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Expressing the Same by the Different
The subjunctive vs the indicative in French
This volume offers an alternative, sign-oriented analysis of the distribution of the French Indicative and Subjunctive. It rejects both government and functions, attributed to both moods, and shows that the distribution of the Indicative and the Subjunctive is motivated by their invariant meanings. The volume illustrates the close interaction between the Indicative and the Subjunctive, as linguistic signs, and signs of other grammatical systems, contextually associated with the invariant meanings of both moods. Special consideration is given to the use of the Indicative and the Subjunctive in texts of different styles and genres.
This volume also deals with the diachronic disfavoring of the Subjunctive and especially of the Imperfect Subjunctive that occurred from Old French to Contemporary French. It is argued that this disfavoring was motivated by the narrowing of the invariant meaning of the Contemporary French Subjunctive. All hypotheses are supported by contextualized examples and frequency counts.
[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 59] 2007. xxx, 272 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 1 July 2008
Published online on 1 July 2008
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
- Dedication | pp. v–5
- Acknowledgements | pp. xi–11
- List of tables | pp. xiii–xiv
- List of figures | pp. xv–15
- Preface | pp. xvii–xxx
- Part 1. The problem of French mood
- 1. Sentence-oriented approaches | pp. 3–42
- 2. Sign-oriented approaches | pp. 43–51
- Part 2. Columbia School theory
- 3. The basic principles | pp. 55–74
- 4. Hypothesis | pp. 75–81
- Part 3. "Micro-level" analysis
- 5. Occurrence System and the encoder's commitment | pp. 85–128
- 6. Occurrence System and subjective comment | pp. 129–145
- 7. Occurrence System and negation | pp. 147–164
- Part 4. "Macro-level" analysis
- 8. "From sign to text" approach | pp. 167–179
- 9. "From text to sign" approach | pp. 181–196
- Part 5. The subjunctive moods: Diachronic analysis
- 10. Previous explanations for the use of the Subjunctive forms and for their disfavoring | pp. 201–206
- 11. The analysis of the general disfavoring of the Subjunctive | pp. 207–215
- 12. The analysis of the disfavoring of the Imperfect Subjunctive | pp. 217–221
- 13. The Subjunctive moods in Old French: "Micro-level" analysis | pp. 223–229
- 14. The Subjunctive moods in Old French: "Macro-level" analysis | pp. 231–237
- 15. The Subjunctive moods in contemporary French: "Micro-level" analysis | pp. 239–247
- 16. The Subjunctive moods in contemporary French: "Macro-level" analysis | pp. 249–254
- Concluding remarks | pp. 255–258
- Name index | pp. 269–270
- Subject index | pp. 271–272
Cited by (10)
Cited by ten other publications
Lindschouw, Jan
2025.
Jenny Gustafsson.
Le subjonctif dans le français du XXIe siècle : Étude sur l’emploi des modes après
il est possible/probable que, espérer que
et
après que (Studia Romanica Upsaliensia, 90). Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. 2025. ISBN 978-91-513-2410-4. 189 pp.
. Studia Neophilologica ► pp. 1 ff.
Eisenbruch, Miriam A.
Dreer, Igor, F. Neveu, B. Harmegnies, L. Hriba & S. Prévost
Lamiroy, Béatrice & Anna Pineda
2017. Grammaticalization across Romance languages and the pace of language change. Lingvisticae Investigationes 40:2 ► pp. 304 ff.
Gosselin, Laurent
Flaux, Nelly & Véronique Lagae
Dreer, Igor
Winters, Margaret E.
[no author supplied]
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