french syntax - byu linguistics & english languagelinguistics.byu.edu/classes/ling430dl/french...

FRENCH SYNTAX

Parce qu'ils ont toujours les meilleurs croissants!

Phrase Types

Morphological Tests Determining Category Feature: • Verb

• Noun • Preposition • Adjective • Adverb

• -ir, -er, -re • conjugate • agrees with subject

• plural -s • no morphological change • agrees with noun in gender and number • often ends in -ment

Phi Features

Person, Number, & Gender The phi-features in French are the same except for an added gender feature. Il est mort. Elle est morte. He died(masc. ). She died(fem. ). la belle photo verte the beautiful picture green les beaux oiseaux verts the beatiful birds green

le beau fromage vert the beautiful cheese green

Uninterpretable Case Features

Nominative Je

Accusitive Me, Moi

Genitive Mon(masc), Ma(fem.), Mes(pl)

à me, à moi

De Me, de moi

Verb Inflections

French verbs inflect for subject agreement and for tense/aspect combinations. Example: Past has several aspects • Imperfect - distinguished by inflection Il mentait. He was lying. • Compound Past - distinguished syntactically,

with an auxilliary, and by inflection Il a menti. He lied. • Simple Past - distinguished by inflection Il mentit He lied.

Interrogatives

Three Forms: Voice Inflection Tu aimes les crevettes? • Voice raised at the end of the sentence

Add "est-ce que" Est-ce que tu aimes les crevettes? • Can be analyzed as expletive & embedded clause • Or a single interrogative quantifier

Inversion of Subject & Verb Aimes-tu les crevettes? Each of these forms is expressive of an interpretable clause-level Q feature.

Declarative: Tu aimes les crevettes. You like shrimp

Interrogatives

Three Forms: Voice Inflection Tu aimes les crevettes? • Voice raised at the end of the sentence

Add "est-ce que" Est-ce que tu aimes les crevettes? • Can be analyzed as expletive & embedded clause • Or a single interrogative quantifier

Inversion of Subject & Verb Aimes-tu les crevettes? Each of these forms is expressive of an interpretable clause-level Q feature.

Declarative: Tu aimes les crevettes. You like shrimp

Interrogatives

Three Forms: Voice Inflection Tu aimes les crevettes? • Voice raised at the end of the sentence

Add "est-ce que" Est-ce que tu aimes les crevettes? • Can be analyzed as expletive & embedded clause • Or a single interrogative quantifier

Inversion of Subject & Verb Aimes-tu les crevettes? Each of these forms is expressive of an interpretable clause-level Q feature.

Declarative: Tu aimes les crevettes. You like shrimp

Imperative

Expressed with its own conjugation, the only form that can drop the subject: Mange les crevettes! Eat the shrimp! Mangeons les crevettes! Let’s eat the shrimp! • Requires a logical subject, which triggers verb

agreement, but... • IMP Inflectional feature also specifies null-spellout of

structural subject

Lève-toi!

Warning: do not try this at home.

Hierarchy of Projections

Le fromage n’a pas été mangé. The cheese has not been eaten.

C>T>(Neg)>(Aux)>(Pass)>v>V

The Parallel: Hierarchy of Clitics

(NegClitic) > (PersClitic) > (DirClitic) > (IndClitic) > (YClitic) > (EnClitic) Il ne m'aime pas. He [neg] me love [neg] He doesn't love me.

Il me le donne He me it gives. He gives it to me.

The Parallel: Hierarchy of Clitics

(NegClitic) > (PersClitic) > (DirClitic) > (IndClitic) > (YClitic) > (EnClitic) Je le lui ai dit. I it him told. I told him that.

Je lui y parle. I him there talk. I talk to him there.

Il y en a deux. It there things have two. There are two.

Why PersClitic in IndClitic? It prevents an ungrammatical structure:

Il vous présente à ses parents. He you presents to his parents. He presents you to them. *Il vous leur présente. He you to them presents. Il vous présente à eux. He you presents to them.

DPs - Agreement French DPs require agreement in number and gender for adjectives: le fromage vert the cheese green la viande verte the meat green les viandes vertes the meats green sa photo [3.sg.fem.sg.] photo [fem.sg] son fromage [3.sg.masc.sg.] cheese [masc.sg] ses photos [3.sg.fem.pl.] photos [fem.pl] ses fromages [3.sg.masc.pl.] cheese [masc.pl.] Phi percolates up to DP so it's available to the clause.

ma photo [1.sg.fem.sg.] photo [fem.sg] mon fromage [1.sg.masc.sg.] cheese [masc,.sg] mes photos [1.sg.fem.pl.] photos [fem.pl] mes fromages [1.sg.masc.pl.] cheese [masc.pl.]

DPs - Thematic Structure

la photo de Claude de Jean de Marie

la presentation du rapport par Sophie

D > (ThetaO) > (ThetaS) > (Poss) > N

subject control, object control, and ECM

subject control = ☺ Je veux danser. I want to dance.

object control = ☺

Je lui dit de danser. I him say [complimentizer] to dance.

I told him to dance.

subject control, object control, and ECM ECM = no

*Jean croit Bill avoir menti. *Je veux toi danser. John believes Bill to have lied. I want you to dance. Jean croit que Bill a menti. Je veux que tu danses. John believes that Bill lied. I want that you dance.

Ils ont aussi les générals les plus petits.