Langages - Année 1997 - Volume 31 - Numéro 127 - Pages 38-55From times immemorial, grammarians and linguists have assigned precedence to the noun over the other parts of discourse. The essentialisation of the nominal archetype, abundantly illustrated in the great mythical texts, leads numerous semantic analyses to belie the very theoretical principles which they defend. Our starting point is a reassessment of the definition of nomination, in which the noun is not viewed as designating the object named « in se », but « for us », thus nominating our relation to that object. A model of nominal significance is offered, in which praxis is viewed as bearing on meaning and in which we attempt to integrate the dialectic relationships between language and the real, whether those be inscribed in speech or mobilised through discourse. 18 pages Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.