Pierre Larrivée
List of John Benjamins publications in which Pierre Larrivée is involved.
Yearbook
ISSN 0774-5141 | E‑ISSN 1569‑9676
2025 A long farewell: What the loss of V2 made briefly visible Diachronica 42:5, pp. 594–645 | Article
The verb second word order (V2) is known to have been present in some Medieval Romance languages, and to have been lost. The loss is however a gradual process that we propose to relate to the decreasing height of the verb movement in the left periphery through the Medieval period: whereas in the… read more
2022 The curious case of the rare focus movement in French When Data Challenges Theory: Unexpected and paradoxical evidence in information structure, Garassino, Davide and Daniel Jacob (eds.), pp. 183–202 | Chapter
The existence of the left-periphery accounts for the availability of Hanging Topics, Dislocations, and Focus across languages. However, cross-linguistic persistence does not exclude differential rates of realization. Focus movement seems common in Italian (Bianchi 2013); it is rare in French, and… read more
2021 An information structure scenario for V2 loss in Medieval French Diachronica 38:2, pp. 189–209 | Article
This paper discusses word order change in Medieval French. Verb-second (V2) configurations are generally understood as having an initial XP and the verb in the left periphery. How has this configuration been lost in French? Under an Information Structure scenario, the XP is in initial position… read more
2020 The empirical reality of bridging contexts: Strong polarity contexts as the transition between NPIs and n-words Journal of Historical Linguistics 10:3, pp. 427–451 | Article
The purpose of this paper is to provide quantitative substantiation for the role of bridging context in grammatical change. Bridging contexts are assumed to be environments compatible with the new function that an item is acquiring. The evolving item would therefore be predicted to occur in… read more
2019 Chapter 6. Historical pragmatics, explicit activation and wh in situ in French Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 15: Selected papers from 'Going Romance' 30, Frankfurt, Feldhausen, Ingo, Martin Elsig, Imme Kuchenbrandt and Mareike Neuhaus (eds.), pp. 113–132 | Chapter
The purpose of this paper is to further the understanding of the syntax/pragmatics interface with reference to rare grammatical variables. The usage-based assessment of the pragmatic value of wh in situ in French shows that contrary to claims in the literature, the variable does not have a… read more
2017 A positive polarity focus particle under negation: Not also and the impact of pragmatic activation Negation and Contact: With special focus on Singapore English, Ziegeler, Debra and Zhiming Bao (eds.), pp. 63–80 | Article
This chapter reviews the three types of relations of negation with linguistic expressions. Items are in focus, or out of focus and in scope, or out of scope of negation. Out of scope is characteristic of positive polarity items, yet their relation to negation is modified in activated, discourse-old… read more
2017 Chapter 4. Intervention Effects are (lack of) informativity: The case of negative interrogatives The Pragmatics of Negation: Negative meanings, uses and discursive functions, Roitman, Malin (ed.), pp. 105–122 | Chapter
2014 The continuity of the vernacular: The evolution of negative doubling in French The Diachrony of Negation, Mosegaard Hansen, Maj-Britt and Jacqueline Visconti (eds.), pp. 235–256 | Article
Labov’s idea that the vernacular is the most stable variety of a language raises questions especially where languages of wider communication are concerned. Whether the vernacular practices of a language’s geographical varieties are convergent synchronically and historically can be established by… read more
2014 The emergence of implicit meaning: Scalar implicatures with some International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 19:4, pp. 530–547 | Article
The purpose of this paper is to show how corpus data can contribute to assessing explicit hypotheses about natural language just as experimental protocols can. The particular hypotheses tested concern the source of generalised conversational implicatures with quantifier some. Is the “some and not… read more
2012 Review of van Gelderen (2011): The Linguistic Cycle: Language change and the language faculty Diachronica 29:2, pp. 259–264 | Review
2004 Le groupe nominal épithète: Monsieur le linguiste, Mes amis les linguistes, Les linguistes mes amis Lingvisticæ Investigationes 27:1, pp. 47–81 | Article
Summary
This paper explores the syntactic structure of those French constructions where an NP directly follows another. Examples are provided by Monsieur le Professeur, Mes amis les linguistes, Les linguistes mes amis, the later being equivalent to the English cases My Brother the fool and… read more
1997 Review of Guimier (1996): Collection L’essentiel français Lingvisticæ Investigationes 21:2, pp. 427–434 | Review
1995 Review of Gary-Prieur (1994): Grammaire du nom propre Lingvisticæ Investigationes 19:1, pp. 205–210 | Review
1994 Review of Léard (1992): Les gallicismes: Étude syntaxique et sémantique Lingvisticæ Investigationes 18:1, pp. 197–200 | Review
1994 Commentaires Explétifs à Propos D'un Certain Emploi de Ne Lingvisticæ Investigationes 18:1, pp. 175–186 | Discussion
Cet article expose les principaux problèmes que pose la syntaxe et la sémantique de la négation explétive en français contemporain. Il fait état des analyses récentes à cet égard, particulièrement celle de Muller (1991), en faisant ressortir leurs qualités et leur insuffisances.
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