Hypallage et incidence de l’adjectif épistémique dans les structures complexes en anglais contemporain
Our purpose in this paper is to discuss the incidence of epistemic adjectives such as «sure» in «The boat is sure to sink», where the syntactic subject is not the notional subject of the qualification contained in the predicate: referring to something inanimate, «the boat» cannot normally be qualifi...
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| Language: | English |
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Presses Universitaires du Midi
2007-12-01
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| Series: | Anglophonia |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/acs/12241 |
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| author | Gérard Melis |
| author_facet | Gérard Melis |
| author_sort | Gérard Melis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Our purpose in this paper is to discuss the incidence of epistemic adjectives such as «sure» in «The boat is sure to sink», where the syntactic subject is not the notional subject of the qualification contained in the predicate: referring to something inanimate, «the boat» cannot normally be qualified with the property «be sure» and, as a consequence, it is not seen as the «real subject» of the predicate. That raises a question of syntax: how come the syntactic subject is not the real notional subject of the predicate? This paper discusses and rejects the hypothesis that a constituent is moved to subject position («raising») so that it can correspond to the theme of the sentence. We analyse such structures as examples of transfer of properties («hypallage»), doubting whether it is really feasible to identify the «real» notional subject of the qualification. Our main thesis is that some semantic properties of such predicates as «be sure» or «be likely», as opposed to «be probable» or «be liable», make it possible for them to qualify the whole predicative relationship and/or one of its components. The initial syntactic question is thus posed in terms of lexical properties. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c9ab98e107584fe7bcd89bbaae4f887d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1278-3331 2427-0466 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2007-12-01 |
| publisher | Presses Universitaires du Midi |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Anglophonia |
| spelling | doaj-art-c9ab98e107584fe7bcd89bbaae4f887d2025-01-30T12:33:21ZengPresses Universitaires du MidiAnglophonia1278-33312427-04662007-12-011114516010.4000/anglophonia.811Hypallage et incidence de l’adjectif épistémique dans les structures complexes en anglais contemporainGérard MelisOur purpose in this paper is to discuss the incidence of epistemic adjectives such as «sure» in «The boat is sure to sink», where the syntactic subject is not the notional subject of the qualification contained in the predicate: referring to something inanimate, «the boat» cannot normally be qualified with the property «be sure» and, as a consequence, it is not seen as the «real subject» of the predicate. That raises a question of syntax: how come the syntactic subject is not the real notional subject of the predicate? This paper discusses and rejects the hypothesis that a constituent is moved to subject position («raising») so that it can correspond to the theme of the sentence. We analyse such structures as examples of transfer of properties («hypallage»), doubting whether it is really feasible to identify the «real» notional subject of the qualification. Our main thesis is that some semantic properties of such predicates as «be sure» or «be likely», as opposed to «be probable» or «be liable», make it possible for them to qualify the whole predicative relationship and/or one of its components. The initial syntactic question is thus posed in terms of lexical properties.https://journals.openedition.org/acs/12241modaladjectivesepistemic modalityhypallageinterface semantics / syntaxraising |
| spellingShingle | Gérard Melis Hypallage et incidence de l’adjectif épistémique dans les structures complexes en anglais contemporain Anglophonia modal adjectives epistemic modality hypallage interface semantics / syntax raising |
| title | Hypallage et incidence de l’adjectif épistémique dans les structures complexes en anglais contemporain |
| title_full | Hypallage et incidence de l’adjectif épistémique dans les structures complexes en anglais contemporain |
| title_fullStr | Hypallage et incidence de l’adjectif épistémique dans les structures complexes en anglais contemporain |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hypallage et incidence de l’adjectif épistémique dans les structures complexes en anglais contemporain |
| title_short | Hypallage et incidence de l’adjectif épistémique dans les structures complexes en anglais contemporain |
| title_sort | hypallage et incidence de l adjectif epistemique dans les structures complexes en anglais contemporain |
| topic | modal adjectives epistemic modality hypallage interface semantics / syntax raising |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/acs/12241 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gerardmelis hypallageetincidencedeladjectifepistemiquedanslesstructurescomplexesenanglaiscontemporain |