FRENCH SYNTAX Parce qu'ils ont toujours les meilleurs croissants! - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

FRENCH SYNTAX Parce qu'ils ont toujours les meilleurs croissants!

Phrase Types Morphological Tests Determining Category Feature: • Verb • -ir, -er, -re • conjugate • agrees with subject • Noun • plural -s • Preposition • no morphological change • Adjective • agrees with noun in gender and number • Adverb • often ends in -ment

Phi Features Person, Number, & Gender The phi-features in French are the same except for an added gender feature. Il Il est st mor ort. t. Elle lle est st mor orte te. m. ) . He di died( d(ma masc sc. ). She di died( d(fem. la belle p photo verte rte le e bea eau from omage ge ve vert the e bea eautiful chees eese e green een the the b beautif utiful ul pic icture ture g gre reen le les s beaux ois iseaux ux verts rts the the beatif tiful ul birds irds g gre reen

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 Declarative: Tu aimes les crevettes. You like shrimp 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.

Interrogatives Declarative: Tu aimes les crevettes. You like shrimp 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.

Interrogatives Declarative: Tu aimes les crevettes. You like shrimp 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.

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. Il me le donne He [neg] me love [neg] He me it gives. He doesn't love me. He gives it to me.

The Parallel: Hierarchy of Clitics (NegClitic) > (PersClitic) > (DirClitic) > (IndClitic) > (YClitic) > (EnClitic) Je le lui ai dit. Je lui y parle. I him there talk. I it him told. I talk to him there. I told him that. 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 ma photo [3.sg.fem.sg.] photo [fem.sg] [1.sg.fem.sg.] photo [fem.sg] son fromage mon fromage [3.sg.masc.sg.] cheese [masc.sg] [1.sg.masc.sg.] cheese [masc,.sg] ses photos mes photos [3.sg.fem.pl.] photos [fem.pl] [1.sg.fem.pl.] photos [fem.pl] ses fromages mes fromages [3.sg.masc.pl.] cheese [masc.pl.] [1.sg.masc.pl.] cheese [masc.pl.] Phi percolates up to DP so it's available to the clause.

DPs - Thematic Structure D > (ThetaO) > (ThetaS) > (Poss) > N la photo de Claude la presentation de Jean de Marie du rapport par Sophie

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.

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