Atypical argument structures in French
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Geneviève Girard-Gillet
Abstract
The article analyses some atypical constructions of French intransitive verbs, such as ils ont suicidé le ministre (they suicided the minister), la crème a explosé les poux (the cream exploded the lice), and tries to account for their existence, as the construction is not always possible, and differs semantically from ils l’ont fait se suicider (they made him commit suicide), il a fait exploser la bombe (he triggered the bomb), where the FAIRE faire construction is compulsory. The hypothesis is that the atypical constructions can be explained within the domain of causative constructions, and more particularly with regard to the distinction between internal and external causation (Guéron, Talmy, Levin, McKoon and Macfarland). The atypical constructions are only possible when no internal causation is available, namely when the causee does not possess the internal characteristics enabling the change of state to occur: the minister was not the suicidal type and the interpretation is then that he was murdered. A change of state did occur, but not the one denoted by the lexical verb. The motivation for the structure is the wish to highlight an unexpected event.
Abstract
The article analyses some atypical constructions of French intransitive verbs, such as ils ont suicidé le ministre (they suicided the minister), la crème a explosé les poux (the cream exploded the lice), and tries to account for their existence, as the construction is not always possible, and differs semantically from ils l’ont fait se suicider (they made him commit suicide), il a fait exploser la bombe (he triggered the bomb), where the FAIRE faire construction is compulsory. The hypothesis is that the atypical constructions can be explained within the domain of causative constructions, and more particularly with regard to the distinction between internal and external causation (Guéron, Talmy, Levin, McKoon and Macfarland). The atypical constructions are only possible when no internal causation is available, namely when the causee does not possess the internal characteristics enabling the change of state to occur: the minister was not the suicidal type and the interpretation is then that he was murdered. A change of state did occur, but not the one denoted by the lexical verb. The motivation for the structure is the wish to highlight an unexpected event.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
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Part 1. Atypical realization of the main arguments of the verb
- Verbs of pain and accusative subjects in Romanian 3
- Non-canonical ‘existential-like‘ constructions in colloquial Modern Hebrew 27
- IO realizations in Spanish reverse psych verb sentences 61
- Non-human agents as subjects in English and Dutch 87
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Part 2. Valency-changing devices and non-finite verb forms
- The argument-structure configuration of English middle and related structures 115
- Non-categorical categories 131
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Part 3. Variations in transitivity
- The semantic motivation of non-canonical predicative relations 163
- Atypical argument structures in French 181
- Split intransitivity in Lamaholot (East Flores, Indonesia) 203
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Part 4. Norm variation in predicate-arguments relations
- Geographic variation in a non-canonical infinitive structure with the modal verb brauchen 243
- Verbal constructions in spoken language deviating from the norm 265
- Index of authors 283
- Index of subjects 287
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Part 1. Atypical realization of the main arguments of the verb
- Verbs of pain and accusative subjects in Romanian 3
- Non-canonical ‘existential-like‘ constructions in colloquial Modern Hebrew 27
- IO realizations in Spanish reverse psych verb sentences 61
- Non-human agents as subjects in English and Dutch 87
-
Part 2. Valency-changing devices and non-finite verb forms
- The argument-structure configuration of English middle and related structures 115
- Non-categorical categories 131
-
Part 3. Variations in transitivity
- The semantic motivation of non-canonical predicative relations 163
- Atypical argument structures in French 181
- Split intransitivity in Lamaholot (East Flores, Indonesia) 203
-
Part 4. Norm variation in predicate-arguments relations
- Geographic variation in a non-canonical infinitive structure with the modal verb brauchen 243
- Verbal constructions in spoken language deviating from the norm 265
- Index of authors 283
- Index of subjects 287
