Vol. 9 (2020)
Forensic Linguistics: New Procedures and Standards

Research Articles

The Semantic and Lexical Evolution of “Divorce” Throughout the History of French Legislation

Published 10.09.2020

  • Beatriz Curti-Contessoto
    • ,
  • Isabelle Oliveira
    • ,
  • Ieda Maria Alves

Beatriz Curti-Contessoto
University of São Paulo (USP)

Isabelle Oliveira
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3

Ieda Maria Alves
University of São Paulo (USP)

Abstract

The dissolution of marriage has not always existed in the French legal field since marriages were under the control and influence of the Catholic Church for a long time. It was only in 1792 that the term “divorce” first appeared in French law in order to designate the concept of the “dissolution of civil marriages abstracted from the prerogative of death of one of the spouses and religious issues”. After the introduction of this concept into the French legal context, there were legislative changes regarding different divorce situations over the following years. In the light of these facts, this paper examines the semantic and lexical evolution of the term divorce in the domain of French law, relating this evolution to socio-cultural and historical aspects of France between 1792 (when the divorce was instituted in the country) and 2017 (when the most recent legislative change on the subject occurred). The present study is based on the theoretical and methodological assumptions of Terminology (Cabré, 1999; Barros, 2004; Krieger & Finatto, 2004), particularly on the perspective of Diachronic Terminology (Dury, 1999; Tartier, 2006). Based on the results of this investigation, it is possible to affirm that the evolution of French society has leaded to the transformation of the legal domain that, in turn, has created new concepts that caused the semantic and lexical evolution of the terminology designating types of divorce in France since the eighteenth century.

Cite as: Curti-Contessoto et al., JLL 9 (2020), 48–66, DOI: 10.14762/jll.2020.048

Keywords

divorce, semantic-lexical evolution, legislative changes, France, diachronic terminology

PDF

Author Biography

Beatriz Curti-Contessoto

Postdoctoral researcher at the University of São Paulo (USP). PhD in Linguistic Studies at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil with support of the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). Since 2013, she collaborates with Centre de Ressources et Information en Français (CRIF) that was founded by UNESP and French Embassy of São Paulo. She works as translator (since 2012) and substitute professor in Letters and Bachelor's Degree in Translation (since 2016) at UNESP (Campus of São José do Rio Preto/São Paulo).

Isabelle Oliveira

MCF - Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3

CLESTHIA - Langage, systèmes, discours - EA 7345

ED 268 - Langage et langues : description, théorisation, transmission

Département : Langues Etrangères Appliquées (LEA)

Ieda Maria Alves

She developed postdoctoral researches at the Université Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle (France), Université Paris 7 - Denis Diderot (France), Université Paris 13 - Villetaneuse (France), Institut de la Langue Française (Nancy and Centre de Terminologie et de Néologie, Paris), Université Laval (Quebec, Canada). She is Ph.D. in Linguistics at the Université Paris 3 - Sorbonne-Nouvelle (Paris, France). She is currently a full professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH) at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses. She has experience in the area of Linguistics, with emphasis on the study of Lexicon, acting on the following subjects: Neology, Lexicology, Morphology, Terminology and Lexicography.

References

  1. Alves, Ieda Maria (2006). A renovação lexical nos domínios de especialidade. Ciência e Cultura [Online], 58, 32–34. Available at cienciaecultura.bvs.br/pdf/cic/v58n2/a13v58n2.pdf (accessed March 2016).
  2. Barros, Lidia A. (2004). Curso Básico de Terminologia. São Paulo: Editora da Universidade de São Paulo.
  3. Bortolato, Caroline P. (2013). Uma proposta de tradução da terminologia jurídica do Ancien Régime presente na peça Les Plaideurs de Jean Racine. São Paulo: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas. DOI: 10.11606/D.8.2013.tde-18112013-131108.
  4. de Boysson, Benoît (2016). Promulgation de la loi abolissant le divorce. Available at francearchives.fr/
  5. commemo/recueil-2016/39948 (accessed November 2018).
  6. Cabré, María Teresa (1999). La terminología: representación y comunicación. Elementos para una teoría de base co-municativa y otros artículos. Barcelona: IULA.
  7. Coulon, Henri (1890). Le divorce et la séparation du corps. Paris: Marchal et Billard.
  8. Crouzatier (1942). Nouvelles dispositions limitant le divorce. Le Chasseur Français, no. 605. Available at perso.numericable.fr/cf40/articles/4247/4247051B.htm (accessed November 2018).
  9. Curti, Beatriz & Barros, Lidia A. (2018). Um estudo da evolução semântica do termo casamento no domínio jurídico brasileiro à luz da Terminologia Diacrônica. In Ieda M. Alves & João H. L. Ganança (Eds.), Os estudos lexicais em diferentes perspectivas (pp. 82–96). São Paulo: FFLCH/USP. Available at li-vrosabertos.sibi.usp.br/portaldelivrosUSP/catalog/download/211/190/924-1 (accessed March 2019).
  10. Curti-Contessoto, Beatriz (2018). Terms designating places for the celebration and civil registration of marriages and places for the issuance of marriage certificates in Brazilian history. Terminàlia - Revista Semestral de la Societat Catalana de Terminologia, 18, 14–24. DOI: 10.2436/20.2503.01.123.
  11. Dury, Pascaline (1999). Étude comparative et diachronique des concepts ecosystem et écosystème. Meta : journal des traducteurs / Meta: Translators’ Journal, 44, 485–499. DOI: 10.7202/002690ar.
  12. Gautier, Laurent (2019). La recherche en “langues-cultures-milieux” de spécialité au prisme de l’épaisseur socio-discursive. In Marietta Calderon & Carmen Konzett-Firth (Eds.), Dynamische Approximationen. Festschriftliches pünktlichst zu Eva Lavrics 62,5. Geburtstag (pp. 369–387). Available at halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02277295 (accessed February 2020).
  13. IPRéunion (2017). 1968 - La France au bord de la révolution. Actus Réunion. Available at reunion.orange.
  14. fr/actu/reunion/1968-la-france-au-bord-de-la-revolution.html (accessed November 2018).
  15. Krieger, Maria da Graça & Finatto, Maria José B. (2004). Introdução à terminologia: teoria e prática. São Pau-lo: Contexto.
  16. Larousse (2018). Evénements de mai 1968. In: Encyclopédie LAROUSSE en ligne. Paris: Editions Larousse. Available at larousse.fr/encyclopedie/divers/%C3%A9v%C3%A9nements_de_mai_1968/131140 (accessed November 2018).
  17. Le Crom, Jean-Pierre (2006). L’avenir des lois de Vichy. In Bernard Durand, Jean-Pierre Le Crom & Ales-sandro Somma (Eds.), Le droit sous Vichy (pp. 453–478). Frankfurt: Klostermann.
  18. Le Gac, Jean (2018). La réforme du divorce de 1975 : l’introduction du divorce par consentement mutuel. Jalons – Version découvertes. Available at enseignants.lumni.fr/fiche-media/00000000803 (accessed No-vember 2018).
  19. Olivier, Cyril (2005). Les couples illégitimes dans la France de Vichy et la répression sexuée de l’infidélité (1940-1944). Crime, Histoire & Sociétés / Crime, History & Societies, 9. DOI: 10.4000/chs.295.
  20. Pavel, Silvia & Nolet, Diane (2003). Manual de Terminologia. Translation by Enilde Faulstich. Gatineau: Quebec. Available at www.translationbureau.gc.ca (accessed December 2013).
  21. Phillips, Roderick G. (1979). Le divorce en France à la fin du XVIIIe siècle. In Annales. Economies, sociétés, civilisations, 385–398. Available at persee.fr/doc/ahess_0395-2649_1979_num_34_2_294052 (accessed November 2018).
  22. Sardon, Jean-Paul (1996). L’évolution du divorce en France. In: Population, 717–749. Available at persee.fr/doc/pop_0032-4663_1996_num_51_3_6079 (accessed November 2018).
  23. Tartier, Annie (2006). Analyse automatique de l’évolution terminologique. In Actes du Traitement Automa-tique des Langues Naturelles (TALN), Leuven. Available at re-vuei3.org/hors_serie/annee2006/revue_i3_hs2006_01_05.pdf (accessed April 2016).