Evocation et cognition: Reflets dans l'eau (review)

Choi-Diel, In-Ryeong. Évocation et cognition: Reflets dans l'eau. Préface de Marc Dominicy. Saint-Denis: Presses Universitaires de Vincennes ("Sciences du Lang-age"), 2001. Pp. 221. ISBN 2-84292-087-2

In-Ryeong Choi-Diel presents a model of "l'évocation qui soit applicable à la poésie et à la musique, et qui se fonde sur un double principe formel et cognitif" (17). By her own statement, her primary theoretical grounding is in Marc Dominicy's "théorie de l'évocation" (18) and Dan Sperber's linking of "le fonctionnement de la mémoire et la représentation symbolique" (19). The localized sense of "évocation" is explained as "un processus mental très général, fondé sur le principe que les êtres humains sont dotés d'une capacité à construire mentalement des objets perçus ou des informations nouvelles sur la base d'indices fragmentaires" (Choi-Diel's italics; 19). This "évocation" may be characterized by "la nature des objets qui la déclenchent" and it is also "un processus de création indviduelle" (20). Choi-Diel studies parallels between music and poetry "dans leur interaction avec le principe sémantico-cognitif dans l'év-ocation" (23).

Following the initial presentation of the idea of "évocation" and a survey of previous theories (Introduction), the exposition is devoted to "l'analyse formelle de la poésie et de la musique" (ch. 1), an overview of the theoretical basis of her study, along with a first analysis of the concepts of "phrase, motif, période" in Debussy's "Reflets dans l'eau" (an analysis taken up again later). Choi-Diel's analysis is prin-cipally based on the two categories "équivalence" (coded and non-coded) and "effets de sens." She returns to Jakobson's statement that "la fonction poétique projette le principe d'équivalence de l'axe de la sélection sur l'axe de la combinaison" (Essais de linguistique [translated by Nicolas Ruwet, 1963], cited p. 46), which is relevant but "trop général" (47). In poetry, Choi-Diel takes from Ruwet the idea that "équivalence" includes both identity and contrast (48). Poetic discourse follows a principle of establishing relationships of equivalence at different levels of rep-resentation - the phonetic, phonological, morphological, and syntactical levels (50). Coded equivalence relations are the "règles" (I would substitute "conventions" to avoid the rigidity of the idea of rules or laws!) of versification, which interact with other levels of poetic discourse (50-51). Non-coded equivalence relations include such elements as non-conventional sound repetitions and syntactical parallelisms (52). Taking her departure from Sperber's exploration of equivalence, Choi-Diel equates "effets de sens" with the term "effets symboliques." Certain images and non-explicit implications fall into this category (52).

Unlike poetry, music has no identifiable "words," although there are still a number of identifiable elements on which the study of "équivalences" can focus (52). Fol-lowing the papers of David Lidov (On Musical Phrase, published by the GRSM at the Université de Montréal, 1975), Choi-Diel sees the "phrase musicale" as a discreet unit of "meaning." The essence of Lidov's "definition" seems to be that the "phrase" is composed of identifiable patterns: "encadrement" (xyyx), "complémentation" (xyxy), and "disjonction" (xxyy) (65). In a first brief analysis, Choi-Diel demon-strates the xyxy configuration in the first eight measures of Debussy's "Reflets dans l'eau" (66-67).

In her second chapter, "Critique du modèle formel et prise en compte du cognitif," Choi-Diel summarizes definitions and theories of cognitive concepts and terms - "savoir," "équivalence," "prototype" and "stéréotype," and most importantly of "convocation" and "évocation." These terms come primarily from Sperber and Dominicy, with numerous references to earlier work in linguisitics and psychology. "Savoir sémantique" is a more limiting process, consisting in the selection of "données limitées sur chaque catégorie," words and their possible meanings. "Savoir encyclopédique" is...