Home Long Subject Questions in French: An Insight into the Left Periphery of Selected CPs
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Long Subject Questions in French: An Insight into the Left Periphery of Selected CPs

  • Frédérique Berthelot ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: August 11, 2022
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

This article presents experimental data assessing the acceptability status of long subject questions (LSQs) in French. It shows that their suboptimal score does not reflect dialect variation and it fails to detect a change in progress. An analysis, developing further the rescuing strategy proposed in Rizzi and Shlonsky's freezing account, is presented. The crux of the proposal is that a Case mismatch obtains within the embedded complementizer, which is shown to be necessarily syncretic in LSQs. The full acceptability of embedded subject questions is then discussed and accounted for within this framework.


Corresponding author: Frédérique Berthelot, Collège de France, 11 place Marcelin Berthelot, 75231 Paris, France, E-mail: .

Acknowledgments

I am particularly grateful to Luigi Rizzi for his priceless observations on different versions of this research. I would also like to thank Giuliano Bocci for his considerable help with the experimental part of my work. Finally, I benefited greatly from some insightful remarks of Ur Shlonsky and helpful comments of one anonymous reviewer. Needless to say the proposal expressed here, as well as any inaccuracies and mistakes, are my sole responsibility.

References

Abangma, Samson. 1992. The ECP and that-trace effects in Denya. In UCL Working paper, 41–44.Search in Google Scholar

Adli, Aria. 2005. Gradedness and consistency in grammaticality judgments. In Stephan Kepser & Marga Reis (eds.), Linguistic evidence: Empirical, theoretical and computational perspectives, 7–25. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110197549.7Search in Google Scholar

Barker, Chris. 2016. Why relational nominals make good concealed questions? Lingua 182. 12–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2016.01.002.Search in Google Scholar

Belletti, Adriana. 2012. Revisiting the CP of clefts. In Günther Grewendorf & Thomas E. Zimmermann (eds.), Discourse and grammar. From sentence types to lexical categories, 91–114. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.10.1515/9781614511601.91Search in Google Scholar

Berthelot, Frédérique. 2015. Escaping the subject condition: The French DONT strategy. In Anna Bloch-Rozmej, Anna Bondaruk & Anna Prazmowska (eds.), Spotlight on melody and structure in syntax and phonology, 67–88. Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL.Search in Google Scholar

Berthelot, Frédérique. 2017. Movement of and out of subject in French. Université de Genève Doctoral Dissertation. https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:96575.Search in Google Scholar

Boeckx, Cedric. 2008. Understand minimalist syntax: Lessons from locality in long-distance dependencies. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.Search in Google Scholar

Bošković, Željko. 2016. On the timing of labeling: Deducing comp-trace effects, the subject condition, the adjunct condition, and tucking in from labeling. The Linguistic Review 33(1). 17–66.10.1515/tlr-2015-0013Search in Google Scholar

Brunot, Ferdinand. 1965. La pensée et la langue. Paris: Masson and Co.Search in Google Scholar

Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on government and binding: The Pisa lectures. Holland: Foris Publications.Search in Google Scholar

Cowart, Wayne. 2003. Detecting syntactic dialects: The that-trace phenomenon. Manuscript: University of Southern Maine.Search in Google Scholar

D’Alessandro, Roberta & Adam Ledgeway. 2010. At the C-T boundary: Investigating Abruzzese complementation. Lingua 120(8). 2040–2060.10.1016/j.lingua.2010.02.003Search in Google Scholar

D’Avis, Franz-Josef. 2000. On the wh-expletive was in German. In Uli Lutz, Gereon Müller & Armin von Stechow (eds.), Wh-scope marking, 131–155. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.10.1075/la.37.06davSearch in Google Scholar

Den Dikken, Marcel. 2009. On the nature and distribution of successive cyclicity. Paper presented at 40th conference of the North-East Linguistic Society (NELS). MIT Cambridge Mass.Search in Google Scholar

Douglas, Jamie. 2017. Unifying the that-trace and the anti that trace effect. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics 2(1). 1–28.10.5334/gjgl.312Search in Google Scholar

Eriksson, Olof. 1980. Le syntagme “l’homme que je crois qui est venu”. Studia Neophilologica 53. 311–327.10.1080/00393278108587815Search in Google Scholar

Felser, Claudia. 2004. Wh-copying, phases, and succesive cyclicity. Lingua 114(5). 543–574. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0024-3841(03)00054-8.Search in Google Scholar

Ferreres Masplà, Federico & Maria-Luisa Mora. 1998. Les relatives imbriquées subjectives. In Teresa García-Sabell, Dolores Olivares, Annick Boilève-Guerlet & Manuel García (eds.), Les Chemins du texte, 99–113. Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.Search in Google Scholar

Gerdts, Donna B. & Cheong Youn. 1999. Case stacking and focus in Korean. In Susumu Kuno (ed.), Harvard Studies in Korean Linguistics, vol. VIII, 325–339. Seoul: Hanshin.Search in Google Scholar

Giorgi, Alessandra & Fabio Pianesi. 1997. Tense and aspect: From semantics to morphosyntax. Oxford: OUP.10.1093/oso/9780195091922.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Giorgi, Alessandra & Fabio Pianesi. 2004. Complementizer deletion. In Luigi Rizzi (ed.), The Structure of CP and IP, 190–210. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780195159486.003.0007Search in Google Scholar

Godard, Danièle. 1984. French relative clauses with DONT: A-Bar chains and binding principles. In Jacqueline Guéron, Hans-Georg Obenauer & Jean-Yves Pollock (eds.), Grammatical representation, 19–41. Dordrecht: Foris Publication Holland.10.1515/9783112328064-003Search in Google Scholar

Grevisse, Maurice & André Goosse. 2007. Le Bon usage, 14th edn. Bruxelles: De Boeck and Duculot.Search in Google Scholar

Grimshaw, Jane. 1979. Complement selection and the lexicon. Linguistic Inquiry 10(2). 279–326. https://doi.org/10.1002/chin.197923065.Search in Google Scholar

Haegeman, Liliane. 2012. Adverbial clauses, main clause phenomena, and composition of the left periphery. New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199858774.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Kandybowicz, Jason. 2006. Comp-trace effects explained away. In Donald M. Baumer (ed.), Proceedings of the 25th West Coast conference on formal linguistics, 220–228. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Search in Google Scholar

Keller, Frank & Teodora Alexopoulou. 2005. A crosslinguistic study of resumptive pronouns and that-trace effects. In Bruno G. Bara, Lawrence Barsalou & Monica Bucciarelli (eds.), Proceedings of the 27th annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 1120–1125. Stresa.Search in Google Scholar

Kenstowicz, Michael. 1989. The null subject parameter in modern Arabic dialects. In Oswaldo Jaeggli & Kenneth J. Safir (eds.), The null subject parameter, 263–275. Dordrecht: Kluwer.10.1007/978-94-009-2540-3_9Search in Google Scholar

Koopman, Hilda & Dominique Sportiche. 2014. The que/qui alternation: New analytical directions. In Peter Svenonius (ed.), Functional structure from top to toe, 46–95. New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199740390.003.0003Search in Google Scholar

Lasnik, Howard & Mamoru Saito. 1984. On the nature of proper government. Linguistic Inquiry 15(2). 235–289.10.1007/978-94-015-6859-3_10Search in Google Scholar

Levin, Theodore. 2017. Successive-cyclic case assignment: Korean nominative-nominative case stacking. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 35. 447–498. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-016-9342-z.Search in Google Scholar

Lütz, Uli, Gereon Müller & Arnim von Stechow. 2000. Introduction. In Uli Lütz, Gereon Müller & Arnim von Stechow (eds.), Wh-scope marking, 1–17. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.10.1075/la.37.01lutSearch in Google Scholar

Mair, Christian. 1987. For/to infinitival clauses in British English – A study based on the material collected in the survey of English usage. University College London English Studies 68(6). 545–559. https://doi.org/10.1080/00138388708598544.Search in Google Scholar

Martinović, Martina. 2013. The subject/non-subject asymmetry in Wolof. In Stefan Keine (ed.), That-trace effects without traces: An experimental investgiation. Proceedings of NELS 42, 309–322. Amherst, MA: UMass Amherst.Search in Google Scholar

McDaniel, Dana. 1989. Partial and multiple wh-movement. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 7. 565–604. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00205158.Search in Google Scholar

McDaniel, Dana, Bonnie Chieu & Thomas Maxfield. 1995. Parameters for wh-movement types: Evidence from child English. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 13. 709–753. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00992856.Search in Google Scholar

Ménard, Philippe. 1988. Syntaxe de l’ancien français. Bordeaux: Editions Bière.Search in Google Scholar

Milner, Jean-Claude. 1982. Ordres et raisons de la langue. Paris: Seuil.Search in Google Scholar

Moltmann, Friederike. 2009. Attitudinal objects. Paris. Available at: http://semantics.univ-paris1.fr/pdf/attitudinal%20objects-publ2.pdf.Search in Google Scholar

Nathan, Lance E. 2006. On the interpretation of concealed questions. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Doctoral dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Perlmutter, David M. 1968. Deep and surface constraints in syntax. PhD dissertation MIT.Search in Google Scholar

Perlmutter, David M. 1971. Deep and surface constraints in synax. New York: Holt, Rinehard and Winston.Search in Google Scholar

Pesetsky, David. 1982. Complementizer-trace phenomena and nominative island condition. The Linguistic Review 1. 297–343. https://doi.org/10.1515/tlir.1982.1.3.297.Search in Google Scholar

Pesetsky, David & Esther Torrego. 2001. T-to-C movement: Causes and consequences. In Michael Kenstowicz (ed.), Ken Hale: A life in language, 355–426. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/4056.003.0014Search in Google Scholar

Plank, Frans. 1995. (Re)introducing Suffixaufnahme. In Frans Plank (ed.), Double case. Agreement by Suffixaufnahme, 3–110. New York Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780195087758.003.0001Search in Google Scholar

Plann, Susan. 1986. On case-marking clauses in Spanish: Evidence against the case resistance principle. Linguistic Inquiry 17(2). 336–345.Search in Google Scholar

Poletto, Cecilia. 2000. The higher functional field: Evidence from northern Italian dialects. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780195133561.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Richards, Norvin. 2013. Lardil case stacking and the timing of case assignment. Syntax 61(1). 42–76. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9612.2012.00169.x.Search in Google Scholar

Rizzi, Luigi. 1990. Relativized minimality. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Rizzi, Luigi. 1996. Residual verb second and the wh-criterion. In Adriana Belletti & Luigi Rizzi (eds.), Parameters and functional heads: Essays in comparative Syntax, 63–91. New-York: Oxford University Press.10.4324/9780203461785-15Search in Google Scholar

Rizzi, Luigi. 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In Liliane Haegeman (ed.), Elements of grammar, 281–337. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishing.10.1007/978-94-011-5420-8_7Search in Google Scholar

Rizzi, Luigi. 2006. On the form of chains: Criterial positions and the ECP effects. In Lisa Cheng & Norbert Corver (eds.), On wh movement, 97–134. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/7197.003.0010Search in Google Scholar

Rizzi, Luigi. 2010. On some properties of criterial freezing. In Efthyvoulos Panagiotidis (ed.), The complementizer phrase, 17–32. New-York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199584352.003.0002Search in Google Scholar

Rizzi, Luigi & Ur Shlonsky. 2007. Strategies of subject extraction. In Uli Sauerland (ed.), Interfaces+Recursion=Language? 115–160. Berlin, New-York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110207552-004Search in Google Scholar

Rizzi, Luigi & Guiliano Bocci. 2017. Left periphery of the clause: Primarily illustrated for Italian. In Martin Everaert & Henk van Riemsdijk (eds.), The Wiley Blackwell companion to Syntax, 2nd edn., 1–30. Oxford: Blackwell.10.1002/9781118358733.wbsyncom104Search in Google Scholar

Roberts, Ian. 2004. The C-system in brythonic celtic languages,V2 and the EPP. In Luigi Rizzi (ed.), The structure of CP and IP, 297–329. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780195159486.003.0010Search in Google Scholar

Salzmann, Martin. 2006. Resumptive prolepsis: A study in indirect A-bar dependencies. Utrecht: LOT.Search in Google Scholar

Sandfeld, Kristian. 1965. Syntaxe du français contemporain. Genève: Droz.Search in Google Scholar

Schippers, Ankelien. 2012. Variation and change in Germanic long distance movement. University of Groningen PhD Dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Schippers, Ankelien. 2020. COMP-Trace revisited: An indirect dependency analysis. Manuscript. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333451065_COMP-trace_revisited_an_indirect_dependency_analysis.Search in Google Scholar

Schütze, Carson T. 2001. On Korean case stacking: The varied functions of the particles ka and lul. The Linguistic Review 18. 193–232.10.1515/tlir.2001.001Search in Google Scholar

Sheehan, Michelle. 2011. A note on case-assignment to CP. Snippets 24. 19.Search in Google Scholar

Sobin, Nicholas. 1987. The variable status of comp-trace phenomena. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 5. 33–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00161867.Search in Google Scholar

Stowell, Timothy A. 1981. Origins of phrase structure. MIT PhD thesis.Search in Google Scholar

Taraldsen, Knut T. 1978. On the NIC, vacuous application and the that-trace filter. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club.Search in Google Scholar

Taraldsen, Knut T. 2001. Subject extraction, the distribution of expletives and stylistic inversion. In Aafke C. Hulke & Jean-Yves Pollock (eds.), Subject inversion in romance and the theory of universal grammar, 163–182. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780195142693.003.0006Search in Google Scholar

Tellier, Christine. 1991. Licensing theory and French parasitic gaps. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.10.1007/978-94-011-3596-2Search in Google Scholar

Tellier, Christine. 2001. On some distinctive properties of parasitic gap in French. In Paul M. Postal & Peter W. Culicover (eds.), Parasitic gap, 341–367. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Tellier, Christine & Daniel Valois. 2006. Les constructions méconnues du français. Montréal: Les Presses Universitaires de Montréal.10.4000/books.pum.10250Search in Google Scholar

Thornton, Rosalind J. 1990. Adventures in long-distance moving: The acquisition of complex wh-questions. University of Connecticut Doctoral Dissertation. Available at: http://search.proquest.com/pqdtft/docview/303848860/fulltextPDF/D087A73A1588482FPQ/1.Search in Google Scholar

Tsai, Wei-Tien D. 1995. Visibility, complement selection and the case requirement of CP. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 4(4). 281–312. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01440730.Search in Google Scholar

Webelhuth, Gert. 1992. Principles and parameters of syntactic saturation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780195070415.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Wurmbrand, Susanne. 1998. Infinitives. MIT PhD Dissertation. Available at: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/4409074.pdf.Search in Google Scholar

Yoon, James H. 2004. Non-nominative (major) subjects and case stacking in Korean. In Peri Bhaskararao & Karumuri V. Subbarao (eds.), Non-nominative subjects, vol. 2, 265–314. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.10.1075/tsl.61.15yooSearch in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2022-08-11
Published in Print: 2022-05-25

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 16.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/probus-2022-0004/html
Scroll to top button