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Sentential complementation of adjectives in French
- Author(s): Catherine Léger 1
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View Affiliations Hide AffiliationsAffiliations:1 The University of Texas at Austin
- Source: Adjectives , pp 265-306
- Publication Date May 2010
The present paper provides a detailed study of clausal complementation of adjectives in French. Dyadic adjectives selecting a clause as one of their arguments differ with respect to the syntactic realization of their complement; some adjectives introduce both non-finite and tensed complements (in the indicative or in the subjunctive), while others appear exclusively with tenseless complements. I propose to derive the syntactic realization of the complement from the semantic properties of the matrix adjective: depending on their meaning, adjectives select a specific ontological category (proposition, event, action), which is mapped to a particular projection in the syntax (see Rochette 1988). Apparent counterexamples are shown to involve either (i) mono-clausal structures due to complex predicate formation (for certain adjectives that allow only non-finite complements) or (ii) clauses that are not selected elements (arguments) but adjuncts (“impostor” adjectives).
- Affiliations: 1: The University of Texas at Austin
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