French adjective ordering: perspectives on DP-internal movement types

Abstract

Most of the attributive adjectives in French occur in a postnominal position. Some adjectives are found in a prenominal position when they are quantificational, focused or short (weak) forms. On the basis of an articulate DP-structure, rich in functional projections, we will explore various types of DP-internal movement (cyclic, remnant and pied-piping XP-movement), which can account for the placement of attributive adjectives not only with respect to the noun they modify, but also with respect to postnominal PP complement/adjuncts. We will also take adjective ordering into consideration following a specifier-based analysis of adjective positioning [Paths Towards Universal Grammar, Georgetown University Press, Georgetown, p. 85]: co-occurring adjectives are merged as the specifiers of their corresponding semantic category in accordance with a strict hierarchy of DP-internal functional projections. The various types of XP-movement with the DP-structure and the occurrence of right-hand adjectives in a predicate position affect the linear placement of adjectives, not only with respect to the noun (pre/postnominal placement), but also with respect to each other (mirror image of adjective ordering).