French Literature Reviews - 2026
Yves Macchi, Études de chronosyntaxe (ed. Martine Poirier)
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics
Essays compiled by Martine Poirier.
Yves Macchi's chronosyntax stems from the premise that a sentence is a temporal entity. The operational duration required for its unfolding is essentially that of meaning construction, occurring through a succession of moments that bring together the memory of preceding signifiers and the anticipation—whether fulfilled or thwarted—of those to come.
Positioned as a receiver, the analyst derives a methodological approach that grants central importance to processual duration across all observable levels. Moving outward from syntax (chronosyntax), the author extends this principle to semantics (chronosemantics), examining the co-construction of meaning between individual units and entire utterances; to grammatical morphology (chronomorphogenesis), where verbal morphology is understood as a process of gradual growth unfolding across the operational duration of its construction; to lexical morphology conceived as an embodied process (chronophonetics); and to orthography, where choices are analyzed as symptoms of anticipatory activities performed—or not—by the writer (chronography).
This volume traces the genesis and evolution of this theoretical and methodological framework.
Excerpt from the introduction...
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The study of language as a temporal phenomenon has long occupied a place within structuralist and cognitive linguistic traditions. This collection examines the operational duration required for the emergence of meaning, treating the sentence as a sequence of cognitive moments that facilitate the assembly of semantic content across various linguistic levels.
This volume maps the development of a methodology that applies temporal analysis to areas including grammatical morphology, lexical formation, and orthographic choices. The essays trace the transition from chronosyntax to applications such as chronosemantics and chronography, illustrating the evolution of this theoretical perspective. Readers interested in the intersection of temporal cognition and linguistic structure may find these explorations of the mechanics of meaning construction relevant.