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The status of the proadjective(propredicate?) "le"

Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:12 am
by Yiuel Raumbesrairc
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?

Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 5:30 pm
by Basilius
An interesting observation indeed!

I can't comment more sensibly but I wonder how similar/different the uses of the related forms in other Romance languages are.

Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:35 pm
by Magb
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.

Re: The status of the proadjective(propredicate?) "le&q

Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 10:32 pm
by zompist
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.
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.
(5) Est-ce qu'il semble devenir heureux? Oui, il le semble.
Can you give some more examples like this? I'd wonder here if the anaphor refers to "heureux".

Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 1:26 am
by Ser
Basilius wrote:but I wonder how similar/different the uses of the related forms in other Romance languages are.
Spanish:
¿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.)

Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 6:18 am
by Jipí
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):
Permissible with German "das" (DEF.NOM.N/that) as well:

- 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.

Re: The status of the proadjective(propredicate?) "le&a

Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 1:08 pm
by Yiuel Raumbesrairc
zompist wrote:
(5) Est-ce qu'il semble devenir heureux? Oui, il le semble.
Can you give some more examples like this? I'd wonder here if the anaphor refers to "heureux".
(6a) Est-ce qu'il paraît vouloir partir pour la ville de Québec?
(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.