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

1PL nous no-tre/s nous, on nous
2PL vous vo-tre/s vous vous
3SGM lui s-on/a/es il ACC le,
3SGF elle s-on/a/es elle ACC la
3PLM eux leur-∅/s ils
3PLM elles leur-∅/s elles
DAT lui; DAT/ACC refl. se
ACC les, DAT leur, DAT/ACC refl. se
1 st /2 nd person clitics are syncretic for dative and accusative, but their case can
be determined from linked elements like floating quantifiers, and is included in
glosses. They may be disjoint or reflexive. The SE clitic se serves as the dative
and accusative reflexive for 3 rd persons, also an inherent (idiomatic), intransitive
(e.g. anticausative), and mediopassive formant, discussed in sections 3 and 6.
Accusative clitics correspond to direct objects, whose nonclitic form is an unmarked
DP. The nonclitic form of dative and locative arguments is a PP headed by
à. Datives have the grammatical functions of basic indirect objects, as in Je lui
présente Pierre 'I introduce to.her Pierre', Je lui parle 'I talk to.her', Je luii attribue
notre réussite, à ce manifestoi 'I attribute to.iti our success, to this manifestoi',
and of causee, possessor, and benefactive. 56 Locatives are adjuncts and arguments
of location, as in J'y habite, J'y vais, J'y dors 'I live, I go, I sleep there', but
also as the arguments of verbs like J'y pense, J'y fait attention 'I think
about.it/him/her, I pay attention to.it/him/her'. The verbs in these examples strictly
select a dative or a locative argument, whether the referent is inanimate, animate,
human. Beside them stand several classes of dative-locative alternations. Some
operate according to animacy, e.g. répondre 'reply to a person (dative), to a question
or need (locative)'. Some use subtler criteria of individuation, control, and
concreteness, for intance appartenir 'belong' with dative of possession (She belongs
to the team) and locative of a part-whole relations (She is part of the team, It
is part of the table); or obéir 'obey', with locative in A sunflower obeys Kepler's
laws, but dative in A temporary resident obeys these laws (dative). 57
56 There is also the non-argumental ethical dative in (117)a (Leclère 1976, Jouitteau and Rezac
2008). It has no nonclitic form, and very different properties from argumental datives, such as
invisibility to auxiliary selection, binding, and the PCC. It is set aside here.
57 Dative-locative alternations are studied in Couquaux (1975), Kayne (1975: 151), Blanche-
Benveniste (1978), Barnes (1980), Gaatone (1984), Herslund (1988). Datives are often animate,
but not always, as in (i), and then continue to participate in the PCC and its repair, (ii). Such inanimate
datives do not belie the [+person] character that datives share with 1 st /2 nd but not 3 rd person
accusatives or its role in the PCC, insofar as they entail control, individuation, and a relationship
to the perspective or consciousness centre (see esp. Benveniste, Gaatone, Ruwet; cf. Burston
1983, Boeckx 2000). This matches morphological patterning, both in French (e.g. Morin 1978:
12 note 7) and cross-linguistically (section 5.2).
(i) a Il faut leuri passer un couche de peinture, à ces voletsi.
It is necessary to pass (=give) them.Di a coat of paint, to these shuttersi.
b Un résident temporaire doit leuri / (?) yi obéir, à ces dispositions légalesi.
89