Bienvenue au café du Commerce: propos ethnorhétoriques

Abstract

The number of cafés du Commerce in France may be steadily decreasing, but the metaphorical usage they have inspired shows no sign of abating. The so-called café du commerce conversations, speeches, arguments etc. are not – or are no longer – restricted to the premises they are named after. They have, however, maintained all the hallmarks of the discourse genres commonly associated with the type of venue they refer to. Metaphors being a rhetorical device, this paper subjects the café du commerce imagery to a so-called ethnorhetorical inquiry. Ethnorhetorics as a scientific endeavour aims at providing a framework for an enriched foreign language teaching environment through the study of culturally salient metaphors, with a view to ascertaining whether, behind these metaphors, cultural values are hiding that are typical of the languaculture in which they are common currency. There is no guarantee that this is the case, but if it is, the values laid bare may either have been known for some time (in which case ethnorhetorics will allow us to see them in a new light) or be previously undetected (in which case their reality will need to be backed up using different means). The salience of the café du commerce metaphor is highlighted through a sample of external and internal testimonies, followed by an overview of factors enhancing its visibility. The metaphor itself is then subjected to a corpus-based linguistic analysis which, upon completion, enables us to produce a hypothesis on the cultural values of French languaculture. The cultural value which underpins the café du commerce metaphor is that of stance taking, a behaviour which is actively encouraged in French languaculture but curiously ignored in the vast majority of French L2 textbooks used in foreign language classrooms throughout the world.