The present collection of articles sheds light on the vibrant research field of discourse analysis on ecological and environmental controversies, which includes studies of lexicon, discourse and argument. The articles analyze several controversies (on fracking, geothermics or planning projects) as well as the citizens' perception of the future.

The names of political organizations are proper nouns with specific features: they name groups, they are chosen by those they will collectively name, and their wording belongs to the common lexicon. This collection of studies tackles party names in a wide variety of situations, countries and ideological persuasions.

Group formation in part happens through discourses that contribute to invent, sustain and transform our imagination of society. This collection of articles proposes an account of the discursive construction of groups, which is wider than the question of naming social or political groups.

Issue no. 122 of Mots focuses on the phenomenon of the flow of discourse in the political sphere. It aims to report on the different ways in which utterances are reiterated and the forms they take, and to determine the specific aims and effects of this discourse which is (re)iterated in the context of public debate.

This issue of Tracés is seeking to present and delimit today's uses of the word « infrastructures », as well as underlining, with a series of situated case studies, how infrastructural technical layouts are associated with political and social issues.

What is an epoch ? How to decide where one starts and ends ? What are we the contemporaries of ? And what are the consequences of periodizing attempts on our relationship to time and history ? This special issue of Tracés is precisely dedicated to these questions. This special issue shows the multiple ways to conceive an epoch