Dependency relations within the French noun phrase

House, Roger Joseph (1989) Dependency relations within the French noun phrase. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

It is generally accepted that the words of a sentence are linked together by different dependency relations. Some words are said to be heads and others, modifiers. The primary objective of this study is to analyse the nature of the dependency relations within the fundamental French noun phrase. -- The work comprises four main parts. The first chapter is a comparison of two opposing views on syntax: constituency and dependency. These two models are evaluated to see if there are things the linguist can describe or explain with one but not the other. In the remaining chapters, a dependency approach is adopted for the analysis of the dependency relations linking the French noun phrase. -- Chapter Two investigates the fundamental nature of dependency relations and studies the underlying system which gives rise to the parts of speech. The notion of incidence is introduced and is shown to be the basic mechanism involved in dependency structure. The special status of the noun is explained in terms of its binary nature: the fact that it incorporates both the mental referent and the lexeme which names that referent. -- The relation between article (or definer) and substantive is then studied in detail in Chapter Three. Whereas tradition has the article dependent on the substantive, it is argued in this chapter that the article is in fact the head element in the noun phrase. Finally, in Chapter Four, the adjective-substantive relation is analysed. Particular emphasis is put on the problems of adjective position in French. It is shown that adjective position is related to the binary nature of the noun and that it is the French solution to a general problem.

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