MCF at Université de Caen since 2006

Background and Fields of interest

2005: PhD thesis from Université Paris IV-Sorbonne : The substantivization of adjectives in contemporary English, under the supervision of Prof. Pierre Cotte.

Following this foray into the lexicon, which delved into the relation between signs and meaning and the role of parts of speech, subsequent research has focused on the semantics of lexical items and structures, and in particular metaphor and above all metonymy. The new cognitive theories of metonymy resonate with my corpus of substantivized adjectives.

In addition, a passion for phonesthemes, submorphemes and sound symbolism in the English language has also triggered a central interest for the notion of iconicity in language (both syntax and the lexicon). Intuitive knowledge of meaning as a native speaker seems to point to the relative motivation of lexical items: arbitrariness can coexist with motivation (especially secondary motivation), as has been argued by cognitivists since John Haiman in 1980.

Recent papers

2008: A Constructivist approach to substantivized adjectives, paper presented at a CRISCO Conference, Université de Caen.

2010: The phonaesthetics of blends in English, paper presented at the Conference on Blending in Morphological Theory at Lyon 2 University, France. (abstract)

2011: Double whammy! The dysphemistic euphemism implied in unVables: pluralia tantum deverbal nominalised adjectives such as untouchables, unspeakables, unprintables, unmentionables, submitted to the journal Lexis for future publication in Lexis 7. (abstract)