Deriving Adjectives from Noun Complements

Abstract

A morphosyntactic examination is made of French noun phrases of the configuration Det V-n (de N1/Adj) in which V-n is a predicate noun derived from a transitive verb, eg, la coagulation du sang /sanguine 'coagulation of the blood/blood coagulation'. This configuration is compared to transitive verb structures of the form N0 V N1 in which N1 becomes the direct object of the verb, eg, l'air coagule le sang 'air coagulates the blood'. It is demonstrated that the morphosyntactic operations relating these similar structures involves the zeroing of the N0 argument through a passive or middle transformation. 15 References. Adapted from the source document