Sur les arguments sémantiques du verbe expliquer et leur réalisation syntaxique

In this preliminary descriptive research, taking one French verb (expliquer), we explore syntactic possibilities of argument realization. For this verb, at least four types of syntactic constructions are specified for a fixed set of semantic arguments.
 When the direct object is realized as a NP (and not as a bare Que P) assuming the role of “object” of explanation, it is observed that the subject can vary between the “agent” and “explanation” roles, in correlation with the change of the origin of “explanation”. This type of difference is to be considered a change of diathesis of the same verb.
 An agentive construction with a complement clause object happens to be a marginal one from the point of view of argument realization, functioning accidentally as a variant of a sentence with verbs of saying. This type of complement clause is a bare Que P in the sense that it does not manifest an alternation with a Que P headed by le fait.

Published online: 15 December 2009
https://doi.org/10.1075/li.32.2.03nak