This course seeks to investigate the fundamental questions arising from the linguistic representation of predicate-argument relations in French. After a preliminary exploration of the characteristics of French sentence structure, we will address the specific challenge of identifying the minimal mechanisms necessary to account for the projection of selected and non-selected verbal arguments. The establishment of a typology of French verbs based on argument selection will serve as the foundation for our discussions. The following verb types will be analyzed: transitive, unergative, ditransitive, and unaccusative. Non-selected arguments play a central role in recent developments in theoretical linguistics. We will focus primarily on applied dative arguments in French, which will guide our exploration of the case and pronominal systems of French.

Students from other graduate programs may submit assignments in English with approval of the instructor.