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The aim of this article is to argue that the similarities and differences in the interpretation of n-words (personne, rien, etc.) in two closely related dialects of French can be explained by considerations linked to lexical properties as well as to properties of contrastive stress in Universal Grammar. The minor lexical differences in the two systems are related to the fact that only in Standard French is a single negation reading ruled out when an adverbial negative marker bearing [+neg, −T, −Asp] features, i.e., pas, appears in the scope of an unstressed n-word. A general principle is proposed to account for the fact that a contrastively focused n-word always blocks the local relation which seems necessary for a negative concord reading. It is observed that the presence of an intervening quantifier between the negative quantifier and the n-word always induces a Double Negation reading.

M.-T. Vinet The aim of this paper is to discuss the structure of predicate constructions without a copula in French headlines. We show that the categorial selection for the syntactic realization of predication is here partly determined by the semantic properties of a lexical verbal element. We also demonstrate the role of a non-overt Aspectual head in licensing DP predicates which are obligatorily free adjuncts in this register of French. Finally, a brief comparison of predicate constructions in Moroccan Arabic serves to emphasize the universality of certain aspects of these constructions.

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