Sur les emplois dits ‘exemplificatifs’ des marqueurs d’approximation

The article discusses the so-called exemplificative uses of approximation markers. The author begins by defining the operations of approximation and exemplification and their respective communicative functions. She subsequently shows that even if approximation and exemplification share certain semantic properties (in particular, the use of a paradigm of possibilities and of the notions of general and particular), they do so in different ways and with different communicative objectives. In the case of exemplification, the text fragments linked by the marker are in a relationship of set inclusion, whereas in the case of approximation the producer provides a particular instance aiming to clarify the designated generic referent by attaching it to a type, a category – an operation based on the principle of approximate resemblance. Therefore, the resemblance between exemplification and approximation appears to be that of a surface nature since the markers do not exploit the same underlying semantic mechanism.