French Verbs Research Articles

L'objet interne existe-t-il ?

<titre/> The basic idea behind this paper is the analysis of the complement of some French verbs such as vivre or dormir. As the complement of these verbs, which integrate all or some morphological and/or semantic features of the verb that monitors it, scholars contend about its syntactic function. In fact some theoretical approaches hesitate about its definition and classification. In our view, this complement must be considered a direct object complement and a new analysis is proposed so as to provide such an evidence. By studying the basic properties and features of this complement we conclude that there is no reason to consider it as a cognate object, but a full direct object complement.

Regularity and irregularity in Frenchverbal inflection

Can regular and irregular verb forms be accommodated by a single representational mechanism or is a dual mechanism account required? In a first experiment, we used a cross-modal repetition priming paradigm to investigate the mental representation of regular and irregular verb forms in French. Participants heard a spoken prime (such as aimons, ‘we love’) immediately followed by lexical decision to a visual probe (such as aimer, ‘to love’). We contrasted four types of French verbs, varying in the regularity and degree of allomorphy of their verb form inflection. These were (i) fully regular verbs (aimons/aimer, ‘we love/to love’) (ii) regular verbs that undergo minor and phonologically predictable allomorphic changes (sèment/semer, ‘they sow/to sow’) (iii) irregular verbs exhibiting subregularities (peignent/peindre, ‘they paint/to paint’) and (iv) irregular verbs with idiosyncratic alternations (vont/aller, ‘they go/to go’). The infinitive forms of these verbs were presented as targets in three prime conditions, preceded either by a regular form, an allomorphic form (except for the fuller regular verbs), or an unrelated prime. Morphologically related primes significantly facilitated lexical decision responses for all four verb classes, irrespective of regularity and allomorphy. The same pattern of results was observed in a second experiment using a masked priming paradigm. These results contrasted with English, where regularly inflected verbs prime their stems but irregular verbs do not. We argue that this reflects cross-linguistic differences in the morphophonological decomposability of French irregular forms, and that the current results enable us to deconfound regularity/irregularity distinctions from language-specific morphophonological differences.

L’analyse des constructions du verbe venir avec l’infinitif

Summary The object of this paper is to explore the constructions of the French verb venir with a infinitival complement, through the analysis of a large corpus. We conclude that differences between verbs and auxiliaries are a matter of degree. Contrary to the cases of the movement verb venir (Table 2 in M. Gross, 1975, ex. Pierre est venu voir Marie), the subject, in some constructions of «venir + infinitive» is an inanimate noun. We propose to distinguish, among the constructions mentioned above, the aspectual use of venir (ex. Cet incident est venu compliquer encore la question). This use of venir is to be analyzed as an intermediate state between movement verbs and auxiliaries. In this aspectual construction, whose subject can be caracterized as an abstract noun, the verb venir does not take a locative complement, contrary to any other constructions of «venir + infinitive» (with the exception of the auxiliary use venir de). Such aspectual constructions do not exist with the verb aller, the counterpart deictic verb of venir. If venir in aspectual use is on the way to becoming an auxiliary, aller without this use can be considered as more advanced in the axe of auxiliarity.

The role of configurational asymmetry in the lexical access of prefixed verbs: Evidence from French

In this paper we investigated the effects of configurational asymmetry in prefixed verbs in French. We used a simple lexical decision paradigm to compare prefixed verbs with external and internal prefixes as specified in linguistic theory ( Di Sciullo, 1997) where external prefixes do not change the aktionsart and the verb argument structure of the verb, but internal prefixes do change the aktionsart and may change the verb argument structure of the verb. In Experiment 1 we tested the bi-valent prefix d é- where the configurational difference between external and internal properties of a prefix did not elicit differential response latencies. However, in Experiment 2, where unambiguous prefixes (internal en- and external r é-) were tested, the external prefix elicited longer latencies. These results are discussed with respect to the linguistic constraints the configurational properties of prefixes place upon psycholinguistic models of lexical access, as well as with respect to the effects of prefix bi-valence in the recognition of prefixed verbs.

Old Scratch.

Old Scratch.

Derived change-of-state verbs in French: a case of semantic equivalence between prefixes and suffixes

The paper reports on work carried out within Corbin's associative morphological model which postulates that form and meaning are deducible from one another. It is assumed that in French there is a neat semantic distribution between prefixes and suffixes because each affix is specified by its semantic instructional identity. If this is the case, then the affixes a-, en-, é- and -is(er), -ifi(er) seem to constitute exceptions and represent semantic equivalence because each of them constructs deadjectival change of state verbs. In order to explain this apparent discrepancy, it is proposed here that the notion of 'paradigm of morphological processes' is to be abandoned when characterizing the semantic scope of a rule and we should adopt the principle that one and only one affix corresponds to one and only one word formation rule.

Carnochan, Scott &amp; Whitley's Prosodic Analysis of French Regular Verbs

This paper presents a Firthian Prosodic Analysis of the French verb. The original analysis was done by J. C. Carnochan, N. C. Scott and E. M. Whitley at SOAS in the early 1950s, and was presented at a departmental seminar in 1954. The paper is important for several reasons: it is one of the few extant pieces of work in which Eileen Whitley had a hand; it is the only documented prosodic analysis of a major Indo–European language carried out at SOAS by Firth's co–workers, and as such it has great historical value; and finally it portrays an important stage in the development of FPA. Our paper describes the history of the original manuscript and explains the phonological analysis it contains. Some comparison is made with a contemporaneous phonemic analysis of French.

Monter et la constitution extrinsèque du réfèrent

The french verb monter (engl. to go up/raise/assemble . . .) is analysed in this paper to show that the hypothesis of "transparency" of language is essential to Semantics. While the common "opacity" hypothesis leads to several problematic dualisms and needs artificial construals - such as the "subjectivisation" notion - transparency opens to a theory of reference directly compatible with a phenomenological view of language. In that theory, referred-to objects are themselves constituted by "Extrinsic Properties".

Supplétion et classes flexionnelles

This article presents a detailed analysis of suppletion phenomena in French conjugation. The analysis rests on the postulation of a network of dependency relations between the various stems of a verb lexeme. We then discuss the relevance on inflectional classes to the description of French conjugation; we conclude that there is no compelling case in favor of inflectional classes of French verbs.

Organization of the lexicon-grammar of French verbs

Summary The “Lexicon-grammar” of LADL describes about 15,000 simple verbs and 25,000 complex verbs, according to the syntactic, distributional or semantic properties of their main constructions. I present the types of properties that have been selected as the basis for the classification of these verbs.

Reformulation and the Learning of French Pronominal Verbs in a Canadian French Immersion Context

In this article, we examine a subset of collaborative dialogues that occurred in a multistage task where 8 Canadian grade 7 French immersion students worked together in pairs. Each pair wrote a story, noticed differences between their text and a reformulator's revision of that text, and reflected on their noticing. We analyze the transcripts of their talk in these 3 task sessions, identifying and describing the language‐related episodes. We trace the development of the target language (French), with specific reference to pronominal verbs, from the learners' first collaborative draft to their posttests. The study explores task differences and differences between lower‐ and higher‐proficiency dyads. The language‐related episodes selected for close analysis, along with the posttest data, provide evidence that in most cases, learners have progressed in their correct use of pronominal verbs in French.

Emplois verbaux, distributions, métaphores

Christian Leclère : Verbal Constructions and methaphorical uses The Lexicon-Grammar, built at LADL, attemps to classify the syntactic structures of French and the set of relations which hold between them by means of the lexical elements which admit or exclude these syntactic structures. Thousands of French simple verbs have been classified, according to the syntactic structures of the sentences in which they may occur. They have been grouped within 60 syntactic tables. Each verbal entry in a table includes the structure of a "defining sentence", characterizing the particular use of the word which the entry relates to and the particular distribution of arguments that are involved. Constructions associated with this defining construction (specific distributions, substructures, metaphors, etc.) are taken into account in the description, and noted as properties of each particular entry. A verb has as many entries as it has uses that are judged to be distinct. In many cases, this distinction is difficult to establish. It depends on the answer to the question: does a variation in the distributional features of the argument create a different use, which deserves another entry, or is it a metaphor which can be noted as a property of the entry in question? This article tries to answer this question... and fails to do so.

Identité et variation du verbe jouer

Márcia Cristina Romero-Lopes : Identité et variation du verbe jouer This paper is based on the hypothesis that the identity of the French verb jouer cannot be reduced to a given basic meaning. The author holds that the word can be considered as a potential which gets actualised in its different uses. She proposes both a definition of this potential, in terms of a "schematic form", and a means to account for the variation of the meaning of the verb through the different ways this schematic form can be brought into play. can be considered as a potential which gets actualised in its different uses. She proposes both a definition of this potential, in terms of a "schematic form", and a means to account for the variation of the meaning of the verb through the different ways this schematic form can be brought into play.

Diccionario de galicismos prosodicos y morfologicos

Diccionario de galicismos prosodicos y morfologicos. By Valentin Garcia Yebra. Madrid: Gredos, 1999. 319 pages. Valentin Garcia Yebra, perhaps more well-known for his work dealing with the history, theory and practice of translation, claims to be inspired by Ramon Menendez Pidal's statement that learned borrowings, or cultismos, have not been studied enough in Spanish. As a result, he focuses mainly on prosodic and morphologic Gallicisms in scientific language in his new dictionary. His purpose is to provide a reference book that might be useful to a general lay audience interested in the origins of the words they use. Additionally, he hopes to reach translators and scientists. He defines a galicismo prosodico as a word in Spanish that, based on its remote origin, should be accented in a particular way, but because of the influence from a French word, has evolved with a stress pattern resembling its French cognate. He uses the example of the word crisantemo in Spanish, which based on its remote Greek to Latin origin, should have developed as a proparoxytone with the stress on the antepenultimate syllable. However, because of the influence of the French chrysantheme, which would have been paroxytonic in Old French and is now tonic, the Spanish cognate is also paroxytonic. He defines a galicismo morfologico as a word that has altered its form or structure from that which corresponds to it etymologically because of the influence of a similar French word. He uses the example of the Spanish exilado to demonstrate his idea here. The etymologically correct form in Spanish from the Latin EXILIUM > exilio should be exiliado, which does exist in Spanish but has been in competition with exilado derived from exilado that was inspired by the French verb exiler. Garcia Yebra criticizes the Diccionario de la Real Academia Espanola because in many cases only the remote origin, that is to say, the Latin or Greek origin, of a word is presented. He argues that many words of Latin or Greek etymology entered Spanish through French, not directly through Latin, or at least were altered at some point in their history to resemble a French word, rather than following the more predictable Spanish development. He hopes that his dictionary, although not as exhaustive as he would like it to be, can fill in some of those gaps where they are related to prosodic and morphologic Gallicisms rather than to compete with the work already done with regard to these two types of Gallicisms. …

Verbes de sentiment « figurés » de la classe N0 V N1sujet_intentionnel

Summary This paper accounts for French and Italian figurative verbs of emotion. These verbs are ambiguous in so far as they have a “physical » and a “psychological » meaning. French verbs are extracted from LG Table 4. I will consider the idea put forward by Lamiroy that the psychological use a of given verb can be determined by a reduction of syntactical flexibility in comparison to the physical use. Evidence will be given that at least as far as Table 4 verbs are concerned this is not the case. The approaches of Bouchard and Van Voorst who propose general semantic rules concerning the relation of physical and psychological meaning also fail to account for the data. This will be illustrated by a closer look on French and Italian verbs of anger. Although the devices of metaphorical interpretation can be explained, these devices are not general rules that permit the derivation of a psychological use from a physical use in a given context. Lexicalization seems to be idiosynchratic. Hence, LG has to provide separate lexical entries for the two constructions of any existing ambiguous verb.

Vestiges of nous and the 1st person plural verb in informal spoken French

In informal spoken French the subject clitic nous and the 1st person plural (4th person) verb are almost entirely replaced by on and the 3rd person verb. Apart from a few contexts where the latter are not available as an alternative (cleft sentences with nous, disjunctive subject nous, 4th person imperatives, the discourse markers disons (que) and mettons), nous and the 4th person verb are found to occur at a rate of just 4.4% in a corpus of informal French. Posited semantic distinctions between nous and this use of on and the ambiguity of on are not insurmountable obstacles to a quantitative treatment of this variation. As has been found in Quebec French, the productive (though vestigial) use of nous and the 4th person verb is available as a stylistic resource for formal speech, and is likely to survive for the foreseeable future.

Dictionary-Driven Semantic Look-up

1. IntroductionThe French Semantic Dictionary Look-up (SDL) uses dictionary information aboutsubcategorization and collocates to perform Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD).The SDL is fully integrated in a multilingual comprehension system which uses theOxford Hachette French-English bilingual dictionary (OUP-H). Although the SDLworks on all words both for French and English, Romanseval results are relevantfor French verbs only because subcategorisation and collocate information is richerfor this part of speech in the OUP-H. The SDL uses dictionaries as semanticallytagged corpora of different languages, making the methodology reusable for anylanguage with existing on-line dictionaries.This paper first describes the system architecture as well as its components andresources. Second, it presents the work we did within Romanseval, namely sensemapping and results analysis.2. Semantic Dictionary Look-Up: Goal, Architecture and ComponentsThe SDL selects the most appropriate translation of a word appearing in a givencontext. It reorders dictionary entries making use of dictionary information. It isbuilt on top of Locolex,

Avoir et la prédication seconde

Lucien Kupferman, Avoir et la prédication seconde It is shown that the two realizations of the French Verb avoir, so-called Predicative avoir, avoir v and so-called Possessive avoir, avoir г are both predicates, in fact two-places predicates, and not some forms of copulas. The difference between them is to be located on the level of the internal argument : for the first one it is categorized as a small-clause (SC),,and then we observe a secondary predication-like configuration, and for the second one - a DP. From here derives a différenciation regarding the reading of the predicate. Avoir is existential and assignats to its internal argument a prototypically eventive propositional content. Avoir г denotes a property state and may, with some restrictions which are summarized and explained, have a posséder paraphrazing. There is also an argument for strengthing the SC categorizing of the internal argument of the predicate avoir r

Substratum Semantics in the Verbal Lexicon of Haitian Creole

The aim of this paper is to document the presence of substratum semantics in the verbal inventory of Haitian creole on the basis of a comparison of a sample of verbs in Haitian, French (its lexifier language) and Fongbe (one of its substratum languages). The paper begins with a comparison of the meanings of a sample of Haitian, French and Fongbe verbs. Although the phonological representations of the Haitian verbs are derived from the phonetic representations of French verbs, the details of their semantics do not correspond exactly to those of French, but rather to those of Fongbe. Idiomatic expressions in Haitian are often expressed with similar verbal phrases in Fongbe, whereas they are rendered by a simple verb in French. Aspectual properties of verbs (stative/non-stative) constitute another facet of verbal semantics, and I compare the aspectual properties of Haitian, French and Fongbe verbs. Haitian verbs, like Fongbe verbs, are often not specified for aspectual properties, in contrast to French verbs. Thematic properties constitute yet another topic in the semantics of verbs, addressed here from the point of view of the verbs' agentiveness. On the basis of these various types of data, it is argued that the bulk of Haitian verbs' semantic properties have been carried over into the creole from the substratum lexicons. This situation argues in favor of the claim that the process of relexification plays a central role in the formation of a Creole's lexicon. Some cases of acquisition of French verbs are also reported. Such cases have triggered a reorganization in the properties of the verbal lexical entries originally relexified from the Haitian substratum languages.

Salish languages and linguistics: Theoretical and descriptive perspectives Ed. by Ewa Czaykowska-Higgins and M. Dale Kinkade (review)

186 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 75, NUMBER 1 (1999) search data with a number of examples of French verbs, nouns, and other word categories found in Swahili-French codeswitching. French discourse markers and their specific role in oral texts with Shaba Swahili as the matrix language are dealt with in Ch. 7, 'Discourse markers' (123-71). (Ch. 8, 'Repetition in Shaba Swahili/ French discourse' (173-98), analyzes repetition and lexical cohesion—here the author focuses on French nouns vis-à-vis near synonymous Swahili nouns in their rhetorical value, as e.g. emphasizers. A summary of the major findings rounds out the book in Ch. 9, 'Conclusion' (199-203). A bibliography and a Dutch abstract are found at the end (205-17, 219-21, respectively). This interesting study has been accepted as a doctoral dissertation by the University of Amsterdam. R's supervisors were P. Muyskens and J. Fabian, well known for their contribution to contact linguistics and Lubumbashi Swahili. The way R analyzes and comments on discourse structure in Shaba/French conversation is convincing , but somehow one-sided, as it omits discussion of parallels found in discourse strategies which are not marked by codeswitching. In fact, lexical cohesion which is achieved by reiteration is a salient feature in orature where the audience is reminded time and again of what has been previously said. It is this well-established discourse phenomenon peculiar to oral traditions that finds a logical reflection even in conversation on modern issues. Thus, similarities between traditional discourse strategies and R's data are striking but far from being accounted for in this book. (Karsten Légère, University ofNamibia.) Salish languages and linguistics: Theoretical and descriptive perspectives. Ed. by Ewa Czaykowska-Higgins and M. Dale Kinkade. (Trends in linguistics, studies and monographs, 107.) Berlin & New York: Mouton, 1997. Pp. x, 575. Cloth DM 268.00, US $178.70. With the publication of Jan van Eijk's The Lillooet language: Phonology, morphology, syntax (1997. Vancouver: UBC Press), a special issue of International Journal of American Linguistics (1997. 63.289-438) on Salish languages, and now the firstever book collection of articles devoted to Salish, 1997 marked a productive year in Salish linguistics. Four of the attested languages in this family are extinct , and the remaining ones are highly endangered, and so this research is of the highest importance. While the articles in this book comprise the current research of contributors, the heart of the volume is surely the editors' introduction. Organized around linguistic phenomena, 'Salish languages and linguistics ' (1-68) cites scholarship on the classification and history of Salish languages as well as topics in phonetics, phonology, morphology, ethnosemantics, discourse, and lexicography. The arrangement ofmaterial in this essay is uniquely helpful to linguists, and its bibliographical scope is extensive, citing studies in a variety of research traditions from the nineteenth century until the present, many of which are unpublished and—until now—have been difficult to locate. This review of the literature and the characteristic properties of Salish languages will be an indispensable resource for years. The first two parts of the volume contain five papers each. In Part I, 'Phonetic and phonological studies ' (71-216), Bruce Bagemihl discusses syllable structure in Bella Coola; Dawn Bates and Barry F. Carlson relate syllable structure to reduplication in Spokane; Nicola J. Bessell considers phonetic aspects of retraction in Interior Salish; Ewa Czaykowska -Higgins explores the phonology-morphology interface in Columbian; and M. Dale Kinkade simplifies the underlying vowel inventory of Upper Chehalis. In Part II, 'Morphological and syntactic studies' (219-346), Philip W. Davis and Ross Saunders develop a semantically based typology of relative clauses and claim that Bella Coola does not distinguish propositions from participants; Steven M. Egesdal and M. Terry Thompson outline the inflectional morphology ofTillamook (now extinct), drawing from fieldwork with the last speakers in the 1960s; Dwight G. Gardiner provides a generative analysis of three distinct preverbal positions in Shuswap that are related to topic, focus, and WH-words; Donna B. Gerdts accounts for Halkomelem voice and transitivity alternations within mapping theory, a framework in which a level of grammatical relations feeds a level of morphosyntactic argument structure; andEloise Jelinekconsiders how the syntax ofprepositions in Straits Salish bears on...