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From local blocking to Cyclic Agree

The role and meaning of determiners in the history of French

Abstract

This paper shows that, rather than being necessary for argumenthood or referentiality, determiners in Old French were optional, but used in relation to discourse properties such as focus/emphasis on the one hand, and in relation to phonological/metric requirements on the other. The choice between the use of a bare noun and the use of a noun with a determiner was not free, but created a one-to-one mapping between form and function. This one-to-one mapping between form and function disappeared once the insertion of determiners became obligatory. It is shown that the compulsory insertion of determiners in modern French is connected to an alternation in the morphology of nominals and that it is driven by the operation Cyclic Agree.

Abstract

This paper shows that, rather than being necessary for argumenthood or referentiality, determiners in Old French were optional, but used in relation to discourse properties such as focus/emphasis on the one hand, and in relation to phonological/metric requirements on the other. The choice between the use of a bare noun and the use of a noun with a determiner was not free, but created a one-to-one mapping between form and function. This one-to-one mapping between form and function disappeared once the insertion of determiners became obligatory. It is shown that the compulsory insertion of determiners in modern French is connected to an alternation in the morphology of nominals and that it is driven by the operation Cyclic Agree.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments vii
  4. Determiners 1
  5. Part I. The features of determiners
  6. What’s in a determiner and how did it get there? 25
  7. The proper D connection 67
  8. Argumenthood, pronouns, and nominal feature geometry 97
  9. Part II. The function of determiners
  10. From local blocking to Cyclic Agree 123
  11. Kinds of predicates and reference to kinds in Hebrew 159
  12. Part III. Definiteness and beyond
  13. The semantic core of determiners 177
  14. On the presence versus absence of determiners in Malagasy 215
  15. Index 243
Determiners
This chapter is in the book Determiners
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.147.04mat

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments vii
  4. Determiners 1
  5. Part I. The features of determiners
  6. What’s in a determiner and how did it get there? 25
  7. The proper D connection 67
  8. Argumenthood, pronouns, and nominal feature geometry 97
  9. Part II. The function of determiners
  10. From local blocking to Cyclic Agree 123
  11. Kinds of predicates and reference to kinds in Hebrew 159
  12. Part III. Definiteness and beyond
  13. The semantic core of determiners 177
  14. On the presence versus absence of determiners in Malagasy 215
  15. Index 243
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