Definite Reference in Old and Modern French: The Rise and Fall of DP

Grammaticalization and Parametric Variation

https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199272129.001.0001 Oxford University Press, 2005

Abstract

In this book the methods and theories of formal syntax are focussed on grammatical variation and change. The book opens with a detailed introduction to the ideas and techniques deployed in the book and the phenomena and issues on which they are brought to bear. Seventeen chapters follow, divided into two parts, the first part concerned with grammaticalization and the second part with parametric variation. These show what the application of contemporary theories of syntax and language variation can reveal about syntactic change and variation and the processes of parametric change which lie behind them. The chapters also demonstrate the value of testing and constructing synchronic theories on the basis of historical data. The analyses range over many languages and language families, including Germanic, Romance, Greek, and Chinese.

Chapter 7 Definite Reference in Old and Modern French: The Rise and Fall of DP

PAUL BOUCHER

https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199272129.003.0007 Pages 95–108

Abstract

This chapter addresses the question of the emergence and evolution of the definite article in French. The chapter is organized as follows. Following the introduction (7.1), Section 7.2 examines the problem of bare NPs and bare (pronominal) determiners (BD) in Romance and Germanic and discusses the Restricted Quantification Condition, as well as the representation of morphological complexity developed in Kerstens (1993). Section 7.3 looks at data on NPs in Old French between the 9th and 14th centuries. Section 7.4 returns to the reanalysis of D-words in OF and to the problem of case projections in Romance and Germanic.