The diachronic development of a French universal quantifier

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Published: Oct 24, 2018
Keywords:
diachronic syntax, French, quantifiers, determiner

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Amanda Edmonds

Abstract

Both the Modern french quantifiers and the Modern French Determiner Phrase (DP) have generated numerous analyses. The current study is a diachronic contribution to this literature, focusing on the development of the universal quantifier - chacun 'each' - from 1175 through 1950. Old and Middle French chacun fulfilled a variety of syntactic functions: It was used as a pronoun, as a modifier, and was found in emphatic constructions with the indefinite article ( un chacun 'a each'). By the 16th century, this surface heterogeneity gave way and pronominal chacun dominates. Focusing on four different syntactic stages as well as the interim diachronic shifts, I suggest that contrary to appearances, a unified syntactic structure underlies the Old and Middle French chacun , and that this single construction gave rise to two modern syntactic structures.

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Issue
Vol. 5 No. 2 (2005): Syntax and Beyond
Section
Articles

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