Publication ｜Sophia Linguistica
Daisuke Inoue
The aim of this study is to explain the use of the French subjunctive when opinion verbs
like croire (believe) and penser (think) are used in negation. According to the theory
of linguistic polyphony (Nolke 1985) and the modular theory of modality (Gosselin
2010 and 2016), the indicative only appears when the speaker echoes the words of the
interlocutor, while the subjunctive is used in other cases. However, this is not always the
case. To address this issue, we will examine the explanation based on the notion of truthconditional
semantics. According to this approach, the anaphoricity of presuppositions
allows the speaker to erase enunciative traces, giving the subjunctive a socio-interactional
value. The data observed in Frantext indicate that the theory of linguistic polyphony
and the modular theory of modality cannot explain the use of the subjunctive when the
speaker echoes what the interlocutor has said. It appears that there are other factors that
also influence this choice. The socio-interactional value, generated by the anaphoricity of
presuppositions, could be one of them.
