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Le pronom ce dans les phrases attributives

Journal Contribution - Journal Article

Subtitle:The pronoun ce in attributive sentences
The object of this article is the use of the pronoun ce as a subject of constructions with a plural predicate noun in French. It examines the hypothesis by H. Diessel (1997:199) that this type of pronoun is specific to predicative constructions. A comparison of ‹{ce sont | c’est} + plural NP› with its equivalents in English and Dutch shows that the ability to combine a singular pronoun with plural predicate nouns is not due to the demonstrative character of the pronoun, but to its under-specification. Indeed, in both English and Dutch, plural predicate nouns may co-occur with neutral personal pronouns as well as with neutral demonstratives. However, the two languages differ with respect to verb agreement: English adopts morpho-syntactic agreement, while Dutch uses indexical, semantic agreement. As for French, it has both types of agreement.
Journal: LANGUE FRANÇAISE
ISSN: 1957-7982
Issue: 205
Pages: 31 - 50
Publication year:2020
Accessibility:Closed