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THE SEMANTICS OF SUSPICION IN THE WRITINGS OF DESMOULINS

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Date Issued:
2017
Abstract:
An exacting command of language in his employ, journalist Camille Desmoulins was arguably one of the most dangerous and cunning players in the political arena of revolutionary France. His work is a clear synthesis of linguistic and political theory but what, precisely, made it so effective? When his work is regarded collectively, a theme emerges wherein Desmoulins uses language designed to categorically perpetuate suspicion. Using the principles of lexical semantics, rhetoric, and connotation, this project seeks to examine the semantic undercurrents of Desmoulins’s works as they relate specifically to the public perception of suspicion, and to define the linguistic parameters within which he operated. An analysis of selected examples will demonstrate how the evocative language speaks to the author’s acute cognizance of his audience and his talent for inflaming the collective unrest through the use of tropes; specifically dehumanization, personification, and the neologism brissoter. Additionally, a feature analysis of nouns and verbs drawn from a sample of Desmoulins’s work further identifies tropes and atypical semantic forms and argues that, through his linguistic manipulation, he was able to sow suspicion among the mercurial Third Estate; both against the monarchy and the ultra-radical Republic.
Title: THE SEMANTICS OF SUSPICION IN THE WRITINGS OF DESMOULINS.
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Name(s): Gilbert, Ivy
Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Capstone Project
Date Created: 2017
Date Issued: 2017
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Florida
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 66 p.
Language(s): English
Abstract: An exacting command of language in his employ, journalist Camille Desmoulins was arguably one of the most dangerous and cunning players in the political arena of revolutionary France. His work is a clear synthesis of linguistic and political theory but what, precisely, made it so effective? When his work is regarded collectively, a theme emerges wherein Desmoulins uses language designed to categorically perpetuate suspicion. Using the principles of lexical semantics, rhetoric, and connotation, this project seeks to examine the semantic undercurrents of Desmoulins’s works as they relate specifically to the public perception of suspicion, and to define the linguistic parameters within which he operated. An analysis of selected examples will demonstrate how the evocative language speaks to the author’s acute cognizance of his audience and his talent for inflaming the collective unrest through the use of tropes; specifically dehumanization, personification, and the neologism brissoter. Additionally, a feature analysis of nouns and verbs drawn from a sample of Desmoulins’s work further identifies tropes and atypical semantic forms and argues that, through his linguistic manipulation, he was able to sow suspicion among the mercurial Third Estate; both against the monarchy and the ultra-radical Republic.
Identifier: FAUIR000379 (IID)
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FAUIR000379
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Host Institution: FAU