Garet Patty. Le verbe -IR: une étude morphosyntaxique et phonologique de verbes français construits sur la racine √i s/z

Université Paris Cité, 2021. — 299 p.This thesis is a study of the morphosyntactic architecture of French 'second group' (or -ir suffixed) verbs, as well as 'first group' -iser verbs. The analyses are couched in the theoretical framework of Minimalist Syntax, and the "Strict CV" model of Government Phonology. Among 'second group' inchoatives (traditionally viewed as 'de-adjectival'), we find three types of behavior: faiblir/affaiblir 'become weak/weaken', *lourdir/alourdir '*become heavy/make heavy', salir/*asalir 'to soil/?'. The presence or absence of directional prefix a- is my point of entry into the structure of change of state verbs, indeed of the entire second group. The suffix -i/-iss, responsible for the verbal nature of the objects under study, is then analyzed in relation to the prefixation of a-. Compatibility with a- is indeed key to understanding the contributions of each of the ingredients of those verbs: a) the prefix itself, which forces the transitivity of the verb and induces effects on its telicity ; b) i/iss, the verbalising element ; c) the radical bases and their associated argument structure. My proposals allow for an account of the SE-pronominal constructions present in the group. My analysis leads up to a unified account of 2nd group -i(r) and 1st group -is(er) verbs. Both are built on the same root,√Is/z. When √Is/z selects single roots (thus before categorization) a 2nd group -i(r) verb emerges. When the same root selects categorized objects, an -is(er) verb of the 1st group surfaces.