L'enthymème dans la fiction policière télévisée. Analyse inférentielle d'un échange conversationnel

Abstract

We assume that in any police investigation (real or fictional), the heuristic process leading the investigator from the clue to the identification of the criminal necessarily involves inference. This contribution aims to describe the natural inferential process and its effects in a conversational exchange between two characters of a French serial television detective fiction. Our practical application is based on a renewed Aristotelian approach to inference, and a pragmatic-linguistic conception of the enthymeme. A path to explore in the debate about enthymeme will be provided.