Mots. Les langages du politique, n°137/2025

In the various arenas of political life, how does one address one's supporters, opponents, people who may or may not share the same ideas, the electorate or the population as a whole? By choosing a particular political address, those to whom the message is directed are identified and therefore selected; they are also characterised, sometimes even stigmatized – although more often valued – which leads to a certain type of relationship with those to whom the message is addressed. When addressing an individual who has been clearly identified beforehand, particularly in a debate, this function of characterisation is essential: whether using or not the surname, first name, nickname, position, rank, function (Mr President), relational status (Mr Prime Minister), familial or formal pronouns 'tu' or 'vous’, title (Madame) with ort without the patronymic. This dossier sheds light on the increasing scarcity of asymmetrical addresses in the West since the nineteenth century, their variation in national and international space, and the ideological and partisan landscape. In short, we need to know how politics characterises the addressee or addressees of its discourse, thereby contributing to constructing or maintaining a certain representation of the social conflictuality that politics stages, with its divisions and groups.