Human collective nouns and plural definite noun phrases
Semantic and argumentative perspectives on plural reference in French
This chapter explores nominal forms with a plural meaning that denote groups of humans in French: human collective nouns (HCNs) and plural definite noun phrases (NP with [les ‘the’ + Nplural]). I combine semantic-referential and argumentative perspectives in order to assess the role of plural reference in these two domains. After presenting my conception of reference and referent and the specificities of plural reference, I compare the two types of expressions from a semantic-referential point of view, based on expressions with the same extension: the HCNs le peuple (français) ‘the (French) people,’ la population (française) ‘the (French) population,’ l’opinion publique (française) ‘(French) public opinion,’ and the plural definite NPs les Français ‘the French’ and les citoyens (français) ‘(French) citizens.’
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The corpus
- 3.Referent, reference, plural reference
- 3.1Perspective on referent and reference
- 3.2Plural reference
- 4.Argumentation and the argumentative dimension
- 5.Argumentative potential: Comparative properties of plural reference NPs
- 6.Plural reference and argumentative potential: Human collective nouns
- 7.Plural reference and argumentative potential: The plural definite NP les Français
- 7.1Les Français: Referential adequacy and inadequacy
- 7.2Les Français: Distributive vs. collective interpretations
- 7.3What is said about the French
- Conclusions
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Notes
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References
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Resources