Although in the classical Chinese outlook the world can only be made sense of through the means devised by the ancient sages and handed down by the tradition, the art of exegesis has long been a neglected subject. Scholars have been all too eager to dispute what their chosen text says than to pay attention to the nuanced ways in which it hones its tools. This dissertation aims to somewhat redirect the discipline's attention by focusing on Xu Shen's Shuowen Jiezi. I approach this compendium of Han philology, typically regarded as a repository of disparate linguistic data, as underlied by a tight theoretical framework reducible to one simple idea. I begin with the discussion of the competing visions of the six principles, for two millenia the basis of instruction in the arts of letters. I identify the relationship between abstraction and representation and the principle of convergence as the main points of contention. I take Xu Shen's convergence to pertain to the Han practice of relating words through sound similarity. This in turn I interpret as one particular manifestation of dispositional categorization (類情), a fortunes turning term in the exegetical tradition of the Change. The third chapter illustrates Xu Shen's twin techniques of relating and differentiating along with the worldview of the Change from which they derive. It introduces the concepts of matching and extension, and pits them against their counterparts of mirroring and analogy. The leitmotifs of the fourth chapter are Xu Shen's argument against the arbitrariness of sign and the relationship between linguistic and cognitive categorization. The fifth chapter compares the Shuowen to other works of Han lexicography, character primers in particular. The phenomenon of paronomastic glossing is examined here in detail. I argue that Xu Shen's ordering of classical vocabulary on the basis of graphic resemblance and the concomitant explanations are but projections of paronomasia into the realm of semiotics. The final chapter situates this likeness driven interpretative strategy against earlier attitudes to language. I close by intimating the creative potential entailed in Xu Shen's recasting of fragmentary diachronic knowledge as a comprehensive synchronic system. / East Asian Languages and Civilizations

The present study concerns the use in the Hebrew Bible of paronomasia (soundplay) for the purpose of alluding to and interpreting antecedent literary traditions also found in the Bible. The focus of the investigation lies on the biblical writers' use of allusive paronomasia for the purpose of constructing theological discourse, that is, in service of their efforts to describe the nature of God and his relationship to humanity. By showing that a variety of biblical texts contain examples of allusive paronomasia employed for this purpose, the study demonstrates that this literary device played an important role in the growth of the biblical text as a whole and in the development of ancient Israelite and early Jewish theological traditions. / Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre général de la linguistique descriptive et s’intéresse à l’espagnol familier d’usage au Chili, à travers les affects exprimés par les locuteurs chiliens. Notre hypothèse consiste dans le fait que l’espagnol du Chili est défini sur la base des affects, et que l’expression de ceux-ci, au niveau linguistique, est observable dans les phénomènes les plus divers, pouvant aller d’un simple morphème à une structure syntagmatique complexe. Afin de concevoir l’expression linguistique des affects d’un point de vue plus large, cette recherche vise l’étude de quatre phénomènes clairement différenciés : le suffixe –it dans le cadre de la communauté linguistique chilienne, la « paronomase orientée », le défigement phraséologique dans le domaine des locutions verbales et adverbiales et la particule illocutoire poh. Notre méthodologie consiste en l’extraction d’un nombre d’exemples conséquents pour illustrer les phénomènes choisis à partir de 103 numéros du journal chilien La Cuarta de 2010 et 2011. Parallèlement nous considérons un nombre significatif d’exemples issus de l’enregistrement de conversations menées auprès de 58 locuteurs chiliens pendant 9 heures 11 minutes et 33 secondes.Les quatre phénomènes de langue visés ont été étudiés sous le concept d’affectivité proposé par Bally (1965 [1913]), qui distingue les principes d’intensité et de valeur (1951 [1909]).L’étude de l’affectivité du suffixe –it dans le contexte chilien a révélé que l’affectivité est une propriété qui opère sur deux dimensions. Elle est, d’un côté, intrinsèque à un signe linguistique – base lexicale, suffixe –it et tout autre élément linguistique convergeant dans le discours – et, d’un autre côté, extrinsèque, car relatée à des éléments culturels ou idéologiques, et plus généralement à tout ce qui est extralinguistique. Dans les deux dimensions, l’affectivité du locuteur fonctionne comme élément de fusion et donne son vrai sens au signe linguistique. Concernant la « paronomase orientée » (terme que nous avons proposé), nous avons constaté que l’affectivité constitue la caractéristique principale de ce type de paronomase, et que son usage repose notamment sur la figure de la plaisanterie, cela étant dû à des caractéristiques communes qui se sont révélées être : la fonction ludique, l’intentionnalité comique et l’effet de surprise.La paronomase orientée, qui s’investit sur les plans phonétique, morphologique, lexical et sémantique, constitue pour nous une opération linguistique dérivative, où deux lexies simples ou complexes, qui se substituent l’une à l’autre au sein d’un énoncé, partagent des propriétés phonétiques, alors que leur contenu sémantique diverge.En liaison avec le défigement des locutions verbales et adverbiales, il s’avère que le défigement phraséologique est une activité linguistique naturelle faisant appel à la relation figurative constante entre les mots, qui permet de créer d’autres manières d’exprimer et d’actualiser les usages de termes déjà existants.L’évolution des phrases figées passe par un processus de transformation souhaité par les locuteurs au détriment des normes phraséologiques ou syntaxiques données. Cependant, l’intérêt de la création néologique intervient quand le locuteur a la possibilité de créer et de recréer des structures linguistiques nouvelles.Quant à la particule illocutoire poh, particule notamment orale qui provient du connecteur pues (Oroz : 1966), nous avons réussi à montrer que poh aide à la progression de la communication, favorisant la cohérence et la cohésion entre l'énoncé et le texte. De plus, par le truchement de poh, un accord consensuel entre le locuteur et l’interlocuteur s’établit et, à partir de cet accord, des fonctions pragmatico-affectives nouvelles surgissent. / This thesis fits into the general framework of descriptive linguistics. The thesis focuses on the colloquial Spanish used in Chile, through the affects expressed by the Chilean speakers.Our hypothesis is that Chilean Spanish is defined on the basis of affects, and linguistically, the expression of these affects is observed in various phenomena, from a simple morpheme to a complex phrase structure.In order to consider the linguistic expression of affects from a broader perspective, this research aims to study four clearly differentiated phenomena: the –it suffix as it is used within the Chilean linguistic community, the oriented paronomasia, phraseological deautomatization of verbal and adverbial phrases, and the illocutionary particle poh.Our methodology involves the removal of a number of consistent examples to illustrate the phenomena chosen from 103 copies of the Chilean newspaper La Cuarta (examples collected between 2010 and 2011). Similarly, we have extracted a selection of examples of recordings of conversations conducted with 58 Chilean speakers.The four linguistic phenomena focused upon have been studied from the concept of affectivity proposed by Bally (1965 [1913]), who distinguishes the principles of intensity and value (1951 [1909]).The study of the affectivity of the –it suffix in the Chilean context, has revealed that the affectivity is a property that operates in two dimensions. It is, firstly, intrinsic to a linguistic sign - lexical base, –it suffix and other convergent linguistic elements in the speech - and on the other hand, extrinsic, as it refers to cultural or ideological elements. In other words, everything that is extralinguistic. With respect to the "oriented paronomasia" (a term we put forward), we found that affectivity is the main feature of this type of paronomasia and that their use is essentially based on the form of the joke, this is due to the common characteristics that we found: the recreational function, the comic intent and surprise.The oriented paronomasia, which participates in the phonetic, morphological, lexical and semantic levels, constitutes for us a linguistic derivative transaction in which two simple or complex lexemes that are replaced by one another inside a sentence, share phonetic properties, even though the semantic content of these diverges.Concerning the deautomatization of verbal and adverbial phrases, it is revealed that the manipulation phraseology is a natural linguistic activity that appeals to the constant figurative relationship between the words, allowing one to create other ways in which to express and update the use of terms already in existence.The evolution of fixed phrases undergoes a process of transformation desired by speakers to the detriment of given phraseological or syntactic rules. However, the interest of neological creation intervenes when the speaker is able to create and recreate new linguistic structures.Regarding the illocutory particle poh, it is a linguistic particle, primarily oral, that derives from the connector 'pues' (Oroz, 1966), whose original form has been absorbed by phonetic attrition. We have managed to demonstrate that poh helps the progression of communication, favouring the coherence and cohesion between the statement and the text. Also, through the use of poh, a consensual agreement is established between the speakers and, from this agreement, arise pragmatic-affective functions.