SEMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MATRIX AND INFINITIVE PROPOSITIONS (BASED ON THE MATERIAL OF THE FRENCH PRESS)

Abstract

The article focuses on identifying relationships between an action expressed by the infinitive and an action expressed by the verb in a personal form representing a predicate in such sentences as Il aime raconter des histoires (He likes telling stories). The research is conducted from the perspective of the sematic-functional approach, which allows defining syntactic status and thus discovering nominative potential on the basis of the content analysis. Taking into account the notions of basic and non-basic propositions within the semantic-functional classification of the predicate, the predicate complex aime raconter is qualified as the compound predicate, which consists of the matrix (main) predicate and the second predicate referring to the same subject. In this case, the infinitive has a function of the second infinitive predicate expressing an additional predication of subordinate type in comparison with the matrix predicate. Matrix and infinitive propositions form a content block inside of which both actions have the relationships classified as the taxis ones. The realization of the taxis relationships is affected by the specific character of the infinitive, which expresses a non-localized in time action, the implementation of which is regarded as hypothetical or potentially possible. The article concludes that the above-mentioned features of the infinitive restrict the possibility of expression of the taxis character of the relationships between the matrix and the infinitive actions due to the usage of the specific lexico-semantic groups of verbs representing the matrix predicate.