Mapping function to form: Adjective positions in French

The position and meaning of Modern French adjectives is discussed in the generative syntax framework. The classical analysis of Cinque (1995), by N-raising to some functional position, is rejected for a number of reasons, notably its inability to account for changes in position since the Old French period. After a brief discussion of some typological and diachronic facts, two ‘semantic’ analyses are considered, those of Bouchard (1998) and Larson (1998). Based on Larson’s mapping model, the present study proposes an analysis of the position and meaning of adjectives in French in terms of movement of ‘restrictive’ and ‘evaluative’ adjectives to the pre-N position and the presence of logical operators of existence and genericity within DP. This analysis is supported by both semantic and syntactic facts: constraints on the determiner, as well as on modification, stress and coordination, defective semantic features.