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Title: La formation agentive en français : les composés [VN/A/Adv/P]N/A et les dérivés V-ant, V-eur et V-oir(e)
Author: Maria Rosenberg
Email: click here to access email
Degree Awarded: Stockholm University , Department for French, Italian and Classical Languages
Degree Date: 2008
Linguistic Subfield(s): Morphology
Subject Language(s): French
Swedish
Director(s): Mats Forsgren
Georgette Dal
Olof Eriksson

Abstract:

This study addresses the French morphological construction [VN/A/Adv/P].
The main objectives are to posit a single rule for its formation and to
question the implications of the agent polysemy. The theoretical framework
is lexeme-based morphology, which adheres to weak lexicalism.

The first part of our analysis is qualitative and concerns the availability
aspect of productivity. The method is introspective. The internal semantic
patterns of the French construction are examined. Our results give evidence
for the claim that a single morphological construction rule, [VN/A/Adv/P],
is responsible for the cases where the first constituent is a verb stem,
and the second constituent may correspond to an internal argument, an
external argument or a semantic adjunct. All cases manifest the same
patterns, which are related to the denotative meanings included in the
agent polysemy: Agent, Instrument, Locative, Action, Result and Cause. Our
contrastive analysis shows that the same patterns are found in the four
Swedish agentive formations, [N/A/Adv/PV-are], [N/A/Adv/PV], [N/A/Adv/PV-a]
and [VN], which correspond to the French [VN/A/Adv/P] construction and
which also contain a verbal constituent and its internal or external
argument, or an adjunct.

The second part of our analysis is quantitative and concerns the
profitability aspect of productivity. The method is inductive. The aim is
to explore the polysemy of agent and its assumed hierarchical structure, in
synchrony and diachrony. Four French agentive formations, [VN/A/Adv/P]
compounds and V-ant, V-eur and V-oir(e) derivations, are included in order
to examine semantic competition and blocking effects. Our results give
evidence for the existence of an agent polysemy but deny that it has a
hierarchical structure valid for every agentive formation. The meanings in
the agent polysemy are more or less profitable according to formation type:
blocking effects could explain this behaviour.
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Page Updated: 29-Nov-2009

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