A linguistic, lexicographic and argumentative analysis of the clandestine press of the French Resistance (1941-1944) A linguistic, lexicographical, and argumentative analysis of the clandestine press of the French Resistance (1941-1944)

The clandestine press played a crucial role in the occupied French framework of the Second World War, particularly for the creation of links between the resistants, both on French soil and between France and London, the core of the European Resistance. However, studies conducted so far have not focused on the historical-linguistic and rhetorical-argumentative ways in which its goals were pursued. The focus on content and modes of conveyance has always obscured an equally fundamental element of studies on the French clandestine press: language. It is therefore proposed to fill at least partially the gaps through a linguistic analysis of the contents transmission of the historical movement of Résistance and through a lexicological and lexicographical analysis. The corpus considered for the proposed analysis consists of three important titles of the French clandestine press in the Second World War. The analysis is carried out on 45 issues of Libération-Sud; 42 issues of Défense de la France and 45 issues of Combat, between 1941 and 1944. The heterogeneity of the selected samples is considered of utmost importance for an objective analysis reflecting a general French situation that is as much geographical as political. The methodology to be applied wishes to apply new technologies to areas to which they have never been applied, such as the clandestine press of the Resistance. The methodological approach is mainly represented by the use of Sketch Engine and Natural Language Processing techniques, which make it possible to identify, highlight and analyse the most important linguistic, argumentative and rhetorical trends in the clandestine press of the French Resistance, with the aim of making a linguistic contribution to the important existing studies.