La anáfora y su funcionamiento discursivouna aproximación contrastiva.

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the linguistic processes that guarantee the coherence and cohesion of all discursive units according to two clearly-defined basic investigation lines: on the one hand, I conducted an intra-linguistic analysis of the use and operation of certain anaphoric marks and their representation in the popularized scientific discourse in French. The purpose of this discourse is the transmission of strongly-structured and linked concepts in order to fulfil its argumentative and explanatory function. This favours the mechanisms of discursive cohesion, and especially of the lexical anaphora. Apart from that, a classification of this anaphoric mechanisms based on their lexical peculiarities was carried out. This analysis and further classification draw upon the study of the referential processes both from the point of view of the Philosophy of Language and Textual Linguistics together with Cognitive Linguistics. They all provide the theoretical framework for the description of text construction and the cognitive processes of ,meaning creation; furthermore, a comparative linguistic analysis with the popularized scientific discourse in Spanish was conducted where the opposing, comparable and complementary values of the two languages are depicted. A special emphasis was placed on the translators options which reflect a special divergence between French and Spanish texts. This was discussed from a descriptive rather than prescriptive view and on the basis of the current theoretical bases of Contrastive Linguistics and Translation.