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French complement clitic sequences: a template approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Keith Watson
Keith Watson
Affiliation:
The University College of Ripon and York St John, College Road, Ripon HG4 2QX
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Abstract

In this article I shall propose an explanation of the ordering and co-occurrence constraints operating within complement clitic sequences in French, which I shall present as template-formed syntactic constituents. I shall argue that these result from the interaction of two features – [+Accusative] and [+Individua-tion] (in the sense of Blanche-Benveniste (1978) and Blanche-Benveniste et al (1987)) – in conjunction with certain phonological constraints. Furthermore, I shall argue that, once explained, the complement clitic sequence can be seen to constitute an efficient referential system, well adapted to the role of 'kernel sentence’ which, together with the subject clitics and the verb, it performs in Modern French.

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Articles
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Journal of French Language Studies , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 1997 , pp. 69 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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