Semantic and morphological characteristics of a noun as a subject in the modern French language
[Les caractéristiques sémantiques et morphologiques d'un nom comme sujet en français contemporain]
Aleksei A. Zaitsev – Dinara G. Vasbieva
DOI: 10.18355/XL.2021.14.04.15
Abstract
The present study considers the problem of the relationship between semantics and morphology of nouns in the syntactic function of the subject in the modern French literary language. This work aims to answer the questions of whether the syntactic function is not indifferent to the semantic nature of the noun and whether any noun can be used in the function of the subject. The text fragments taken from the works of classic French writers Honore de Balzac, Emile Zola, André Maurois, François Moryac, etc. have been investigated. The total length of the analyzed texts taken in equal portions of 100 phrases per work was 85,000 tokens. The general methodological principles of this study are the provisions on the dialectical connection between language and thinking, on the one hand, and language and reality, on the other. The findings show that the choice of grammatical forms of a noun in these syntactic functions is not random and it is determined by the patterns of thought formation, which reflects the objective situation.
Key words: noun, semantics, morphology, subject, modern French language