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Changes in verb position in French negative infinitival clauses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Paul Hirschbühler and
Marie Labelle
Paul Hirschbühler
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Marie Labelle
Affiliation:
Université du Québec à Montréal
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Abstract

Since the 15th century, negative infinitives in French have undergone a change from ne V pas to ne pas V. This change takes place at different times, depending on the nature of the verb. Lexical verbs undergo the change between 1550 and 1750, modals (pouvoir, vouloir, devoir) essentially change between 1650 and 1900, and auxiliaries have been changing at a slow pace since 1650. We explore the idea that, for main verbs, the change in word order reflects a change in the position of pas, while the change in the position of modals and auxiliaries results from the fact that these verbs start assuming a position lower in the structure. Our analysis of the historically different evolution of each type of verb is based on their lexical properties and their distinct affinities with abstract Tense.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , July 1994, pp. 149 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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