FORMAL ASPECTS OF FRENCH NONLEXICAL DATIVES

• Published in: Folia linguistica 1988, Vol.22 (3-4), p.373-386
• Main Author: ROORYCK, JOHAN
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0165-4004; 1614-7308
• DOI: 10.1515/flin.1988.22.3-4.373

An alternative & more formalized explanation is developed for the French noncliticizable a-noun phrase than that proposed by Claire Blanche-Benveniste et al (Pronom et Syntaxe: l'approche pronominale et son application en francais [The Pronoun and Syntax: A Pronominal Approach and Its Application in French], Paris: Selaf, 1984). The existence of nonlexicalizable dative clitics & lexicalized dative clitics that are not fully grammatical in Standard French is examined. The possibility of a dative occurring in different sentence structures offers an interesting tool for distinguishing between lexical & nonlexical datives. A lexical dative can freely occur in any sentence structure since it is part of the verb's lexical definition. A nonlexical dative is only perfectly acceptable as a clitic on the verb but the clitic does not have the status of a lexical argument of the verb as it only has a link of solidarity to the direct object or the prepositional phrase selected by the verb. The varying acceptability of lexicalized nonlexical datives can be explained by the interaction of both formal & semantic factors. 8 References. Z. Dubiel