Voir passer et laisser passer: la syntaxe de la perception visuelle et de la causation négative en contraste

Subtitle:Voir passer and laisser passer : the syntax of visual perception and negative causation in contrast

It is commonly known that the syntactic marking of the subordinate subject in the infinitive construction, governed by causative or perception verbs, is rather complex in French and other Romance languages : it can be anteposed or postposed to the infinitive, case-marked by the accusative or dative, etc. Most investigations focus on one or the other verbal category but until now, no comparison has been made between causative and perception verbs. Hence, the main objective of this article is to compare the structure of the infinitive construction expressing negative causation with laisser (U+2018letU+2019) with the syntax of visual perception expressed by voir (U+2018seeU+2019). A detailed empirical study allows us to investigate whether the semantic and conceptual differences between both verb types have an effect on word order in the subordinate infinitive complement. It is shown that the syntactic behavior of laisser can be understood in terms of the well-known U+2018binding theoryU+2019, whereas syntactic variations within the domain of voir are to be linked to perception strategies.

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