Une double analyse de la particule ne en français

Abstract

Gaëlle Recourcé : A double analysis of the particle ne French negation is commonly realised by the cooccurrence of two elements, the particle ne, which is the focus of this paper, and a negative word such as pas. The particle ne is an atonic element, strongly linked to the verb. We show that the status of ne, lexical or affixal, can be decided only in relation with the finite or non-finite type of the verb it precedes. We argue in favor of the affixal status in case of finite verbs, that is to say, ne and the finite verb form a lexical unit. By contrast, we claim that the particle ne is syntactically attached to non-finite verb phrases. In order to elaborate those hypotheses, we propose a partial formalisation of negation in Head-driven Phrase Structure grammar (HPSG), making use of the notion of marker developped in this framework.