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used by Greimas in his structural semantics [GRE 66] - which constitutes one
possible dimension of the meaning (the signified ) of a conceptual term and which is
interpreted by one or a series of standardized expressions, also known as
descriptors .
15.2.GeneralpresentationoftheASWthesaurus
In the ASW system of metalinguistic resources, the controlled vocabularies play
an essential role:
on the one hand, they enable us to keep to a bare minimum the nucleus of the
ASW metalinguistic system which is formed by the meta-lexicon of conceptual
terms representing the objectsofanalysis* in the ASW universe of discourse;
and on the other, they offer an excellent opportunity to fulfill the habits,
traditions and intellectual or ideological specificities of the most diverse of users and
groups of users in relation to a pre-constituted domain of knowledge, a “field work”
or a body of heritage.
The ASW thesaurus was primarily conceived to provide values for only a few
conceptualterms* such as [Country] (i.e. the name of a particular country),
[Geopolitical region] (the name of a geopolitical region), [Language] (the name of a
language) or [Era] (the name of an historical era). This is a typical function of the
thesaurus, which consists of offering lists (alphabetical, structured, etc.) of pre-
defined values for a concept or conceptual configuration, i.e. a set of concepts
positioned in relation to one another in a schema or sequence of description, a model
ofdescription* (see Chapter 10 for further explanations). 1
Even if we were to adopt a very broad theoretical vision, enabling us to include a
particular country, language or geopolitical region in the meta-lexicon of conceptual
terms* representing the analytical objects* in a given universe of discourse* , this
solution is not, in fact, a solution. After all, one could argue, “France” could be
considered a specialized instance of the more general conceptual term, [Country].
“France”, considered as a conceptual term, could even have very different referential
values: on one occasion, it could signify the constitutional definition of France as a
national and independent state; on another, it could signify a particular social
1 For instance, the ASW thesaurus has a facet called “Authors of French literature” which
contains a fairly well-populated list (and open-ended, meaning it can be added to at any
moment) of the names of people who fulfill the function of being an author of French
literature . From the conceptual point of view, “author of French literature” is a configuration
comprising the generic conceptual terms [Author] and [Literature by country], as well as the
referential term (i.e. possessed of a single referential value) [Country: France].
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