabous chez Boudard suscite une forte productivité narrative et un recyclage linguistique novateur. Ce dernier concerne les rapports complexes entre dysphémisme et euphémisme, la création de néologismes qui explorent les limites de la langue et une rhétorique ludique jouant avec les interdits langagiers. Ces pratiques conduisent à une revalorisation des termes tabouisés et à la genèse d’une écriture elle-même sans tabous

Generalized nonparametric deconvolution with an application to earnings dynamics - Published Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 77, Issue 2, pp. 491-533, 2010

In this paper,we construct a nonparametric estimator of the distributions of latent factors in linear independent multi-factor models under the assumption that factor loadings are known. Our approach allows to estimate the distributions of up to L(L+1)/2 factors given L measurements. The estimator works through empirical characteristic functions. We show that it is consistent, and derive asymptotic convergence rates. Monte-Carlo simulations show good finite-sample performance, less so if distributions are highly skewed or leptokurtic. We finally apply the generalized deconvolution procedure to decompose individual log earnings from the PSID into permanent and transitory components

Consistent noisy independent component analysis

We study linear factor models under the assumptions that factors are mutually independent and independent of errors, and errors can be correlated to some extent. Under factor non-Gaussianity, second to fourth-order moments are shown to yield full identification of the matrix of factor loadings. We develop a simple algorithm to estimate the matrix of factor loadings from these moments. We run Monte Carlo simulations and apply our methodology to data on cognitive test scores, and financial data on stock returns

Assessing the Equalizing Force of Mobility Using Short Panels: France, 1990–2000

In this paper, we document whether and how much the equalizing force of earnings mobility has changed in France in the 1990’s. For this purpose, we use a representative three-year panel, the French Labour Force Survey. We develop a model of earnings dynamics that combines a flexible specification of marginal earnings distributions (to fit the large cross-sectional dimension of the data) with a tight parametric representation of the dynamics (adapted to the short time-series dimension). Log earnings are modelled as the sum of a deterministic component, an individual fixed effect and a transitory component which is assumed first-order Markov. The transition probability of the transitory component is modelled as a one-parameter Plackett copula. We estimate this model using a sequential expectation-maximization algorithm. We exploit the estimated model to study employment/earnings inequality in France over the 1990– 2002 period. We show that, in phase with business-cycle fluctuations (a recession in 1993 and two peaks in 1990 and 2000), earnings mobility decreases when cross-section inequality and unemployment risk increase. We simulate individual earnings trajectories and compute present values of lifetime earnings for various horizons. Inequality presents a hump-shaped evolution over the period, with a 9% increase between 1990 and 1995 and a decrease afterwards. Accounting for unemployment yields an increase of 11%. Moreover, this increase is persistent, as it translates into a 12% increase in the variance of log present values. The ratio of inequality in present values to inequality in one-year earnings, a natural measure of immobility or of the persistence of inequality, remains remarkably constant over the business cycle

Generalized nonparametric deconvolution with an application to earnings dynamics

In this paper,we construct a nonparametric estimator of the distributions of latent factors in linear independent multi-factor models under the assumption that factor loadings are known. Our approach allows to estimate the distributions of up to L(L+1)/2 factors given L measurements. The estimator works through empirical characteristic functions. We show that it is consistent, and derive asymptotic convergence rates. Monte-Carlo simulations show good finite-sample performance, less so if distributions are highly skewed or leptokurtic. We finally apply the generalized deconvolution procedure to decompose individual log earnings from the PSID into permanent and transitory components.

Consistent Noisy Independent Component Analysis

We study linear factor models under the assumptions that factors are mutually independent and independent of errors, and errors can be correlated to some extent. Under factor non-Gaussianity, second to fourth-order moments are shown to yield full identification of the matrix of factor loadings. We develop a simple algorithm to estimate the matrix of factor loadings from these moments. We run Monte Carlo simulations and apply our methodology to British data on cognitive test scores