Phénomènes de discordance entre morphologie et syntaxe : de la zizanie dans le collectif !

This paper examines phenomena of discordance between morphology and syntax, such as the plural concord of verbs with nouns which are morphologically in the singular, or vice versa. The principle of sylleptic agreement, which is used to account for such phenomena, is not sufficient to describe the gr...

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Main Author: Blandine Pennec
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cercle linguistique du Centre et de l'Ouest - CerLICO 2008-12-01
Series:Corela
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/corela/274
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author Blandine Pennec
author_facet Blandine Pennec
author_sort Blandine Pennec
collection DOAJ
description This paper examines phenomena of discordance between morphology and syntax, such as the plural concord of verbs with nouns which are morphologically in the singular, or vice versa. The principle of sylleptic agreement, which is used to account for such phenomena, is not sufficient to describe the great variety of cases, and it is thus necessary to identify the reasons for those sylleptic agreements. Besides the case of collective nouns (for which we propose a typology), this study deals with the concords that take place with N1 of N2 expressions, in which N1 evokes a multiplicity of elements, and it also examines the concords characterizing nouns of firms or companies. This paper also shows that a certain number of mismatches between morphology and syntax can be explained thanks to phenomena of metonymy, ellipsis or thanks to the use of epicene nouns. Some expressions used to express quantification also lead to surprising concords, which can either be in the singular or in the plural according to the context, and this study tries to account for the possibility of such alternations.
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spelling doaj-art-894ef4c89d2c4d1d81f779fce8943a332024-12-09T15:07:43ZengCercle linguistique du Centre et de l'Ouest - CerLICOCorela1638-573X2008-12-016210.4000/corela.274Phénomènes de discordance entre morphologie et syntaxe : de la zizanie dans le collectif !Blandine PennecThis paper examines phenomena of discordance between morphology and syntax, such as the plural concord of verbs with nouns which are morphologically in the singular, or vice versa. The principle of sylleptic agreement, which is used to account for such phenomena, is not sufficient to describe the great variety of cases, and it is thus necessary to identify the reasons for those sylleptic agreements. Besides the case of collective nouns (for which we propose a typology), this study deals with the concords that take place with N1 of N2 expressions, in which N1 evokes a multiplicity of elements, and it also examines the concords characterizing nouns of firms or companies. This paper also shows that a certain number of mismatches between morphology and syntax can be explained thanks to phenomena of metonymy, ellipsis or thanks to the use of epicene nouns. Some expressions used to express quantification also lead to surprising concords, which can either be in the singular or in the plural according to the context, and this study tries to account for the possibility of such alternations.https://journals.openedition.org/corela/274sylleptic agreementcollective nounmetonymyellipsisepicene Noun
spellingShingle Blandine Pennec
Phénomènes de discordance entre morphologie et syntaxe : de la zizanie dans le collectif !
Corela
sylleptic agreement
collective noun
metonymy
ellipsis
epicene Noun
title Phénomènes de discordance entre morphologie et syntaxe : de la zizanie dans le collectif !
title_full Phénomènes de discordance entre morphologie et syntaxe : de la zizanie dans le collectif !
title_fullStr Phénomènes de discordance entre morphologie et syntaxe : de la zizanie dans le collectif !
title_full_unstemmed Phénomènes de discordance entre morphologie et syntaxe : de la zizanie dans le collectif !
title_short Phénomènes de discordance entre morphologie et syntaxe : de la zizanie dans le collectif !
title_sort phenomenes de discordance entre morphologie et syntaxe de la zizanie dans le collectif
topic sylleptic agreement
collective noun
metonymy
ellipsis
epicene Noun
url https://journals.openedition.org/corela/274
work_keys_str_mv AT blandinepennec phenomenesdediscordanceentremorphologieetsyntaxedelazizaniedanslecollectif