Distance and Conciliation on Discourse Statuses: Around an Emerging Analysis of Maple Spring Discourse
This article illustrates various possible epistemological definitions of discourse, called discourse statuses, based on an emerging analysis of discourse published in the press during the Maple Spring. After discussing discourse statuses with respect to methodological choices and calling attention to the criticism aimed at content analysis, the text questions these statuses. What type of relationship is being entertained between the world and the discourse? Answers vary according to whether this discourse is examined from the perspective of the intentions expressed by the speakers, the actions performed by the discourse itself, the representations that are activated, the devices of mediation, and the relayed symbols or ideologies. In illustrating these statuses, the discourse both dematerializes and anchors itself in words, wavers on the boundaries of linguistic features to touch upon other forms of semiosis, integrates psycho-social mapping, and becomes a vehicle for external and collective memories. This comparison of viewpoints on discourse statuses reinforces epistemological considerations regarding the interdisciplinary productiveness of discourse analysis.