Phi-features and the Modular Architecture of - UMR 7023 - CNRS

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(208) a. *Il vous parle/ennuie (à) ti et (à) moi.
he you.D/A speaks/bothers to and to me
He speaks to (+dat) / bothers (+acc) you and me.
b. *Il vous parle/ennuie ti (à) deux.
he you.D/A speaks/bothers to two
He speaks to (+dat) / bothers (+acc) you two.
The unavailability of clitics does not lead to the grammaticality of unfocussed
strong pronouns, unlike the PCC, as pointed out by Blanche-Benveniste (1975:
103) and Kayne (1975: 2.17, 2000: 9.7, 180 note 29). (209) illustrates this. 91
(209) a. *Bien sûr qu'ellei est dans le quartier. J'ai vu [ellei et soni chien] se
promener ce matin.
Of course she is in the neighbourhood. I saw [her and her dog] walking
about this morning.
b. ??Qu'est-ce que tu veux dire que les garçonsi connaissent pas mon
père?! Bien sur qu'ils le connaissent. Je l'ai présenté [à euxi et à leursi copains]
LA SEMAINE DERNIERE ENCORE.
What do you mean that the boys don't know my father? Of course they
know him. I introduced him [to them and to their friends] JUST LAST
WEEK. (Ok with focus on à eux.)
c. Qu'est-ce que tu veux dire que tui connais pas mon père?! Bien sur que
tu le connais. Je t'ai présenté [à luii et à sesi copains] LA SEMAINE
DERNIERE ENCORE.
What do you mean that you don't know my father? Of course you
know him. I introduced you [to him and to his friends] JUST LAST
WEEK. (PCC repair)
Among modified strong pronouns, (210), accusatives are impossible, locatives
perfect along with other PPs, while under neutral intonation datives vary
with the modifier for reasons to be understood (Kayne 1975: 177-9). 92
91 The contrast in (209) is clear in the questionnaire, (209)c being close to perfect for the most
part, (209)b mostly not part of the speaker's French at all, although not as severely degraded as
some other strong pronouns. There is a confound: for some, even accusative strong pronouns are
good unfocussed in lists, as J'ai vu elle, Pierre, Claire, et Jean-François arriver 'I saw her, P.,
C., and J.-F. arriving'. There seems to be a nice explanation available. A coordination I saw X
and Y arriving may be read as I saw X and Y together arriving or as I saw X arriving and I saw Y
arriving. In the latter, X and Y are alternatives to each other for I saw __ arriving, and thus each
may have focus semantics, licensing strong pronouns. The examples in the text are chosen to favour
the collective reading. The examples in Grevisse and Goose (2008: §660-1) are telling: coordinated
accusative pronouns are lists or foci, coordinated nominative ones not necessarily.
92 It is curious that tous can be a floating quantifier, deux can if preceded by the definite article
(for some), and autres cannot: Elle vousi en offrira à tousi / % aux deuxi / *(*aux) autres 'She