For a semiological approach of the oral: illustrations from "action figures"

This article aims to show the theoretical and empirical interest of a semiological approach to oral phenomena. The thesis underlying this approach is that of the continuity between oral and written phenomena, conceived as manifestations of human language that share the property of semioticity. The first part of the article presents the context of our reflection and its anchoring in the psychological and educational problem of human development. Based on Ferdinand de Saussure's real work, the second part analyzes the way semiotic units and linguistic signs have been conceptualized in his theory, discussing the implications of this conceptualization for human significant process. The third part presents the results of empirical analysis of interviews with nurses concerning their professional activity. It brings out the different action figures put forward by the nurses, as well as the dependence of these figures on the discourse types and others linguistic choices. The last part discusses the status of action figures: a first approach focuses on their role in development, based on the production of meaning about professional activity; and a second approach demonstrates that action figures may be considered as macro-signs, or semiotic units, that allow different forms of reasoning.