The interaction between the French subject and object cycles
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Mariana Bahtchevanova
Abstract
In Colloquial French, first and second person preverbal subject pronouns function as agreement markers on the finite verb because they are obligatory and adjacent to the finite verb (e.g. von Wartburg 1943). In other spoken varieties of French, third person pronouns are also agreement markers, having lost gender and number (Fonseca-Greber 2000 for Swiss French). This paper adds new data on third person subjects for Colloquial French, namely third person emphatic pronouns being used on their own, and shows how these data fit the subject cycle. Because, like subject markers, object pronouns are preverbal, they ‘interfere’ with the preverbal subject agreement markers. Our hypothesis was therefore that preverbal object clitics would be replaced by postverbal pronouns (cf. van Gelderen 2011: 52) or would be deleted, as Lambrecht et al. (1996) had already observed. We investigated postverbal placement of object pronouns and found some evidence of this but, more interestingly, we found that object markers were reinterpreted as agreement markers. The important insights for cyclical change this paper provides are that different person markings can be at different stages, that some stages can be skipped, and that one cycle can influence another.
Abstract
In Colloquial French, first and second person preverbal subject pronouns function as agreement markers on the finite verb because they are obligatory and adjacent to the finite verb (e.g. von Wartburg 1943). In other spoken varieties of French, third person pronouns are also agreement markers, having lost gender and number (Fonseca-Greber 2000 for Swiss French). This paper adds new data on third person subjects for Colloquial French, namely third person emphatic pronouns being used on their own, and shows how these data fit the subject cycle. Because, like subject markers, object pronouns are preverbal, they ‘interfere’ with the preverbal subject agreement markers. Our hypothesis was therefore that preverbal object clitics would be replaced by postverbal pronouns (cf. van Gelderen 2011: 52) or would be deleted, as Lambrecht et al. (1996) had already observed. We investigated postverbal placement of object pronouns and found some evidence of this but, more interestingly, we found that object markers were reinterpreted as agreement markers. The important insights for cyclical change this paper provides are that different person markings can be at different stages, that some stages can be skipped, and that one cycle can influence another.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
-
Part I Characteristics of Cycles
- Cyclical change continued 3
- What cycles when and why 19
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Part II Macro-cycles
- Is radical analyticity normal 49
- An analytic-synthetic spiral in the history of English 93
- The interaction between the French subject and object cycles 113
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Part III The Negative Micro-Cycles
- The negative existential cycle viewed through the lens of comparative data 139
- Jespersen cycles in the Mayan, Quechuan and Maipurean languages* 189
- Mayan negation cycles 219
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Part IV Pronominal, Quantifier, and Modal Micro-cycles
- The diachrony of pronominal agreement 251
- The degree cycle 287
- Modality and gradation 319
- All you need is another ‘Need’ 351
- The grammaticalization of 要 Yao and the future cycle from Archaic Chinese to Modern Mandarin* 395
- Author Index 419
- Subject and Language Index 425
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
-
Part I Characteristics of Cycles
- Cyclical change continued 3
- What cycles when and why 19
-
Part II Macro-cycles
- Is radical analyticity normal 49
- An analytic-synthetic spiral in the history of English 93
- The interaction between the French subject and object cycles 113
-
Part III The Negative Micro-Cycles
- The negative existential cycle viewed through the lens of comparative data 139
- Jespersen cycles in the Mayan, Quechuan and Maipurean languages* 189
- Mayan negation cycles 219
-
Part IV Pronominal, Quantifier, and Modal Micro-cycles
- The diachrony of pronominal agreement 251
- The degree cycle 287
- Modality and gradation 319
- All you need is another ‘Need’ 351
- The grammaticalization of 要 Yao and the future cycle from Archaic Chinese to Modern Mandarin* 395
- Author Index 419
- Subject and Language Index 425
