The Semantics of Cultural Heritage

The Semantics of Argumentative Possibilities, developed by Olga Galatanu in 1999, is a theoretical model describing the lexical meaning and discursive meaning that articulates the denotative, referential conception of meaning and the theories developed by Ducrot, Anscombre, Carel (the argumentation in the language, topoi, internal and external argumentation blocks) and Putnam's proposal to describe the meaning in terms of core, stereotype and extension. For Putnam, the stereotype is a linguistic obligation as it encompasses the characteristic features of the paradigmatic members of a class. As such, it is closely related to beliefs, which it serves to fix and with which it evolves. By adopting the idea of a semantic description in terms, among others, of a stereotype associated with the word, the SPA inherits the holistic and encyclopedic character underlying Putnam's vision. The meaning is, therefore, culturally determined, it is valid for a given linguistic community, at a given moment, and it depends on the encyclopedic knowledge of each. In this work, the semantic construction of heritage, cultural heritage and the mosque, an artefact among others in the category of cultural heritage, will be analyzed from the perspective of the model in question. I will sketch the contours of the model, its theoretical framework by referring to the notions of kernel, determine the stereotypes, the argumentative possibilities, the discursive potentiality of the meaning. I will also elaborate on the cultural values and perception of the notion through the use of modalities. I will highlight how and why cultural distinctions appear about an artifact in a community. The model is intended to highlight artefacts and valuables classified as cultural heritage through linguistic materials, thus opening the way to an unlimited field of inquiry.