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On the Structure of the French DP

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Daniel Valois
Daniel Valois*
Affiliation:
Université de Montréal
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Abstract

This paper discusses and expands upon various ideas concerning the structure of nominals in general (DPs) and of French nominals in particular, with the underlying idea that CP and DP have parallel argumental and functional structure. The main topics discussed are: (i) the projection of arguments in French and English; (ii) the parameterization of N-movement, which accounts for some word order differences between French and English; (iii) the distribution of adjectives in event nominals, which reflects that of adverbs in clauses in both French and English; (iv) a peculiar case of rightward movement out of DP that provides further evidence for N-movement as well as for the claim concerning the prohibition on right adjunction of genitive nominals within DP; and (v) extraction facts that are a consequence of the status of [Spec, DP] as an A′-position in French.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article traite d’un certain nombre de phénomènes propres aux syntagmes nominaux en général (DP) et aux syntagmes nominaux du français plus particulièrement, avec comme prémisse de base que la structure du DP est généralement semblable à celle de la phrase. Il sera question (i) de la structure arguméntale et fonctionnelle du DP, parallèle à celle observée dans les phrases, (ii) de la paramétrisation du déplacement de N, qui rend compte de certaines asymétries entre l’ordre des mots du français et de l’anglais, (iii) de la distribution des adjectifs dans les syntagmes nominaux à lecture événementielle, semblable à celle des adverbes dans les phrases, (iv) d’un cas particulier de déplacement à droite qui nous fournit un argument en faveur du déplacement de N ainsi que contre l’adjonction à droite à l’intérieur du DP et (v) de certaines conséquences qui découlent du statut de [Spec, DP] comme position A-barre.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 41 , Issue 4 , December 1996 , pp. 349 - 375
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1996

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