postposition on finite verb forms?

[Tom Givon]

I think in considering all example of use of pre-/post-positions with verbs (or verbal
constructions, really) we need to assess the degree of finiteness of the verbal
construction in question. Since we can quantify finiteness (or, to use Haj Ross's old term,
'nouniness') on a sliding scale, we can perhaps make some general predictions: That
pre/postpositions (or, to be more general, nominal case marking) on verbs or verbal
constructions will tend to occur in less finite constructions, maybe ones that show other
facets of nominality (articles, genitive subjects or object, nominalizing morphemes on the
verb, adjectives modifying the nominalized verb,  subject or object position inside
another  main clause). As a schematic illustration:

             To    her             great knowledge  of-math       (she now added...)
             PRE GEN/SUBJ ADJ  V-NOM     GEN-N/OBJ

Best,  TG

============================

Danielle Cyr wrote:

> In spoken Québécois (i.e. Canadian French) we have one similar
> construction:
>
> Elle            s'                      est             manière         d'      excusée
> She             REFLEXIVE       be-AUX  kind            of      excused
> 'She kind of excused herself'
>
> Among the younger generation of Quebecois speakers, we witness the rise
> of other forms of the same phenomena:
>
> Elle s'est excusée genre                (genre/kind)
> Elle s'est excusée style                (style)
> Elle s'est excusée comme        (like)
> 'She kind of excused herself'
>
> Danielle E. Cyr, assoc. prof.
> Department of French Studies
> York University/Calumet College 207
> 4700 Keele Street
> Toronto, Ontario
> Canada  M3J 1P3
> Tel. 1-416-736-2100  ext. 30180
> Fax 1-416-736-5734