R Paul

The article considers the nature of descriptive statements and the ontological status of descriptive constructs in linguistics, taking the example of a phoneme of English. It is argued that descriptive statements should be seen as expressions of the content of descriptive models or as hypotheses. Furthermore, it is argued that descriptive models and constructs in linguistics have a purely explanatory function in relation to speech events and without ontological commitment to corresponding entities in the real world

The article considers descriptive statements about languages and language phenomena and seeks to determine how such statements can be “true”. Descriptive statements about languages are considered from the points of view of the correspondence and coherence theories of truth and from the point of view of hypothetico-deductive testing. It is argued that descriptive statements about languages are rationally discussable interpretations disciplined by what we can observe within a given paradigm, and that issues of truth and issues of empirical testing should be distinguished

L�auteur se donne pour but de montrer en quoi les philosophies existentialistes rappellent à la foi chrétienne les questions décisives auxquelles elle doit sans cesse se confronter. Il le fait en partant de thèmes concrets traités par les existentialistes de manière à interpeller la foi de manière radicale : les enjeux de la liberté, l�incarnation de l�être humain dans un corps et une histoire, et les difficultés de la communication avec autrui. Par là même l�existentialisme est à même de «nettoyerc» la foi chrétienne