The syntax of French 'à' and 'de': an HPSG analysis

Anne Abeillé; Olivier Bonami; Danièle Godard; Jesse Tseng

halshs-00120275, version 1

The syntax of French "à" and "de": an HPSG analysis

Anne Abeillé ¹, Olivier Bonami ¹, Danièle Godard ¹, Jesse Tseng () ²

Syntax and Semantics of Prepositions Springer (Ed.) (2006) 147-162

Abstract: We present a descriptive overview of the uses of the French prepositional forms "à" and "de" and the properties of the constructions they appear in. The complexity of the data argues against a unitary syntactic and/or semantic treatment, but the empirical facts can nevertheless be organized in a systematic fashion. Concentrating primarily on "de", we show that its uses can be grouped into two classes, one in which "de" patterns with ordinary prepositions, and one in which it appears to reflect the syntactic category of its sister element. We show that these observations can be accounted for in an HPSG analysis that distinguishes ordinary heads from 'weak' heads.

1: Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle (LLF)
CNRS : UMR7110 – Université Paris VII - Paris Diderot
2: LANGUE ET DIALOGUE (INRIA Lorraine - LORIA)
INRIA – CNRS : UMR7503 – Université Henri Poincaré - Nancy I – Université Nancy II – Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine (INPL)

halshs-00120275, version 1
http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00120275
oai:halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr:halshs-00120275
From: Jesse Tseng <>
Submitted on: Wednesday, 13 December 2006 18:54:43
Updated on: Wednesday, 13 December 2006 18:54:43

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