I just had a short exchange with a colleague.
EX (1) :
"Est-ce qu'elle est ici ce matin?" (Asking about someone)
"Oui, elle l'est."
Elsewhere, it has been discussed that this "le" would be a proadjective. But as we can see in the following sentences, "le" does not replace adjectives but predicative phrases.
EX:
(2) Est-ce qu'il est sûr de vouloir partir à Québec? Il l'est.
(3) Est-ce qu'il est en train de danser en pleine nuit? Oui, il l'est.
(4) Est-ce qu'il est parti? Oui, il l'est.
(5) Est-ce qu'il semble devenir heureux? Oui, il le semble.
You need a predicative verb for it to be used, but otherwise, it would seem that, unless it's a loctive phrase, that "le" can replace anything.
How would it be analysed, morphosyntactically? Are there any polysynthetic languages or languages that uses clitics à la française that can do the same thing with predicates?
The status of the proadjective(propredicate?) "le"
- Yiuel Raumbesrairc
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The status of the proadjective(propredicate?) "le"
"Ez amnar o amnar e cauč."
- Daneydzaus
- Daneydzaus
I don't have the answer to your question, but I can point out that the Scandinavian det works the same way (examples in Norwegian):
- Var hun her i morges? ("Was she here this morning?")
- Ja, det var hun.
For active verbs you have to use gjøre "to do" as a pro-verb:
- Kastet han ballen? ("Did he throw the ball?")
- Ja, det gjorde han.
Can you do something like this in French?
- Est-ce qu'il a jeté la balle?
- Oui, il l'a fait.
- Var hun her i morges? ("Was she here this morning?")
- Ja, det var hun.
For active verbs you have to use gjøre "to do" as a pro-verb:
- Kastet han ballen? ("Did he throw the ball?")
- Ja, det gjorde han.
Can you do something like this in French?
- Est-ce qu'il a jeté la balle?
- Oui, il l'a fait.
Re: The status of the proadjective(propredicate?) "le&q
Good point, though since 'pronouns' actually replace an NP not a noun, so it shouldn't be very surprising that pro-adjectives replace an AP.Yiuel wrote:(2) Est-ce qu'il est sûr de vouloir partir à Québec? Il l'est.
(3) Est-ce qu'il est en train de danser en pleine nuit? Oui, il l'est.
(4) Est-ce qu'il est parti? Oui, il l'est.
Can you give some more examples like this? I'd wonder here if the anaphor refers to "heureux".(5) Est-ce qu'il semble devenir heureux? Oui, il le semble.
- Ser
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Spanish:Basilius wrote:but I wonder how similar/different the uses of the related forms in other Romance languages are.
¿Está ella aquí esta mañana? Sí, lo está.
¿Parece ella haberse alegrado? Sí, lo parece.
Heh, for these two it's the same. I can't translate the other ones using a copula though. (However, I'm also not sure if I translated the second one well enough, either.)
Permissible with German "das" (DEF.NOM.N/that) as well:Magb wrote:I don't have the answer to your question, but I can point out that the Scandinavian det works the same way (examples in Norwegian):
- War sie heute Morgen hier? (Was she today morning here?)
- Ja, das war sie. (Yes, that was she.)
- Hat er den Ball geworfen? (Has he the ball thrown?)
- Ja, das hat er. (Yes, that has he.)
Phrasing things this way I think it's kinda fortifying the affirmation. Also note the fronting of "das", which acts as a(n) (dummy?) object here.
- Yiuel Raumbesrairc
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Re: The status of the proadjective(propredicate?) "le&a
(6a) Est-ce qu'il paraît vouloir partir pour la ville de Québec?zompist wrote:Can you give some more examples like this? I'd wonder here if the anaphor refers to "heureux".(5) Est-ce qu'il semble devenir heureux? Oui, il le semble.
(6b) Oui, il le paraît.
(7a) Est-ce qu'il semble se décider?
(7b) Il le semble.
With "de", you get "en" :
(8a) Il a l'air de ne pas se préoccuper de nous.
(8b) Il en a l'air, effectivement.
"Ez amnar o amnar e cauč."
- Daneydzaus
- Daneydzaus