Modalisation autonymique et dynamisme communicatif

The aim of this article is to study the phenomenon of autonymic modalisation within the framework of communicative dynamism elaborated by Jan Firbas and his colleagues at the University of Brno. Special attention is given to the concept of “second instance”. The autonymic modalisation, making dual use of a text item, involves two semiotic levels, object-language level and metalinguistic level, and thus two parallel communicative dynamisms. The rhematisation at the metalinguistic level is the result of an ad hoc opposition between different metalinguistic aspects of an item depending heavily on different types of contexts.