ABSTRACT
Drawing on analytical models from the field of cognitive anthropology (in particular, Roy D’Andrade’s classic feature model and George Lakoff’s theory of prototypes), Sébastien de Brossard’s six-volume series of Airs sérieux et à boire (1691–1699) is examined in Chapter 7 with the aim of developing a cognate theory of genre. This theoretical proposal stems from Pierre Perrin’s “Recueil des paroles de musique,” a theory that can be generally applicable to the enormous repertory of late-seventeenth-century French song and could well be extrapolated mutatis mutandis to other genres or time frames. However, taking Perrin’s model as a point of departure, an analysis of Brossard’s printed collections, alongside a close reading of relevant entries in his own Dictionnaire (1701), reveals that while Perrin’s three generic domains retain their usefulness for describing Brossard’s repertory, their constituent segregates must be reformulated, which makes a major goal in this chapter.
