La construction discursive des émotions dans les titres des journaux français sur les catastrophes sismiques

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to highlight the issues of pathos in the media discourse, especially in the first press article published in France on the earthquake in Italy 2016. To achieve this goal, the approach is based on the results empirical analysis of the articles on the earthquake that took place on August 24, 2016 in Italy, as described by two French national daily newspapers: Le Monde and Le Point. We conduct our analysis on the first article published in the dailies Le Monde and Le Point, on August 24, 2016, the day of the earthquake. We aim to grasp how the concept of catastrophe is rendered by lexical means. In addition, we try to emphasize how emotions are transmitted not only by subjective means, such as qualifying adjectives, but also by objective means, such as the factual data presented. The theoretical framework is provided by work on rhetorical strategies (Aristotle 2007, Perelman, 1992) and on the study of emotions (Plantin, 1997, 1998, 2004; Tétu, 2004).