Contenu du sommaire : Temps et aspect dans la langue française, sous la direction de Jacqueline Guéron

The simple past (SP) and the imperfect (IMP) are generally considered to be two members of a binary opposition. Analyses of the use of these tenses can be divided into two paradigms : on the one hand, an aspectual explanation, and on the other, a discursive alternative which holds that the use of the two tenses is determined by principles such as foreground / background, given / new or setting / change. However, neither of the two paradigms succeeds in giving a satisfactory description of the opposition SP/IMP. The solution proposed here combines the two paradigms : I show that SP and IMP do not constitute a true « couple » ; rather, their fundamental meanings are situated on different levels, that of the SP on the level of sentential aspect, and that of the IMP on the level of textual construction.

This study proposes a semantic analysis of transitivity that is centered around the different degrees of intimacy that can exist between the entities expressed by the subject and the direct object noun phrase. The analysis is based on phenomena pertaining to manner adverbiale and the individuation of the direct object. Lexical phenomena pertaining to psychological verbs and verbs like pousser and presser will be used to illustrate the model.

A single abstract representation of the meaning of each of the two polysemous verbs aller and venir can cover all of their uses. They are not movement verbs from which the other uses are derived since movement is a notion derived from referential properties of the arguments, hence from factors outside of grammar. The abstract semantic representations interact with the vast amount of knowledge shared by speakers, knowledge which should not be present in semantic representations since it is redundant and clutters the grammar.

« On the Selectional Restrictions of Aspect in French Infinitival Complements » This paper examines the selectional restrictions imposed by certain matrix verbs on their infinitival complements. Aspectual verbs such as commencer may introduce activities and accomplishments as their complements but they do not generally admit states or achievements. It is argued that activities and accomplishments can be characterized in terms of the semantic category process which is selected by aspectual verbs. This selection of the category process is also responsible for restrictions observed in the interpretation of the nominal complements of these verbs.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the structure of predicate constructions without a copula in French headlines. We show that the categorial selection for the syntactic realization of predication is here partly determined by the semantic properties of a lexical verbal element. We also demonstrate the role of a non-overt Aspectual head in licensing DP predicates which are obligatorily free adjuncts in this register of French. Finally, a brief comparison of predicate constructions in Moroccan Arabic serves to emphasize the universality of certain aspects of these constructions.

We base tense interpretation on relations between the syntactic nodes Complementizer, Tense and Verb within a « Tense-Chain ». Our analysis exploits meca- nisms of Generative Grammar, in particular the theories of Quantification, Movement and Binding ; e.g., we construe Present as an Anaphor, Past as a Pronominal, and Future as a Name. We examine differences between English and French in the interpretation of the Present, the Present Perfect, the Progressive, and the « Imparfait » . We suggest that all these differences follow from a single parameter, presence vs absence of a morphological person feature in the verb.