Chien fidèle ou chien d'animal: l'objectif et le subjectif dans la représentation linguistique de la réalité

Abstract

Th is article discusses the issue of objective and subjective elements found in the linguistic representation of the world. The differences and similarities emerging from the comparison of the encyclopaedic representation with the linguistic representation enable one to distinguish the characteristics motivated by the encyclopaedic representation, which can be considered objective. Other characteristics, purely arbitrary, (most of them), can be explained with reference to the imagination and creativity of language users, as well as with reference to some elements of culture, such as religion, customs, and beliefs, which permeated the language at its early stages oi development. Yet another, the least numerous, group includes characteristics which stand in opposition to the encyclopaedic one. These can be accounted for by the unsatisfactory knowledge of the people who coined the expressions. The considerations mentioned above will serve as a starting point for determining which of the two elements- objective or subjective - prevail in the linguistic pi etu re of the world.