On I would like to say: from the polyphonic approach to ethos

We approach the study of the unit j'aimerais dire, in the theoretical framework of linguistic polyphony. This tool allows us to distinguish two semantic values with the same discursive strategy of attenuation. Two different mechanisms allow attenuation: the first cor-responds to an attenuation conveyed by a hypothetical construction, in which j'aimerais dire constitutes the apodosis of an implicit protasis; for the second, we are not dealing with a hy-pothetical construction conditional but rather an attenuation conditional. The proposed struc-tures, in which the two semantic entities are inserted - in deep structure - are respectively: j'aimerais dire X, si Y, and puisque Y, j'aimerais dire X. The use of the modal conditional, of hypothesis and of attenuation, allows the projection of both ethos.