Skip to main content
Presented to you through Paradigm Publishing Services

John Benjamins Publishing Company

Visit our Partner Page See all our books
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Degree fronting in Québec French and the syntactic structure of degree quantifier DPs

  • , and

Abstract

In this paper, we compare two syntactic constructions involving degree adverbs in English and Québec French: the Degree Fronting (DF) construction and the Intensification at a Distance (IAD) construction. We argue that, although they display some similar properties, these similarities are superficial. We argue that, while DF can be analyzed as involving movement, IAD cannot. We propose that the quantifiers in IAD sentences are base-generated in their surface positions, and that these syntactic positions coincide with the positions that the quantifiers occupy when they are quantifying over individuals or events. Furthermore, we argue that dialectal variation in distance quantificational structures between Standard European French and Québec French is due to differences in the semantics of degree adverbs in these dialects.

Abstract

In this paper, we compare two syntactic constructions involving degree adverbs in English and Québec French: the Degree Fronting (DF) construction and the Intensification at a Distance (IAD) construction. We argue that, although they display some similar properties, these similarities are superficial. We argue that, while DF can be analyzed as involving movement, IAD cannot. We propose that the quantifiers in IAD sentences are base-generated in their surface positions, and that these syntactic positions coincide with the positions that the quantifiers occupy when they are quantifying over individuals or events. Furthermore, we argue that dialectal variation in distance quantificational structures between Standard European French and Québec French is due to differences in the semantics of degree adverbs in these dialects.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction vii
  4. Expressing contrast in Romanian 1
  5. When the benefit is on the fringe 19
  6. Degree fronting in Québec French and the syntactic structure of degree quantifier DPs 39
  7. On sentence-internal le même (‘the same’) in French and pluractionality 55
  8. Topic prominence is not a factor of variation between Brazilian and European Portuguese 71
  9. When Dialectology studies contribute to lexical semantics and to Etymology 89
  10. Cartography and agrammatic syntactic production in Ibero-Romance 115
  11. The valuation of gender agreement in DP 133
  12. (Definite) denotation and case in Romance 149
  13. Compounding in Romance and English 167
  14. Epistemic modals in the past 185
  15. Floating parenthetical coordinate clauses 203
  16. Unfortunate questions 223
  17. Typology or reconstruction 239
  18. Sentential coordination and ellipsis 255
  19. Underapplication of vowel reduction to schwa in Majorcan Catalan productive derivation and verbal inflection 273
  20. Focus and the development of N-words in Spanish 291
  21. On verbal duplication in River Plate Spanish 305
  22. Stylistic Fronting and Remnant movement in Old French 323
  23. Person restrictions and the representation of third person – an argument from Barceloní Catalan 343
  24. Definite DPs without lexical nouns in French 363
  25. Index 391
Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2009
This chapter is in the book Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2009
https://doi.org/10.1075/rllt.3.03bou

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction vii
  4. Expressing contrast in Romanian 1
  5. When the benefit is on the fringe 19
  6. Degree fronting in Québec French and the syntactic structure of degree quantifier DPs 39
  7. On sentence-internal le même (‘the same’) in French and pluractionality 55
  8. Topic prominence is not a factor of variation between Brazilian and European Portuguese 71
  9. When Dialectology studies contribute to lexical semantics and to Etymology 89
  10. Cartography and agrammatic syntactic production in Ibero-Romance 115
  11. The valuation of gender agreement in DP 133
  12. (Definite) denotation and case in Romance 149
  13. Compounding in Romance and English 167
  14. Epistemic modals in the past 185
  15. Floating parenthetical coordinate clauses 203
  16. Unfortunate questions 223
  17. Typology or reconstruction 239
  18. Sentential coordination and ellipsis 255
  19. Underapplication of vowel reduction to schwa in Majorcan Catalan productive derivation and verbal inflection 273
  20. Focus and the development of N-words in Spanish 291
  21. On verbal duplication in River Plate Spanish 305
  22. Stylistic Fronting and Remnant movement in Old French 323
  23. Person restrictions and the representation of third person – an argument from Barceloní Catalan 343
  24. Definite DPs without lexical nouns in French 363
  25. Index 391
Downloaded on 19.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/rllt.3.03bou/html
Scroll to top button