Theoretical propositions for a method of sociological analyses of discourses
The author proposes to designate two fundamental paradigms whose explicitation and articulation appear to be required (though not sufficient) to enable a genuine sociological turn to discourse analyses practiced by French sociologists, often influenced either by sociolinguistics and/or by computing and statistics-especially when it comes to lexicometric practices. The first is the paradigm of "instances of discursive practices" in mutual interaction within a "circulatory" system. The second is the paradigm of the four main "meaning registers" or "fundamental constituent dimensions" of any discursive-linguistic expression. For each of these paradigms, methodological applications are briefly illustrated. Finally, this methodological reflection can not avoid questioning the assumptions of the temporal dimension, and so through the ontogenetic philosophy of Gilbert Simondon, and can not fail to mention the fundamental paradigm of social dominance relationships-considered by the author as constituting any sociological problem.