bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Lexicon, genre and local discourse organisation: French speech act verbs and journalistic texts
Authors: Monville-Burston Monique , Waugh Linda R. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractSpeech act verbs have characteristic uses in journalistic texts. Our analysis shows that there is a metapragmatic shell which specifies how clarifying speech act verbs – ajouter, préciser, souligner, indiquer – are employed in reported speech microstructures, and with respect to which each verb has its own lexico-pragmatic specificity. To illustrate our genre-specific method of lexical analysis, préciser and souligner are examined in detail. These verbs contribute to textual cohesion and to clarification in terms of the relation between the reported speech they introduce and the discourse context in which they are used. They are also subject to the economy of the journalistic text, in particular the balance between scription (conventional writing) and écriture (creative writing). Thus, they evidence convergence of meaning, semantic bleaching and stylistic variation: that is, there is a semi-grammaticalisation of these verbs.
Clause subordination structures in language decline
Authors: Rottet Kevin J. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThe field of language-death studies has invited a growing number of researchers to explore what happens to the internal structure of a language as it declines. However, little work has been done to date on minority varieties of French in the context of language-death studies. This paper examines some intergenerational changes in subordination (conditionals and subjunctive clauses) in a Cajun French community, exploring the gradual loss of non-indicative moods and the abandonment of finite clauses in subjunctive contexts in favour of innovative non-finite clause types via a continuum of variation.
When does variation indicate linguistic change in progress?
Authors: Ashby William J. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractIt is argued that two variables of Modern French (the negative particleneand the consonantlof clitic pronouns such asil) are indeed indices of ongoing linguistic change, even though this change appears to be of long duration. This conclusion is based not only on the distribution of the variables in a corpus of natural French discourse, but also on independent linguistic evidence, together with the available historical record. In the absence of adequate ‘real-time’ data, variationist analysis yielding synchronic, “apparent-time” data provides a useful means of charting the drift of the language.
Partitive and pseudo-partitive revisited: Reflections on the status of ‘de’ in French
Authors: Battye Adrian 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThe radical structural distinction often proposed between pseudo-partitive (i.e. beaucoup de problèmes) and partitive (i.e. beaucoup des problèmes épineux) is argued to be the by-product of too restrictive a view of the internal structure of the noun phrase in French. A more articulated nominal phrase structure is adopted here, one which makes. use of the idea of the determiner being itself the head of a functional projection (the so-called DP-panalysis). This DP approach to partitive and pseudo-partitive configurations, it is proposed, also allows for a reappraisal of what are traditionally termed the partitive and plural indefinite article (i.e. du, de la, de l' and des).
French and English passives in the construction of text
Authors: Péry-Woodley Marie-Paule 
Published: October 2008

ABSTARACTThe aim of the article is to explore a small corner of the interface between micro-characteristics of texts – such as sentence syntax – and the macroproperty of textual coherence, in the context of second-language academic writing. French and English passives are analysed in terms of their information-packaging role in essays in English LI, and French LI and L2. The analysis provides insights into the role of passives in academic writing in both languages and into some specific problems for English-speaking learners of French: in particular it throws some light on the excessive – and often erroneous – use of on, regarded as a substitute for the English passive.
Les processus de sandhi externe en français de Marseille
Authors: Watbled Jean-Philippe 
Published: October 2008

ABSTRACTL'objet de cet article est l'étude des processus d'élision et de liaison en français de Marseille. Une attention particulière est accordée aux mots avec initiale vocalique ou semi-vocalique qui bloquent ces processus. La recherche des principes qui régissent leur application dans le parler en question révèle un certain nombre de régularités. On est ainsi amené à considérer le H aspiré comme une position démarcative plutôt qu'une position phonémique vide. D'autre part, on constate une corrélation nette et non fortuite entre le comportement des séquences semi-voyelle + voyelle (à l'initiale du mot) en contexte de liaison/élision, les règles de construction de la syllabe, et les contraintes distributionnelles. La découverte de cette corrélation permet de déterminer quelles règles productives sont à l'oeuvre en discours aux frontières de mot. Elle conduit aussi à une révision de l'analyse de la structure syllabique.
Argument structure in second language acquisition
Authors: White Lydia 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis paper investigates the effects of the first language (LI) on second language (L2) argument structure, in two situations: (i) LI sentences form a superset of those permitted in the L2; (ii) L2 sentences form a superset of those permitted in the LI. An experiment was conducted on 55 anglophone children learning French in Canada. Subject completed a perference task, comparing sentences which varied the types of arguments and adjuncts, and their ordering. Result indicate that the subject differed from a native speaker control group in various ways; English argument structure had effects but learners were also sensitve to properties of French which are distinct from English.
L'aspect en français: essai de synthèse
Authors: Wilmet Marc 
Published: October 2008

AbstractLa majoritǵ des études sur l'aspectpèchent par une insuffisante distinction de l'aspectsémantique(lié au sens du verbe, l' ‘Aktionsart’ des linguistes allemands), de l'aspectlexical(que manifestent divers coverbes et compléments adverbiaux) et de l'aspectaffixal(inhérent à un préfixe, un infixe ou un suffixe de conjugaison) – certains chercheurs allant jusqu'à demander au second et\ou au troisiéme le soin de déterminer le premier.Notre synthèse propose d'abord une définition générale de l'aspect: ‘temps intérieur au verbr’. passant au français, elle décrit les phénomènes quiaffectent n'importe quel procès AB en son pôle A, en son pôle B ou en l'intervalle A←B. Pour terminer, on s'intéresse au fonctionnementcombinédes aspects et au délicat problème leurhiérarchie.
Support verb constructions: linguistic properties, representation, translation
Authors: Danlos Laurence 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis article deals with constructions such as Jean a fait une promenade or Jean a soif which contain verbs called here ‘support verbs’. These structures are known to pose immense difficulties for the translator (whether human or automatic) and part oif the purpose of this paper is to suggest representations which render their translation easier on the basis of work carried out by the author within the EC Eurotra Machine Translation project. First of all, it is argued on linguistic grounds that support verb constructions behave differently from constructions containing ‘ordinary’ verbs such as lire or ouvrir. In particular, it is claimed that the syntactic and semantic head of Jean a fait une promenade is the noun promenade and not the verb faire which is a mere carrier of tense and aspect. We then raise the question of the representation of support verb constructions for the purposes of machine translation and examine several alternative possibilities. The representations adopted below are shown to lead to simple transfer rules limited to the substitution of lexical items which do not entail complex structural changes between source and target sentences. The linguistic ideas presented here have been implemented in nine languages within the Eurotra project but most of the discussion is based on contrastive evidence between French and English.
Verbes causants et verbes causatifs dans la formation des verbes pronominaux français: la nouvelle valence ou ‘se mourir d'ennui’
Authors: Feigenbaum Susanne 
Published: October 2008

AbstractExiste-il un lien lexical entre le verbe intransitifdormir, le verbe transitifendormiret le verbe pronominal neutres'endormir?La réponse positive réside dans la structure cognitive. Du point de vue sémantique,dormirprésente un procÈs statif,endormirun procÈs causatif ets'endormirun procÈs inchoatif. La structure congitive du statif correspond au prédicat ETRE, celle du causatif à /CAUSER-ALLER-ETRE/ et celle de l';inchoatif à /ALLER-ETRE/. La sturcture congitive confirme en fait que le verbeendormirest une valence augmentée dedormiret ques'amuserouremplir– seremplir, de même que des phrases commeLe métal rouille /L'humidité rouille le métal./Le métal se rouille. Une fois saisi le fait que la structure cognitive permet d'établir des liens lexicaux, on expliquera la difféence entre divers types de verbes pronominaux neutres. Ainsi,s'endormirse distingue dese rouillerpar la position actantielle du sujet á l'intérieur de la structure lexicale. Celui de s'endormir représente le prédicat /ALLER/, tandis que celui des'amuser, représente le prédicat /ETRE/. Finalement, l'approche cognitive permet de dépasser le lexÈme et de nouer une relation entre les structures causatives /CAUSE–EFFET/ et les structures résultatives /sultatives /ACTION–RESULTAT/, comme avecElle se tue au travail.
Second language acquisition research and the second language acquisition of French
Authors: Hawkins Roger , Towell Richard 
Published: October 2008

AbstractPrior to the late 1960s second language acquisition was thought to be a relatively uninteresting phenomenon; it involved transferring grammatical properties already activated in the first language (L 1) onto second language (L 2) vocabulary. Successful L 2 learners were those who could capitalise on the similarities between the L 1 and the L 2, and eradicate the differences; and successful language teaching involved training learners to overcome the L 1-L 2 differences. Today, perceptions of second language acquisition are more sophisticated and nuanced. Second language acquisition researchers are interested in questions bearing not only on the influence of the L 1, but also on the degree of systematicity in L 2 development, the role that L 1, but also on the degree of systematicity in L 2 development, the role that conscious knowledge plays, the sources of variability in second language speaker performance, the ultimate levels of success achieved by L 2 learners of different ages, and individual differences between learners. The purpose of this article is to present what the authors believe to be some of the key issues which characterise current second language acquisition research, and to consider those issues within the specific context of the acquisition of French as second language.
Patterns of second language development in French immersion
Authors: Harley Birgit 
Published: October 2008

AbstractIn this cross-sectional study of the a acquisition of French by English-speaking immersion students in Ontario, Canada, patterns of second language development are examined with particular reference to verbs. The analysis focuses on second language production data from interviews with 36 early immersion students at three different gradr levels, along with comparison data from a group of late immersion students and two groups of native French speakers. The study documents the learners' well-developed ability to negotiate meaning in context and the continuing impact of the first language in various aspects of their verb use.
Quand le nom propre prenf article: le cas des noms propres métonymiques
Authors: Kleiber Georges 
Published: October 2008

AbstractCet article porte sie les noms propres ‘méonymiques’ tels quedu MozartetUn RodindansJ'secoute du MozartetPaul a acheté un Rodin. I1 a pour objectif de répondre au double probléme que posent l'origine du genre masculin invariable et la variation de sens qu'sentraīne le passage du massif au comptable et inversement du comptanle au massif. Notre réponse au premier problÈme établit que le masculin est une valeur par défaut, découlant du changement de référent d'un nom propre animé disposant d'un genre sémantique à un référent inanimé doté d's un genre grammatical arbitraire. Pour résodure le second, nous postulons une opposition entre traits inhérents et traits dérivés de la distinctionmassif/comptable.
Interrogation totale en est-ce que et couple question-réponse dans un corpus de débats politiques
Authors: Leon Jacqueline 
Published: October 2008

AbstractDans cet article, je tente d'établir des dimensions descriptives propres à l'analyse du couple interrogation-réplique considéré comme un objet linguistique d'ordre interlocutoire et interprétable comme action. L'hypothÈse centrale consiste à considérer que l'interprétation du couple questionréponse est dépendante de l'terprétation rétroactive de l'interrogation par la réplique. Cette étude est limitée aux interrogations totales en est-ce que dans un corpus de débats politiques. Elle emprunte ses concepts d'analyse à plusieurs champs théoriques de l'usage de la langue: elle tente de mettre au travail, de façon simultanée ou à des étapes différentes de la description, des notion issues de l'analyse de conversation et de la pragmatique. Souhaitons qu'elle y soit parvenue sans trop d'inclhérences.
Old French nasalization and universals of sound change
Authors: Hajek John 
Published: October 2008

AbstractChanging patterns of assonance in early Old French texts have traditionally provided the basis for the claim that vowel height has a universally predictable effect on the development of distinctive nasalization over time. However, the results of recent studies cannot be accounted for by such a hypothesis. Furthermore, an alternative hypothesis suggests that the same patterns of assonance reflect modifications in vowel quality rather than nasality. Additional cross-linguistic and phonetic data examined here further undermine the purportedly universal character of the development of distinctive nasalization in Old French.
Movement of negative adverbs in French infinitival clauses
Authors: Martineau France 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis paper examines the position of negative adverbs such as mie, pas, point and jamais in Middle and Classical French infinitival clauses. Instead of linking the movement of the infinitival verb to the strength of functional categories such as AGRℴ, I propose to link it to a parametric change of NEGP from strong to weak. Up to Classical French, the infinitival verb can move to AGRℴ because NEGP is strong; this movement of the infinitival verb to AGRℴ allows the movement of negative adverbs, which are base-generated in VP initial position. At the beginning of Classical French, a parametric change affected the strength of NEGP, from strong to weak. As a result of this parametric change, movement of the infinitival verb to AGRℴ becomes more limited. Moreover, the difference between pas and other negative adverbs is due to a change in the nature of pas, from an adverb base-generated in VP initial position which can move, to a fixed adverb base-generated in the specifier position of NEGP.
Historical linguistics, language change and the history of French
Authors: Posner Rebecca 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis is a personal delineation of part of a methodology for the History of the French Language, aiming to combine the methodology of linguistics with that of history proper. Both traditional and modern methods of ‘historical linguistics’ fail to take account of a real time dimension, whereas ‘language history’ often resembles institutional, cultural and social history. We ask how we identify the ‘event’ and the ‘object’ of linguistic history, and how we distinguish variation, innovation, shift and change. We ask also what the linguist can contribute to the historian's reconstruction of the past.
Jeux de langage et théorie phonologique. Verlan et structure syllabique du français
Authors: Azra Jean-Luc , Cheneau Veronique 
Published: October 2008

AbstractLes jeux de langage, en tant que manifestations de la langue, peuvent constructivement participer à la réflexion linguistique. Ce sont non seulement des instruments de validation d'hypothèses émises sur la langue source, mais aussi des outils permettant de mettre à jour des phénomènes phonologiques non visibles en dehors des manipulations qu'ils occasionnent.Ainsi, l'étude phonologique que nous avons menée sur le verlan nous a conduits à appuyer certaines hypothèses phonologiques sur le français, concernant en particulier la constituance syllabique, et à attirer l'attention sur d'autres aspects plus originaux.
The passé surcomposé régional: towards a definition of its function in contemporary spoken French
Authors: Carruthers J. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThe passé surcomposé régional is widely recognised as a feature of the régional French of the langue d'oc andfranco-provençal areas. It is also generally regarded as a highly stigmatised form in relation to the prescriptive norm. Less clear, however, is its précise function in the tense System of speakers who use it. In this paper, we investigate the temporal, aspectual and expressive properties of the régional double compound, taking into account semantic/pragmatic, sociolinguistic and syntactic factors. Our analysis suggests that in addition to the temporal and aspectual properties traditionally attributed to this form, the expressive properties of the surcomposé régional are central to any description of its function in contemporary spoken French, and fundamental to the opposition between the passé surcomposé and the passé composé.
Agreement and discourse: from cohesion to coherence
Authors: Cornish Francis 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThe article argues that, contrary to a widespread view (e.g. Haiman, 1985; Palmer, 1984), agreement in those languages which exhibit it is not a purely redundant, semantically empty and grammatically predictable phenomenon, but performs several important functions at the level of discourse.Taking French as the example language, I will argue (section 2.1) that agreement signals the function-argument interpretation to be assigned to pairs of expressions of various kinds; and second, that it may also code anaphorically the high-focus status of particular discourse referents (section 2.2). Section 3 compares certain written errors in agreement marking made by advanced learners of French, with certain other interpretative errors in their reading of French articles - errors based on agreement relations and leading to the mis-assignment of reference to an agreement target or personal pronoun. Finally, section 4 argues that third person personal pronouns should be treated differently from the (essentially predicative) agreement targets discussed in sections 2 and 3, claiming that they do not participate in agreement stricto sensu.
De la construction du sens des adjectifs préfixés par pré: prétuberculeux vs. précolombien
Authors: Amiot Dany 
Published: October 2008

AbstractCet article porte sur un problème de sémantique lexicale appliquée à un domaine particulier, celui des adjectifs préfixés par pré. Il s'agit en effet d'étudier la construction du sens de ces adjectifs, celui-ci ayant pour particularité de se construire sur deux niveaux. Les adjectifs dérivés s'interprètent en effet avec un sens d'antériorité mais aussi avec ce que j'appelle les valeurs ‘continue’ et ‘discontinue’, cette double structure interprétative étant caractéristique de l'ensemble des mots préfixés par pré- (adjectifs mais aussi noms et verbes). Il s'agira donc de mettre en évidence les mécanismes de construction du sens d'antériorité lui-même, ainsi que les principes qui régissent l'attribution des valeurs ‘continue’ et ‘discontinue’. Ceci nous permettra alors de distinguer ce qui, dans le sens des adjectifs dérivés, est à imputer à des mécanismes purement linguistiques et ce qui relève plutôt de l'ordre du culturel, i.e. des représentations et des connaissances que nous pouvons avoir sur le monde. Les adjectifs prétuberculeux et précolombien me serviront d'exemples privilégiés tout au long de ces analyses.
De la rareté de certains phénomènes syntaxiques en français parlé
Authors: Blanche-Benveniste Claire 
Published: October 2008

AbstractCertaines tournures syntaxiques comme les participes ‘détachés’ sont beaucoup plus rares en français à l'oral qu'à l'écrit, et on retrouve ce phénomène dans plusieurs autres langues. On ne peut pas expliquer la rareté de ces constructions à l'oral seulement par le manque de compétence des locuteurs. Une comparaison entre des récits d'accidents produits par des adultes français par oral et par écrit montre que cette particularité grammaticale est la conséquence de différences dans l'organisation informative des énoncés, dues en grande partie à des stéréotypes collectifs.
La construction passive ense faire
Authors: Kupferman Lucien 
Published: October 2008

AbstractLa construction passive ense faireest (devenue) sémantiquement indépendante de la construction causative réfléchie qui lui est homonyme. Comme dans les passifs enêtre, l'argument externe du prédicat auquel elle s'attache n'est pas représenté, et comme dans les passifs non verbaux porte le rôle Agent. Comme pourse-moyen le prédicat-hôte doit comprendre un argument interne, et est préférentiellement perfectif. Contrairement à ce qui est parfois affirmé, le réfèrent du sujet structural n'est ni nécessairement responsable du procès, ni obligatoirement humain, et l'action décrite par le prédicat-hôte n'est pas toujours violente. Bref, la construction passive ense fairea gagné sa place parmi les passifs.
Patterns of analogy in the Canadian French verb system
Authors: Walker Douglas C. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractStudy of a large number of aberrant verb forms (‘écarts de la norme’) in Canadian French reveals a variety of pressures, paradigm levelling, markedness reduction and iconicity in particular, affecting the inflectional structures. These verb forms, when seen in the light of the theoretical proposals of Natural Morphology, permit a ranking of naturalness principles within that approach and contribute to proposals for the resolution of ‘naturalness conflicts’.
The use of theQU-final interrogative structure in spoken French
Authors: Coveney Aidan 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThe contextual and pragmatic motivations for the use of theQU-final interrogative structure are explored in a substantial corpus of spoken French, employing a variationist methodology. A number of categorical, or invariant, contexts, are identified, and the effect of several variable contextual and pragmatic constraints is examined.QUelements of three or more syllables and copulas are found to strongly favour the use of theQU-final structure, whereas rhetorical questions and monosyllabicQUelements disfavour its use. Certain discourse contexts effectively rule out the QU-final structure, and, except for a few categorical contexts, its use is always optional.