Les adverbiaux prépositionnels en dans : exploration en corpus de la notion de contenance

• Main Author: Laure Sarda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cercle linguistique du Centre et de l'Ouest - CerLICO 2010-05-01
• Series: Corela
• Subjects: preposition dans (‘in’); detached-construction; initial positioning; notional uses; semantics
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/corela/911

This paper provides a description of the notional meanings of the French preposition dans (‘in’) in the construction [Dans NPy, Sx], where the Ground y is expressed by the extra-predicative PP [Dans NP], and the Figure x by a part or by the whole sentence S. We explore the adequateness of the relation Container/content described by Vandeloise to depict the meanings of dans in this construction. This corpus based study suggests ranging these different meanings along a continuum from a locating pole to a defining pole. Three dimensions are associated to this continuum: the cause, the subjectivity and the dynamicity of the relationship of y and x. On the side of the defining pole, the causality, the subjectivity and the dynamicity of the relationship of y and x tend to be more expressed. This could be partly due to the detached construction itself, which through the detachment gives the opportunity to the speaker/writer to express his/her point of view.