LA SYNTAXE DU MODE EN FRANÇAIS ET EN ÉTSÀK?? : UNE ETUDE COMPAREE

Abstract

Most linguists conceptualise grammatical moods as basically attitudinal with varying degrees of realisations ranging from uncertainty to certainty. In this direction, grammatical tenses are viewed as a function of modal variations. In this article, we seek to undertake a syntactic comparison of moods in French a Romance language with universal spread, and Étsàk?? , an Edo is language spoken by about 274,000 native speakers, found principally in Edo State, South-South Nigeria. Noam Chomsky`s Strong Minimalist Thesis (2007) of generative grammar provides the theoretical framework for the study. The types, positions and tense agreement relations within the internal structure of modal constructs in French and Étsàk?? are compared with a view to determining how the various elements merge to ensure clausal and, by extension, sentential grammaticalness. Our research findings reveal that selectional restrictions of tenses play a prominent role in clausal derivations of grammatical sentences in French and Étsàk?? . It was also discovered that selectional possibilities of tenses in clausal derivations were more represented in French than in Étsàk?? , at both the sensorimotor interface and the conceptual-intentional interface.