Le Principe D'inaccessibilité de la Phonologie par la Syntaxe: Trois Contre-Exemples Apparents en Français

It has been proposed that there is a universal principle of grammar denying access to phonological information by syntactic rules (in English, the Principle of Phonology-Free Syntax). This paper examines three cases in French that appear to falsify this principle: (i) the claimed relevance of syllable count in describing the placement of attributive adjectives; (ii) mention of consonantality in stating the agreement rule for adverbial TOUT; and (iii) preposition choice (e.g. EN vs. AU) with geographical proper names. We show using independent evidence that the analyses employing phonology-sensitive syntax are wrong and that the prediction of the universal principle is correct.