Connecteurs et connexion : quelques jalons

This article aims at offering a state of the art as far as the notions of connective devices and connexion are concerned. Rather than an examination of the various theoretical models dealing with this problem, this work is an attempt to ask essential questions such as: what does a connective link? Are all connected components explicitly present in surface structure? When a so-called connective like mais occurs alone, is it still a connective device or something else, as a discourse marker for example? Answering such questions requires in fact turning back to a careful examination of the theoretical options that have been taken: the problems will not be solved in the same way within the framework of traditional grammar, theory of relevance or integrated pragmatics. The second part of this study intends to present a coherent explicative system of the notions of connective and connexion within the framework of integrated pragmatics.