La phrase tautologique

Summary Taking as the starting point the tautology in logics, the present paper explores the expression of tautology in language. It deals exclusively with tautological phrases constituting complete messages which, according to the definition of tautology, are not supposed to communicate any information. The main cases of tautology and their correspondent linguistic structures are analyzed. While some of these phrases are formally identical to the logical formulae, their functioning, as well as their semantic interpretations, their pragmatic and stylistic values lead, when examined, to the questioning of the very existence of tautology in verbal communication.

Published online: 01 October 2001
https://doi.org/10.1075/li.23.2.06sch