Nous et je : énonciation et argumentation dans le discours de Simone Veil sur la dépénalisation de l’interruption volontaire de grossesse (26 novembre 1974)

Laboratoire Praxiling UMR 5267, Université de Montpellier Paul-Valéry

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Abstract

This paper analyses the power of enunciation through personal pronouns regarding the speech Simone Veil brought before the National Assembly that opened the debate on the decriminalization of abortion (November 26^th 1974). How did the former French health minister manage to overcome political and gender differences between interlocutors in order to achieve political consensus? This question will be answered with the notion of ethos as studied in the French Discourse Analysis' tradition. Thus, personal pronouns are discussed as discourse marks of subjectivity. This study highlights Simone Veil’s enunciative strategy emerging from the use of personal pronouns in context. In particular it focuses on the usage of the first singular pronoun je [I] and the archetypical political pronoun nous [we], drawing attention to referential shifts between personal pronouns and the pragmatic significance of such shifts.