Expression de l’implication emotive et argumentation. Le cas des lettres des poilus

This paper deals with the expression of emotions in First World War soldiers’ letters. It aims to analyse the discursive construction of the argumentative dimension through which soldiers’ letters come to diverge from official discourse, particularly that of the press. The first part of the essay looks at the soldiers’ image emerging from the “champ discursive” (Maingueneau, Charaudeau 2002) constructed by the press through the publication of soldiers’ letters during the Great War. The second part of the essay examines a number of discursive forms allowing soldiers to express their emotions in order to list the enunciative categories used by soldiers and make some methodological considerations on the study of emotions in discourse. In this context, the massive expression of soldiers’ emotions seems to respond to a larger argumentative strategy, thanks to which the authors try to reveal their perspective on the events of war and their experience of the trenches, as well as to distance themselves from their present situation. Finally, this essay attempts to analyse the relationship between the linguistic expression of emotions and the discursive dynamics appearing in the letters.