Des Vanessa, des Jos� Bov�: d�nominations �ph�m�res et dynamique de la lexicalisation

Abstract

Some proper nouns preceded by a determiner which appear in discourse following a first mention of an ordinary proper noun, constitute a naming, since they perform a categorization operation. However, they do not constitute a lexical category in the usual sense: the naming is only valid for the duration of the discourse, and its meaning depends strictly upon the properties predicated of the first occurrence of the proper noun. We may, then, speak of « short-lived namings ». Occasionally, however, such a short-lived naming is repeated to the point where it becomes self-sufficient. It can be regarded as « emergent naming », since it gets a relative denominative stability, like so-called lexicalized antonomasias (kinds of successful short-lived namings). In this article, we study the creativity and the lexicalization of such namings from the point of view of a dynamic conception of lexicalization, which takes quotation into account.