The thesis deals with the question of interpretation of narrative works of fiction in regard to what the text refers to (what is usually termed reference). On the work of three differently focused authors (Frege, Ortega y Gasset, Shklovsky) it studies reference pushed aside as a thing unimportant or even impossible in art. Structuralism, developing mainly in France after 1960, supplants these questions with exploring the literalness of literary works and their inner relations, allowing narratology to arise. Subsequently, Paul Ricoeur aims for the synthesis of structuralism and hermeneutics. Approaching literary work as discourse, he distinguishes the "what" and "what about" of works, following Frege's distinction between sense and reference (meaning), while reference of a work is not descriptive. In Time and Narrative he uses the term refiguration instead of reference and emphasizes the temporal aspect of literary work and its reception. The thesis is closed with a brief interpretation of Budapest, a novel by Chico Buarque (2003).

Pouvons-nous être réalistes et dire le vrai en sciences humaines, lorsque nous étudions nos façons de penser, de faire sens, de nous comporter ? Habituellement, les SH donnent à cette question une réponse métaphysique en se fondant dans la réalité et la vérité des choses qu'elles examinent vues comme spécifiquement humaines. Mais nous n'attendons des SH qu'une étude de la compréhension humaine, et en cela elles ne sont que des activités ordinaires utilisant le langage. Notre question doit donc être posée dans le langage ordinaire. Cependant, à considérer que sens et compréhension ne sont que des usages, on est enclin à considérer tout savoir à ce propos comme relatif à une situation ; la vérité peut alors être considérée comme relative, et les SH comme irréalistes. Nos sciences méritent une autre voie autorisant un usage réaliste de ''vrai''. Je soutiens que ceci peut être trouvé dans une philosophie du langage ordinaire qui partage avec les SH la même matière première : le sens, la compréhension. D'Austin elles peuvent hériter sa conception non-essentielle de ce qui apparaît comme réalité dans la signification ; de Cavell, l'analyse de la compréhension dans notre accord dans le langage ; de Diamond, une solution à la question du réalisme en le prenant en considération dans nos attitudes. Pour illustrer ces usages de ''vrai'' en SH, je propose une lecture de Foucault montrant sa manière de rechercher une attitude réaliste. En conclusion, je décris comment les SH doivent être vues comme des pratiques : non pas dans un espoir de vérification, mais dans l'acceptation de leur dépendance à nos usages de ''vrai'' et à nos attitudes. / Is it possible to be realistic and say truth in human and social sciences (HS), when examining the way we thought, mean, or behave? Traditionnally, the HS answer these questions in a metaphysical way, founding themselves in the reality and truth of things they examine seen as specifically human. But what we are asking to the HS is no more than examining human comprehension – in this, they are just ordinary activities using the language. So, our question is one of these to be answered within the ordinary language. In an opposite way, when considering that meaning and comprehension are no more but uses, one may incline to consider any knowledge about this as absolutely relative to situations; truth itself may be seen as relative, and HS as non-realistic. These two ways are aporetic: on one side, the HS appear as non-scientific and metaphorical discourses, on the other, quite impossible. Our sciences are worth another way making possible realistic uses of ''true''; I hold that this can be found in a philosophy of ordinary language sharing with HS the same material: meaning, mutual comprehension. From Austin, they can inherit a non-essential conception of what appears as reality in meaning; from Cavell, the analysis of human comprehension in our agreement within the langage; from Diamond, a solution to the question of realism by considering it in our attitudes. To illustrate these uses of ''true'' in HS, I propose a reading of Foucault showing him search a realistic attitude. As a conclusion, I describe how HS must be seen as practices: not in a verificationist hope, but in the acceptation of their depending of our uses of ''true'' and attitudes.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation Resources / Dale Bremer / Greg Davis / In 2005, turfgrass was estimated to cover approximately 20 million ha of urbanized land. That area is increasing with rapid urbanization, stressing the importance of water conservation in the lawn and landscape industry. Turfgrasses have been identified for replacement by presumably more water-efficient ornamental plant species to conserve water. However, research comparing drought resistance and evapotranspiration (ET) of turfgrasses with ornamental landscape plants is limited. Two studies were conducted to evaluate water use and performance under drought stress of several ornamental and turfgrass species. An online course was developed to educate students about critical water issues related to irrigation in urbanizing watersheds. In a field study, ET was measured using lysimeters and plant water status was evaluated under deficit irrigation (100%, 60%, and 20% ET) in Festuca arundinacea Schreb., Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm. ‘Sharps Improved’, and Ajuga reptans L. ‘Bronze Beauty’. Evapotranspiration was similar between A. reptans and F. arundinacea, and was 32 and 35% greater than ET of B. dactyloides. In a greenhouse study, the performance of one turfgrass (Poa pratensis L. ‘Apollo’) and eight landscape species (Achillea millifolium L., Ajuga reptans L. ‘Bronze Beauty’, Liriope muscari Decne., Pachysandra terminalis Siebold and Zucc., Sedum album L., Thymus serpyllum L., Vinca major L., and Vinca minor L.) was evaluated during a severe dry down and subsequent recovery. S. album, L. muscari, and P. terminalis performed the best, requiring 86 to 254 d to decline to a quality rating of one (1-9 scale: 1=dead/dormant, 9=best quality). The remaining species required 52 to 63 d. The only species to recover were P. pratensis [46% pot cover (PC) after 60 days], S. album (38% PC), and V. major (35% PC). A survey was developed to measure student learning as it relates to the level of sense and meaning present in the content of a new online course entitled “Water Issues in the Lawn and Landscape.” Survey results were compared with student learning as measured through a post-test. Post-test scores declined as the difference between sense and meaning increased (r =-0.82; P=0.03), indicating student learning is higher when both sense and meaning are present.

This thesis is an exploration of the work I have completed during graduate study at UNO. My time has been spent investigating concepts of evaluation and the attribution of meaning. The main thrust and impetus of my art has been to explore the subjective way people interpret visual language and how that interpretation can be manipulated and undermined. By undoing these associations I hope to reveal the tentative nature of meaning.

Abstract The aim of this study is to find out how preschool teachers interpret their role in supporting speech development for children with Swedish as their second language. The curriculum indicates that the preschool should support children who speaks other languages than Swedish to develop both Swedish and their mother tongue. This can become difficult since it means that a teacher often is commissioned to support a language that he or she does not speak. The objective of this study is to find out how preschool teachers interpret and describe their role when they don ́t speak the languages that is represented in the class. The purpose is to find out how the environment can be meaningful without verbal understanding between the child and teacher, as well as between the children. The data is collected with qualitative interviews that has been analysed with a social- constructionist perspective and theories of multilingual development for young children. The results show that the preschool teachers prioritize the support of the Swedish language to achieve multilingualism. They want the children to develop their mother tongue as well, but for this they often rely on parents. The teachers describe that a meaningful environment can be created by letting the children show what subjects is the most interesting, and plan for the basis of playfulness. The mother tongue is considered as meaningful to the child ́s identity and it is important that the child is permitted to be proud of his or hers language.

The general topic of the thesis is the history of the Ordinary Language Philosophy. To be more precise, it deals with the critical arguments, which were raised against is. The thesis offers a short historical and sociological review of the Ordinary Language Philosophy. Critical analysis shows two things: 1) the main reason for the rejection was a different understanding of meaning (and consequences of such a understanding); 2) critics begged the question and already assumed the justification of these rejections in their arguments. The area of this criticism was: the paradigm case argument, the empirical nature of the statements of meaning produced by the Ordinary Language Philosophy, the structural elements of meaning and the political implications of the theory of meaning. The thesis criticizes the Ordinary Language Philosophy in those parts (and in such interpretations), where its understanding of meaning does not differ from the understanding of the critics and where they share common assumptions. On the other hand, the thesis argues for an interpretation, which avoids classical understanding of meaning in all its consequences. Finally, the thesis asks how the Ordinary Language Philosophy can be useful for contemporary debates.

Nous proposons dans notre thèse de donner de la cohérence à la philosophie de Maurice Merleau-Ponty, en soulignant l'importance de la problématique du « sens », de l'« expression », et surtout du « langage ». Dans notre point de vue, si sa phénoménologie du corps, qui s'appuie sur le champ phénoménal, et son ontologie de la chair, qui est maintenue à travers la notion de la chair en tant que négativité et en même temps texture commune des êtres peuvent se placer comme une même philosophie, c'est à travers une continuité qui est impliquée dans son passage à partir de la simultanéité du sens et de l'expression qui est montrée par le comportement dans la structure du comportement et la Phénoménologie de la perception à l'être de chair fonctionnant en tant qu'entre-deux des termes opposés dans le visible et l'invisible. Le langage est ici un concept central explicitant la continuité et la cohérence entre les deux : dans sa thèse originale sur le langage, le comportement en tant que langage corporel (ce qu'il appelle la « parole parlante », le « cogito tacite » ou le « langage silencieux ») qui est considéré comme méta-langage et la modalité du mouvement charnel du phénomène langagier, qui est retrouvée dans la réversibilité verticale entre la sédimentation et la sublimation du sens et de l'expression et dans la réversibilité horizontale entre l'ipséité et l'altérité qui est demandée pour la fixation ou l'incarnation du sens fonctionne comme principe ou comme exemple par lesquels sa phénoménologie du corps et son ontologie de la chair sont définies comme une phénoménologie ontologique ou une ontologie phénoménale. [...] / We propose in our thesis to give consistency to the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, highlighting the importance of the problem of "meaning", "expression", and especially "language". In our view, if its phenomenology of the body, which relies on the phenomenal field, and its ontology of the flesh, which is maintained through the notion of the flesh as a negativity and at the same time, a common texture of the beings can be placed as a single philosophy, it is through a continuity that is involved in its passage from the simultaneity of meaning and expression that is shown by behavior in The structure of behavior and Phenomenology of perception to the being of flesh functioning in as two opposing terms in The Visible and the Invisible. Here, language is a central concept explaining continuity and coherence between the two : in his original opinion on language, behavior as body language (what he calls the "parole parlante", the "cogito tacite" or the "silent language") which is considered meta-language and the modality of the fleshly movement of the linguistic phenomenon, which is found in the vertical reversibility between sedimentation and the sublimation of meaning and expression and in the horizontal reversibility between 'ipséité' and 'altérité ', which is required for the fixation or incarnation of meaning functions as a principle or as an example by which its phenomenology of the body and its ontology of the flesh are defined as an ontological phenomenology or a phenomenal ontology.

Esta pesquisa de Mestrado foi conduzida nas séries iniciais de ensino fundamental I, no contexto de ensino de língua estrangeira e tem por objetivo investigar, a partir de uma unidade didática trabalhada, os sentidos que emergem quando a professora explica e orienta as tarefas e como os alunos compreendem e atribuem significados às orientações recebidas da docente. Por meio de uma análise linguística, pretende-se investigar os sentidos atribuídos à orientação e à recepção das tarefas, da parte da professora e dos alunos, respectivamente. A presente pesquisa apoia-se nas teorias de Ensino-Aprendizagem, conforme discutido por Mizukami (2002); na teoria Sócio-Histórico-Cultural (Vygotsky, 1933-1935/1934, Leontiev, 1977-1978), e na compreensão dialógica da linguagem (Bakhtin, 2002), além de trazer uma ampla discussão sobre as teorias de bilinguismo e educação Bilíngue (Baker 2017). Este trabalho situa-se no Paradigma crítico, sendo uma pesquisa-ação de caráter interpretativista, pois pelas observações e resultados, propõe-se uma reflexão para possível reconstrução da própria prática. A pesquisa é conduzida pela professora-pesquisadora na turma de alunos da terceira série do ensino fundamental de uma escola bilíngue na cidade de São Paulo. A partir de elaboração de questionários da unidade do gênero carta, no segundo trimestre letivo do ano 2018, os dados coletados foram categorizados para análise dos fenômenos e compreensão dos sentidos dos alunos a partir das teorias propostas, além do relato da professora, realizado em três momentos. Os resultados sugerem que os alunos tiveram aproximações significativas entre eles, convergindo para um mesmo sentido, mas distanciando-se dos sentidos esperados da professora, o que trouxe reflexão e questionamento com relação às práticas reais e pensadas ser praticadas pela pesquisadora ao final da pesquisa. / The aim of this work is to investigate, through an English unit, what senses emerge as the teacher explain and guide students. The goal is to reflect upon how students understand and make connections based on teacher\'s guidance. Through linguistic analysis, the aim is to investigate the senses given during the activities guidance and how they are perceived by both students\' and teachers\' point of view respectively. This research is based on teaching-learning theories, discussed by Mizukami (2002); social-historical-cultural theory (Vygotsky, 1933-1935/1934, Leontiev, 1977-1978), and by the dialogical comprehension of language (Bakhtin, 2002). This research also discusses bilingualism and bilingual education theories (Baker 2017). This research is based on critical paradigm and it is an action interpretive research, as based on observations and results, there is a reflection by the end in order to open possibilities for reconstructing our own practice. This research is carried out by the researcher-teacher in a primary year 3 group at a bilingual school from São Paulo. Starting from the elaboration of questionnaires based on letters genre, during the second term in 2018, all data were collected, organized and categorized in order to analyse the comprehension of students senses based on the proposed theories. In addition to that the teacher\'s point of view written in three moments of the research is also analysed. The results suggest that students\' reactions were significantly close, converging to the same sense, but far from the teacher\'s senses.

Dans ce travail de thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés à la contribution des régions sensori- motrices dans la représentation de nouveaux mots.
Dans un premier temps et au travers d’une analyse des oscillations cérébrales, nous avons observé que l’écoute seule de mots d’action (mais pas de mots de « vision ») récemment acquis, conduisait après apprentissage à une activation des régions motrices. Si l’écoute des mots d’action déclenchait une activité motrice similaire à l’observation d’actions, elle était néanmoins associée à une activité supplémentaire semblant refléter le recrutement d’une « zone de convergence » entre les structures motrices et celles du langage, permettant la récupération d’informations motrices plus abstraites. Par la suite, nous avons pu montrer que les divergences entre nouveaux mots d’action et de vision émergeaient rapidement puisqu’associés à des activités spécifiques sur les électrodes fronto-centrales et occipito-pariétales respectivement. Une autre étude EEG nous a permis d’observer que les items lexicaux (pseudo-mots) semblaient fournir un substrat unique pour associer les attributs sensori-moteurs liés au référent. Enfin, au travers d’une analyse fine des paramètres cinématiques d’un mouvement de préhension, nous avons observé que la verbalisation d’un mot d'action (i.e. « attraper ») entraînait une facilitation de l’exécution de l’action. Nos résultats indiquent que la représentation du sens des mots dans le cerveau associe à la fois les régions à modalité spécifique et des « zones de convergence » notamment entre les structures motrices et langagières, permettant la récupération d’informations plus abstraites ; tandis que la spécificité vis-à-vis du stimulus verbal tend à indiquer un pré-câblage de ces réseaux neuronaux pour le langage. Si les représentations sémantiques reflètent en partie les expériences perceptuo- motrices associées à l’apprentissage, nos travaux soulignent un phénomène toujours présumé : un certain degré d’abstraction du sens des mots / The aim of this work was to determine the role of these sensori-motor regions in the development of meaning representation of novel words. In a first learning study that involved EEG recordings, analysis of brain oscillations revealed that listening to novel action words, but not novel visual words, after training led to the activation of motor regions. This activity which was similar to what was seen during action observation was however associated with an additional activity that seemed to reflect the recruitment of a convergence zone between language and motor brain regions mediating more underspecified motor information, rather than the motor events experienced during training. Furthermore, analysis of the ERPs revealed that category-specific effects could be observed rapidly: action words and visual words were associated with specific electro-cortical activities on fronto-central electrodes and occipito-parietal electrodes respectively. In a third EEG study, we observed that only verbal stimuli but not tones, that were associated with action execution during training, triggered activity in motor regions. Lexical items seem thus to provide a unique substrate to associate with the sensory-motor attributes of the referent. Finally, fine-grained analyses of kinematics revealed that the verbalization of an action word semantically congruent to the action (i.e. “grasp”) led to a facilitation of an object-directed grasping movement. The results obtained during this work indicate that word-meaning is represented in modality- specific brain regions and in convergence zones between language and motor brain regions that mediate underspecified information. The specificity for verbal stimuli tends to indicate a pre- wired neural system for the representation of word meaning. Finally, although semantic representations partly reflect perceptual and motor experiences associated with the acquisition of words, the present work points to a phenomenon that has always been assumed: a certain degree of abstraction in word-meaning representation

La tension constante qui s’instaure entre dictionnaires et approches théoriques de la signification s’avère une dynamique majeure de l’histoire et de l’historicité des idées linguistiques. Il s’agit dès lors de faire ressortir la perméabilité, les effets de continuité et les ruptures éventuelles entre les dictionnaires en tant qu’outils linguistiques et les approches théoriques qui se penchent sur le sens. La période retenue permet de suivre, sur le moyen terme, les formes de cette interaction. Il s’agit, dans un premier temps, de voir comment la lexicographie monolingue française de la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle contribue à la promotion du sens au rang d’objet d’étude. En effet, le dictionnaire s’avère un lieu heuristique révélateur des problèmes théoriques que pose la description sémantique. À partir des matériaux empiriques collectés dans le cadre de cette description de la langue, les linguistes de la fin du XIXe siècle cherchent à parvenir à une synthèse des observations. Une relecture du débat qui se développe autour de l’institutionnalisation de la sémantique au XIXe siècle permet de montrer, dans un deuxième temps, que les dilemmes du lexicographe sont susceptibles d’aboutir à des impasses théoriques. Néanmoins, les failles repérées dans les outils linguistiques sollicitent la réflexion et lui suggèrent de nouvelles hypothèses. Dans un troisième temps, il s’agit de retracer, au cours du XXe siècle, la dispersion de l’interaction entre dictionnaires et approches théoriques du sens et ce, dans des horizons de recherche différents qui adoptent l’outil linguistique comme modèle de la langue, de la compétence sémantique ou comme terrain d’expérimentation. / The constant strain between dictionaries and theoretical approaches to signification proves to be one of the major dynamics of the history and the historicity of linguistic ideas. Hence what matters is to bring out the permeability, the effects of continuity and the possible breaking points between dictionaries as linguistic tools and the theoretical approaches that look into meaning. The period considered here provides an understanding of the various forms of this interaction in the medium term. First, this study shows how French monolingual lexicography in the second half of the 19th century contributes to making meaning an object of study. As a matter of fact dictionaries prove to play a heuristic role which reveals the theoretical problems raised by semantic description. From the empirical evidence collected in the context of that description of language, late 19th-century linguists seek to come to a synthesis of observations. A new reading of the debate surrounding the institutionalization of semantics in the 19th century then shows that a lexicographer’s dilemmas are likely to end up in theoretical deadlocks. Nevertheless, the faults found in linguistic tools trigger off further reflection and suggest new hypotheses. Finally, this study aims to trace back the dissipation of the interaction between dictionaries and theoretical approaches to meaning, during the 20th century, thanks to different research perspectives which take on linguistic tools as the model for language, for semantic competence, or as an experimental field.