2024-2025 / LROM0130-1

Questions of rhetoric and semiology

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

 Master en langues et lettres anciennes et modernes, à finalité approfondie5 crédits 
 Master in modern languages and literatures : Germanics, research focus5 crédits 
 Master in French and Romance languages and literatures : general, research focus5 crédits 
 Master in linguistics, research focus5 crédits 
 Master in modern languages and literatures : general, reasearch focus5 crédits 
 Master in modern languages and literatures: Germanics, teaching focus5 crédits 
 Master in French and Romance languages and literature : French as a foreign language, teaching focus5 crédits 
 Master in ancient and modern languages and literatures, teaching focus5 crédits 
 Master in modern languages and literatures : general, teaching focus5 crédits 
 Master in French and Romance languages and literatures : general, teaching focus5 crédits 
 Master en langues et lettres anciennes et modernes, à finalité spécialisée en édition et métiers du livre5 crédits 
 Master in French and Romance languages, general, professional focus in the analysis and creation of critical knowledge5 crédits 
 Master en langues et lettres modernes, orientation générale, à finalité spécialisée en langues, cultures et sociétés de l'Asie orientale (Chine/Japon)5 crédits 
 Master in French and Romance languages and literatures : French as a foreign language, professional focus5 crédits 
 Master in French and Romance languages, general, professional focus in publishing and book trade5 crédits 
 Master in French and Romance languages and literatures : general, professional focus in French as a foreign language5 crédits 
 Master in modern languages and literatures : general, professional focus in translation5 crédits 
 Master in modern languages and literatures : Germanics, professional focus in translation5 crédits 
 Master en langues et lettres anciennes et modernes5 crédits 
 Master in modern languages and literatures : German, Dutch and English (60 ECTS)5 crédits 
 Master in modern languages and literatures : general (60 ECTS)5 crédits 
 Master in French and Romance languages and literatures : general (60 ECTS)5 crédits 

Lecturer

François Provenzano

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Rhetoric is the multi-secular discipline that deals with the techniques of argumentative discourse and, more generally, with the formal processes (enunciative, figurative, etc.) that make a text effective with a particular audience. This is a discipline with which students of Romance Studies, and more generally of Philosophy and Humanities, are not very familiar during their undergraduate years. Semiotics is present from the beginning of the Romanist's curriculum, but it is associated with linguistics. This course is an opportunity to situate it in a different order of problems.

After an introduction to the history and current status of rhetoric and semiology in the area of Humanities, , the course will focus on a specific problematic. This year, the course will focus on quotation and interdiscursivity, i.e. all the phenomena that arise from the presence of a second discourse within a first discourse. These phenomena touch on very old issues, such as imitation, or more recent ones, such as plagiarism or texts generated by artificial intelligence. They concern both the strictly verbal aspects of discourse and its visual or, more broadly, media dimensions. This thematic part of the course will be based on a list of compulsory readings, which will be presented in class.

As a preparation to the final examination, and on request from the students, the last session of the course will be dedicated to the topic of verbal interactions.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

By the end of the course, students will be able to :
- know the main historical and conceptual steps of the development of rhetoric and semiology among Humanities and literary studies;
- know and contextualize the main linguistic, semiotic and rhetoric theories of interdiscursivity;
- read and discuss a hard theoretical piece of work;
- produce an original and sharp case study on a literary or non-literary cultural production.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Students should have studied linguistics or semiotics in some form, prior to taking this course. The instructor will frequently refer to aspects of teaching points in semiotics or linguistics that he articulated during the first cycle.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course will at first consist in a series of lectures, and then the instructor will make assignments to students for seminar-type presentations.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face only.

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- MyULiège


Further information:

Mandatory readings:

Authier-Revuz (Jacqueline), « Hétérogénéités(s) énonciative(s) », Langages, n° 73, 1984, p. 98-111.

Maingueneau (Dominique), « Hyperénonciateur et "particitation" », Langages, vol. 156, no 4, 2004, p. 111-126.

Lenain (Thierry), « La réénonciation dans les arts autographiques. Quelques cas, quelques problèmes », dans « Re- ». Répétition et reproduction dans les arts et les médias, sous la dir. de M. Colas-Blaise et G. M. Tore, Mimesis, 2021, p. 395-417.

Jeanneret (Yves), « Citare : mettre en mouvement » et « Énonciations éditoriale, documentaire et médiatique », dans Critique de la trivialité. Les médiations de la communication, enjeu de pouvoir, Paris, Éditions Non Standard, 2014, p. 109-141.

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

oral exam

Written work / report


Further information:

Optional assignment

- Either a theoretical discussion
On one of the compulsory reading strands (see list above).
Work in groups of 2 to 4 students.
Oral presentation to the course, approx. 60 min. long, consisting of a synthesis, illustration with examples, further reading and critical discussion.
A written summary (max. 20,000 characters) is submitted to the teacher (by e-mail: Francois.Provenzano@uliege.be) one week after the presentation (taking into account any comments and discussions that may have taken place during the session); after correction, it is circulated to other students.
Registration required between 21/2 and 6/3 (on the notice board in Fr. Provenzano's office).

- Either a case analysis
Free choice of corpus and analytical perspective, to be explained in terms of the various theoretical frameworks seen in the course. All types of discourse permitted; visual discourse may be used. The work should not extend to contextualizing the corpus, but should 1/ identify a problematic; 2/ set out the chosen methodology and justify its relevance to the problematic; 3/ proceed with the analysis; 4/ present a conclusion. The analysis must respond to a need for intelligibility and/or criticism of a quotation device.
Individual work, or in groups of max. 3 students.
Opportunity to discuss work in progress.
Submission of work to the holder (by e-mail) 10 days before the exam

Exam

- two questions on the ex-cathedra lessons

- one question on the discussion presented by the students on the mandatory readings

- discussion of the case analysis

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

The course will take place on Fridays, 2nd Term, from 3 to 5 PM, classroom A2/4/12.
Resumption : Friday, February 7, 2025.

Students who are interested in this course can contact the teacher by September 2024 to ask their questions.

Contacts

François PROVENZANO, Professor

Département de Langues et littératures françaises et romanes
Service de Sciences du langage et rhétorique
Place Cockerill, 3-5, bât. A2, 4000 Liège.
Tél. 04 366 56 45
Mail : Francois.Provenzano@uliege.be

Surgery hours: Wednesdays, from 9.30 to 11, office A2/4/4

Secretary
Ariane Nusgens : 04 366 56 50 

Association of one or more MOOCs