Le prédicat, entre (méta)catégorie et fonction

This paper examines the current uses of the term “predicate” in French linguistics. The word with its initial meaning is borrowed from classical logic. It means initially the complement of a theme in a “judgment.” From that initial value, different uses merge, which are not completely independent from one another. The predicate is sometimes the name of the functional center of the sentence, sometimes also the support of the enunciative value of the utterance. The influence of mathematical logic also produced the meaning of the predicate as a relational center which binds variables -its arguments. Sometimes, the predicate is described as a purely semantic unit which can combines with others in order to produce the lexical items. We try to show that those different interpretations, which are a source of confusion in the use of the term, are based on a largely admitted concept: a predicate is basically a term or a unit which can be chosen by the speaker, and therefore can be asserted or negated.