In Spanish, time adverbs show variability in their position with respect to the modified verb. This thesis investigates the effect of information packaging on the position of VP time-adverbs of frequency. Data were drawn from the Davies WEB Dialects Corpus. Two high-frequency verbs (dar and decir), as well as some of their less frequent near-synonyms (expresar, declarar, mencionar vis-à-vis decir, and ofrecer, entregar, and regalar vis-à-vis dar) were examined in relation to the adverbs siempre and nunca. The data show that when VP adverbs are part of sentence focus and do not have any special emphasis, they are found in the preverbal unmarked position. Adverbs in the marked positions receive more emphasis and are either part of the focus or are the new information being communicated.

This thesis deals with temporal and local circumstantial adverbials. The aim of this thesis is to define the adverbials, to describe manners of expressions, positions in the sentence and functions and to analyse French and Czech adverbials on the basis of the parallel corpus Intercorp.The thesis is divided into a theoretical part and a practical part. The theoretical contains three chapters. The first deals with the description of temporal and local circumstantial adverbials on the basis of Czech grammars. The second chapter focuses on the description of adverbials by French grammars. The third chapter summarizes the conclusions of the theoretical part. The principal chapter is the fourth chapter dealing with the analysis of the temporal and local circumstantial adverbials in the corpus Intercorp.

Ce travail se situe dans le cadre de la Théorie Standard Étendue, à laquelle certaines modifications sont apportées, notamment quant à l’association d’une règle sémantique aux opérations transformationnelles. Il est montré que ce type d’approche permet d’assigner à chaque phrase une description sémantique (une forme logique) apte à représenter un phénomène crucial comme la présupposition (sémantique). L’étude empirique porte sur la périphrase verbale « venir de + infinitif » et ses équivalents dans plusieurs langues qui recourent soit à une autre périphrase (par exemple, l’espagnol « acabar de + infinitif »), soit à l’emploi d’un adverbe (latin « modo », anglais « just », etc.) accompagnant une forme de parfait ou de prétérit. On soutient qu’à ces expressions de surface très diverses correspond une forme logique sous-jacente combinant un opérateur d’accompli à un opérateur de restriction portant sur un adverbe de temps (« maintenant » / « alors », etc.). De nombreux phénomènes, tant synchroniques que diachroniques, trouvent leur explication dans un tel cadre, en particulier la concurrence entre « venir de + infinitif » et « ne faire que (de) + infinitif » dans l’histoire du français.<p><p>This research work has been carried out in the framework of a modified version of Extended Standard Theory where semantic rules are associated to transformations. It is shown that this approach allows assigning to each sentence a semantic description (i.e. a logical form) able to represent such a crucial phenomenon as (semantic) presupposition. The empirical study bears on the French verbal periphrasis « venir de + infinitive » and its equivalents in several languages where we find either another periphrasis (like, for instance, Spanish « acabar de + infinitive ») or an adverb (Latin « modo », English « just », etc.) modifying a perfect or preterite form. It is argued that such highly diverse surface forms should receive an underlying logical form that combines an « accomplished/completed » operator to a restriction operator taking a time adverb (« now » / « then », etc.) under its scope. Numerous synchronic or diachronic data can be accounted for in such a framework, in particular the competition between « venir de + infinitive » and « ne faire que (de) + infinitive » in the history of French.<p> / Doctorat en philosophie et lettres, Orientation langue et littérature / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished