Dire le local.

Comment saisir les terminologies et les discours de la filière fromagère en Franche-Comté, a v a n t  le fromage ?

Abstract

This paper offers a socio-discursive and eco-terminological analysis of the upstream stages of the Comté cheese sector, focusing on the terminologies used by dairy farmers within their professional environments. Grounded in the theoretical framework of “specialised discourse-culture-milieus”, the study combines socioterminology, qualitative discourse analysis and an ecological approach to language. The corpus – composed of semi-structured interviews and walking interviews conducted in situ in the Doubs pastures – reveals how professionals construct a grass-milk-cheese continuum strongly shaped by the AOP specifications and by the spatial anchoring of their practices. Findings show that technical terms, phraseology and narrative strategies do not merely describe activities: they organise, legitimise and collectively identify the sector, notably through the discursive central function of the fruitière cooperative system. The analysis highlights a living linguistic heritage in which local values, know-how and professional identities are negotiated, offering essential insights into the construction of Comté quality well before cheese production begins.