Étude sémantique du substantif pouvoir dans Les Rougon-Macquart de Zola

Power is a key element in the work of Zola, who was the first author to make political power the subject of a novel in Son Excellence Eugene Rougon. This thesis will therefore study the noun pouvoir (power), an abstract word whose polysemy is extensive.The first part is a lexicological and lexicographic study of the noun pouvoir in French considered as a language system (langue). The lexicological study uses basic notions of lexical semantics to present the polysemy, synonyms, context and connotations of pouvoir. The lexicographic study offers a diachronic analysis of this verbal noun from its first attested use in 842, reviewing its different meanings in old, pre-classical, classical, modern and contemporary French.The second part goes on to study pouvoir in a discourse setting in Zola’s Rougon-Macquart cycle. Using a semasiological approach, the 139 occurrences of the word across the twenty novels are classified according to a dominant meaning. This makes it possible to show the range of meanings of the word based on an analysis of the precise contexts in which it is used. In context, it becomes apparent that it is sometimes difficult to define the word’s meaning precisely, since ambiguities or slippages are observed with respect to the meanings established in the study of the overall language system. This part of the thesis thus sheds a different light on the word, by situating its polysemy in a continuum of meanings.The third part uses an onomasiological approach, analysing the broader contexts of the use of the word to establish three semantic fields of pouvoir. Its generic field is composed of the synonyms autorite (authority), puissance (power, capacity), toute-puissance (omnipotence), ascendant (ascendancy, influence), domination (domination), empire (empire), force (force), trone (throne). Its associative field, analysed through the different meanings of the word, can be summarised in seven representative key words : regime politique (political regime), appetits (appetites), bande (gang), force (force), impuissance (powerlessness), chute (fall), and disgrâce (disgrace). Finally an analysis of the actantial field of the word reveals that members of the Rougon-Macquart family are over-represented compared to other characters in actant positions related to power.Adopting an approach which spans the divide between language as system (langue) and discourse, this study shows that the double semantic reach of pouvoir as ‘capability’ (capacite) and ‘authority’ (autorite) is not present in Zola. Zola chooses to give massive priority to meanings of pouvoir which relate to authority. This serves to reveal the author’s attitude towards his characters, who possess authority without necessarily having the corresponding capability.