ABSTRACT
Contradiction is a formal conflict that is compatible with consistent conceptual content. This chapter analyzes oxymoron as the figure of contradiction-that is to say, as a textual interpretation of a contradictory utterance. Two main strategies for interpreting contradictions are documented in texts. One acts on the interpersonal level and dissolves the contradiction by displacing the conflict from the conceptual content to the actors engaged in communication. Although based on a conceptual conflict internal to the expression, this option is not really a kind of oxymoron and shares some of the properties of textual conflicts. The other acts on the ideational level and valorizes contradiction as a means of expression of complex, conflictual and changing states of affairs: this is oxymoron in a strict sense of the word. The chapter examines the distribution of different kinds of concept among the different syntactic molds, and the ways they can be interpreted. It explores the reasons for the limited lexical productivity of oxymora.
