Null Subjects in Old French

1997 ◽  
pp. 199-255
Author(s):  
Barbara S. Vance
Keyword(s):  
Old French ◽  
Null Subjects

scholarly journals Topic, Focus and null subjects in Old French

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Ingham
Keyword(s):  
Observational Study ◽  
Old French ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Quantitative Investigation ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Prose Romances ◽  
Discourse Syntax

AbstractOld French subject pronouns (Spro) were omissible if postverbal (Foulet 1928), but not freely so (Vance 1997, Zimmermann 2014). This article addresses their partial omissibility in discourse-syntax terms, following work on partial null subject languages by Holmberg and Nikanne (2002) and Modesto (2008). An observational study of dialogic responses in 13th century prose romances is first reported, finding strong indications of covariation between the Topic/Focus status of an initial non-subject constituent and the expression/omission of post-verbal Spro. A quantitative investigation, in such texts, of preposed discourse-linked anaphoric constituents and preposed intensifiers, taken as diagnostic of Topichood and Focushood respectively, confirmed this analysis. We take null Spro to be available (i) when a null Topic operator targets left-peripheral TopicP, and (ii) with a left-peripheral Focused expression. When a discourse-linked non-subject constituent occupies TopicP, however, Spro must be overt.

Null Subjects in Generative Grammar

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Old French ◽  
Generative Grammar ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Cluster Properties

This book considers the null-subject phenomenon, whereby some languages lack an overtly realized referential subject in specific contexts. In generative syntax—the approach adopted in this volume—the phenomenon has traditionally been explained in terms of a ‘pro-drop’ parameter with associated cluster properties; more recently, however, it has become clear that pro-drop phenomena do not always correlate with all the initially predicted cluster properties. This volume returns to the centre of the debate surrounding the empirical phenomena associated with null subjects. Experts in the field explore the cluster properties associated with pro-drop; the types of null category involved in null-subject phenomena and their identification; and the typology of null-subject languages, with a special focus on partial null-subject languages. Chapters include both novel empirical data and new theoretical analyses covering the major approaches to null subjects in generative grammar. A wide range of languages are examined, ranging from the most commonly studied in research into null subjects, such as Finnish and Italian, to lesser-studied languages such as Vietnamese and Polish, minority languages such as Cimbrian and Kashubian, and historical varieties such as Old French and Old High German. The research presented also contributes to the understanding of other key syntactic phenomena, such as the nature of control, the role of information structure and semantics in syntax, the mechanisms of language change, and the formalization of language variation.

Diachronic syntax based on constituency and dependency annotated corpora

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-99
Author(s):  
Achim Stein
Keyword(s):  
Structural Properties ◽  
Old French ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Diachronic Syntax ◽  
Syntactic Theory ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
Cleft Constructions ◽  
Syntactic Annotation ◽  
Grammar Model ◽  
Annotated Corpora

Abstract This contribution presents two syntactically annotated corpora of Old French, Modéliser le changement: les voies du français (MCVF) and the Syntactic Reference Corpus of Medieval French (SRCMF). The focus is on how the underlying syntactic theory (constituency vs. dependency) influences the grammar model and how this choice is reflected in the syntactic annotations of the corpora. The comparison relates to the most relevant general properties of the corpora as well as to two phenomena, null subjects and cleft constructions. Null subjects highlight possible conflicts between syntactic annotation models and syntactic theory, and the information-structural properties of cleft constructions pose a particular problem for the interpretation and annotation of historical corpora. Both phenomena are major instances of diachronic variation in French. The study is relevant for corpus users working on diachronic syntax, as well for corpus builders wishing to design a grammar model for annotation.

The Latin source of an Old French Gospel of Nicodemus

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (1995) ◽  
pp. 265-279
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Izydorczyk
Keyword(s):  
Old French

Talent in Early Old French (To 1150)

Romania ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 95 (380) ◽  
pp. 443-466
Author(s):  
Glyn S. Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Old French

A Reconstruction of an Old French Anthology of religious Prose

Romania ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 103 (410) ◽  
pp. 371-373
Author(s):  
Alexandra Barratt
Keyword(s):  
Old French

Disabusing Women in the Old French Fabliaux

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Old French

Anna Russakoff, Imagining the Miraculous: Miraculous Images of the Virgin Mary in French Illuminated Manuscripts, ca. 1250-ca. 1450. Studies and Texts, 215; Text Image Context: Studies in Medieval Manuscript Illumination, 7. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2019, xviii, 194 pp., ill.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 541-544
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Bayo
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Old French ◽  
Illuminated Manuscripts ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Medieval Manuscript ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Image Context ◽  
Panel Paintings

This monograph deals with illuminated manuscripts created in French-speaking regions from the mid-thirteenth to the mid-fifteenth century, i.e., from the earliest narratives of Marian miracles written in <?page nr="542"?>Old French to the codices produced at the Burgundian court at the waning of the Middle Ages. Its focus, however, is very specific: it is a systematic analysis of the miniatures depicting both material representations of the Virgin (mainly sculptures, but also icons, panel paintings, altarpieces or reliquaries) and the miracles performed by them, usually as Mary’s reaction to a prayer (or an insult) to one of Her images.

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