Means of constructing modal meanings in the 18th-century French manuscript.pdf
Abstract
This study identifies the distinctive features of constructing modal meanings in the French manuscript Herbier Medical contenant vingt et une classes de plantes usuelles dont on fait le plus frequemment usage dans la pratique de la Medicine Rangées selon les vertus qui leur sont les plus generallement reconnues (1759) by means of constructions with the indefinite personal pronoun ON. The relevance of this research is determined by the need for a comprehensive understanding of the linguistic and discursive mechanisms of meaning construction in 18th-century French scientific texts, which are viewed as elements of a historically variable system of knowledge (in Michel Foucault’s paradigm), as exemplified by the medical herbal manuscript that combines descriptive-classificatory and medico-prescriptive functions.
The manuscript reveals types of modality that qualify propositional content in relation to different parameters: epistemic modality – with respect to certainty and probability, presenting statements as reliable, verified, and customary; deontic modality – with respect to normativity and permissibility, expressing necessity, prescription, permission, or prohibition of medical procedures; alethic modality – with respect to logical-ontological possibility, as typical and natural; axiological modality evaluates statements as positive or negative in terms of the effectiveness or harmfulness of the described medical practices. From the perspective of cognitive anthropology, constructions with the indefinite personal pronoun ON function as means of constructing meanings of CERTAINTY, NECESSITY, POSSIBILITY, and VALUE in the scientific domains of botany and medicine.
The dominant meanings in the manuscript are regulatory, actualized through deontic modality, since most statements construct meanings of normative regulation of therapeutic, medical, and prescription procedures. Modality in the manuscript has a non-linear organization: the boundaries between individual types are not rigidly defined but are interpenetrating. Constructions with the indefinite personal pronoun ON serve as a tool of a depersonalized mode of knowledge representation, which was characteristic of the 18th-century French scientific and medical discourse. At the macro-level, meaning construction in the manuscript is structured by a cultural schema that entails the elaboration of mental representations: RELIABLE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT A PLANT → NECESSITY OF ITS MEDICINAL USE → POSSIBILITY OF ITS USE → THERAPEUTIC VALUE OF THE PLANT in accordance with the episteme of the Enlightenment era.
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References
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