Chapter 5

Point of view on causal clauses

This paper uses the case study of French clauses introduced by parce que ‘because’ and puisque ‘since’ to argue that causal clauses are intrinsically perspectival: the causal relation that they express is established by a causal judge. Perspectival effects in causal clauses indicate that the referential possibilities of this judge depend on the structural level of attachment of causal clauses, which can modify Verb Phrases, Evidential Phrases or Speech Act Phrases. This supports the hypothesis that the causal judge is syntactically represented as a silent argument of the causal subordinator that must be bound within its clause. The presence of this judge argument explains why logophoric elements can appear in causal clauses.