SLIDE 1
FRENCH SYNTAX
Parce qu'ils ont toujours les meilleurs croissants!
SLIDE 2 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
SLIDE 3 Phi Features
Person, Number, & Gender The phi-features in French are the same except for an added gender feature.
Il Il est st mor
t. Elle lle est st mor
te. He di died( d(ma masc
She di died( d(fem.
la belle p photo verte rte the the b beautif utiful ul pic icture ture g gre reen le les s beaux
iseaux ux verts rts the the beatif tiful ul birds irds g gre reen
le e bea eau from
ge ve vert the e bea eautiful chees eese e green een
SLIDE 4
Uninterpretable Case Features
Nominative Je Accusitive Me, Moi Genitive Mon(masc), Ma(fem.), Mes(pl) à me, à moi De Me, de moi
SLIDE 5 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.
SLIDE 6 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
SLIDE 7
SLIDE 8 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
SLIDE 9
SLIDE 10 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
SLIDE 11
SLIDE 12 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
SLIDE 13
Lève-toi! Warning: do not try this at home.
SLIDE 14
Hierarchy of Projections
Le fromage n’a pas été mangé. The cheese has not been eaten. C>T>(Neg)>(Aux)>(Pass)>v>V
SLIDE 15
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.
SLIDE 16
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.
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SLIDE 19
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.
SLIDE 20
SLIDE 21 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.]
SLIDE 22
DPs - Thematic Structure
la photo de Claude de Jean de Marie la presentation du rapport par Sophie
D > (ThetaO) > (ThetaS) > (Poss) > N
SLIDE 23 subject control, object control, and ECM subject control = ☺
Je veux danser. I want to dance.
Je lui dit de danser. I him say [complimentizer] to dance. I told him to dance.
SLIDE 24
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.
SLIDE 25
Ils ont aussi les générals les plus petits.
