L'INVERSION ABSOLUE EN FRANÇAIS : DEUX TYPES D'ABSENCE A L'INITIALE

Catherine Fuchs (1, 2)

1 PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres
2 Lattice - Lattice - Langues, Textes, Traitements informatiques, Cognition - UMR 8094

The aim of this paper is to analyze the so-called " absolute inversion " construction 'V S' (verb + nominal inverted subject) in French, where no initial constituent is present in the kernel. My claim is that there are two types of absolute inversion: the absent initial constituent turns out to be either a zero constituent (as in Surgit alors un loup) or a void place (as in Est déclaré gagnant le numéro 1234). The article addresses the issue of the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic differences between these two types of absolute inversion, which correspond respectively to an " unaccusative " and to an " elaborative " inversion. In the former case, the zero constituent functions as an empty element that locates the process beyond the situation described in the preceding utterance. In the latter case, the void place of the first argument of the predicate is identified with the inverted subject.

Domaines: Linguistique

Catherine Fuchs. L'INVERSION ABSOLUE EN FRANÇAIS : DEUX TYPES D'ABSENCE A L'INITIALE. L. Fesenmeier, A. Grutschus & C. Patzelt. L’absence au niveau syntagmatique. Fallstudien zum Französischen , Klosterman, pp.201-217, 2013. ⟨hal-01382580⟩