Topics

Among the fronted constituents of VP there are 25 occurrences that can be identified as topics:

12 fronted PP complements¹⁶¹, 10 fronted DP complements¹⁶², and three fronted infinitives¹⁶³. Except for five cases, all occurrences are found in embedded contexts other than relative or comparative clauses.

With respect to fronted PP complements, 9 PPs are composed of one of the prepositions de ‘of, by’, sur ‘on, about’ or a ‘at, to’, and of the demonstrative pronoun ce ‘this’. Consider, for instance, the following example in (94) with the fronted PP de ce ‘about it’.

(94) Pendant le temps duquel debat survint ylec une femme nommée Marion, […]

laquele […] disoit et dist lors que il et ung autre paige, son complice, lui avoient prins, tolu et emporté de force certains ses biens, et entre autres choses y avoit

161 The occurrences are found in the following LDR: 1357,4; 1357,9; 1358,101; 1359,61; 1359,131; 1359,252;

1360,322; 1423,5; 1424,36; 1424,56; 1432,204; 1432,218.

162 The occurrences are found in the following LDR: 1357,22; 1358,101; 1359,190; 1359,250; 1424,56;

1428,183; 1432,218; 1432,220.

163 The occurrences are found in the following LDR: 1359,190 and 1359,231.

ung sac que ledit Richart avoit en sa possession. […] et mesmement pour ce que de ce icele Marion se doulousoit moult, icelui suppliant lui dist qu'elle se appaisast et teust

During the time of this debate appeared there a woman called Marion […] who […] said and has said then that he and another page, his accomplice had taken, removed and carried away some of her belongings and among other things there was a bag that the said Richart had in his possession. […] and in particularly because about this, this Marion grieved a lot, this supplicant said to her that she should calm down and keep quiet (1432,204)

Here ce refers to the loss of the belongings, Marion is sorry about. Hence, de ce can be analysed as an aboutness topic constituent, i.e. in Krifka’s terms as representing the head entry of the corresponding embedded clause pour ce que de ce icele Marion se doulousoit moult. However, while all the other fronted PP topics are found in embedded contexts other than relative contexts, there are two occurrences of fronted PP within a subject relative clause which can be interpreted as topics. Consider (95) as a first example:

(95) audit mess. Jehan Paienel et a touz autres qui en sa compaignie furent a la prinse et occupacion dudit chastel et a tout ce qui s’en est ensui maismement et qui a ce donnerent conseil confort et aide

to the said sir Jehan Paienel and to all others who in his company were at the conquest and occupation of the said castle and at all that ensued likewise and who at this gave advice, assistance, and help (1358,61)

Here ce refers to the conquest and occupation of the castle. The parallel between fronted de ce in (94) and a ce in (95) appears to be stringent. The same seems to hold for the second occurrence of a fronted PP topic within a subject relative clause in (96) where the fronted de ce

‘about this’ appears to fit the definition of a topic constituent as well as (94) does.

(96) Lequel suppliant dist audit Pinchart, son cousin, les choses dessusdictes, qui de ce fut desplaisant

This supplicant said to the said Pinchart, his cousin, the above-said things, who about this was distressed (1423,5)

Now, the three occurrences of fronted PP topics with full DPs as the complement of the preposition are looked at. All three do imply neither a relative nor a comparative clause context.¹⁶⁴ The fronted element is either given in the immediate discourse context as ledit fait ‘ the said act’ preceding dudit fait ‘of the said act’ in (97), or accessible as in (98) where dudit homme occis ‘the said killed man’ renders de la mort d’icellui ‘of the death of this one’

accessible to the reader.

(97) ledit Gautier […] confessast ledit fait en descoulpant ses dites suers et preist sur l’ame de li que dudit fait elles ne savoient riens

the said Gautier confessed the said act by exculpating his said sisters and assured on his soul that of the said act they did not know anything. (1358,101) (98) disans que ce ilz faisoient par ce que eulx ou l’un d'eulx estoient parens et affins dudit homme occis et que de la mort d'icellui ledit Guillaume estoit coulpable.

saying that this they made because they or one of them were a relative of the said killed man and that of the death of this one the said Guillaume was guilty (1424,56)

There are three fronted topic constituents that correspond to an infinitive. The first is given in (99).

(99) ledit capitaine […] li commenda que il li feist faire deux chevilles de fer […]

Lequel Colin […] afin d’issir a sauveté de la dite prison et du dit fort li [convenença] que il li feroit faire les dites deux chevilles et par ce s’en tourna et repaira a la dite ville de Legle ou il fu par l’espace de trois sepmaines ou plus senz ce que des dites chevilles faire faire s’entremist ne ne vousist entremettre en aucune manere

the said captain ordered to him that he had two iron dowels made for him […]

This Colin […] in order to leave safely the said prison and the said fort promised him that he would have him the said two dowels made and after that he returned and went to the said town of L’Aigle where he was for the time of three weeks or more without starting to have the said dowel made nor he did not want to start in any way.’(1359,190)

164 The occurrences can be found in the following LDR: 1357,4; 1358,101; 1424,56.

Here, the fronted item is the entire VP des dites chevilles faire faire ‘to have the said dowel made’. Its internal word order appears not to be habitual insofar as the object of the infinite is the leftmost element of the whole constituents with two infinitives to its right. This order – observed by other authors in Medieval French fronting constructions (Salvesen 2011, 2013;

Labelle and Hirschbühler in press) – is not discussed in the present section but in the syntactical analysis. Instead, a closer look at (99) as a whole shows that twice before, the whole sequence is found with a canonical internal order, namely feist faire deux chevilles de fer ‘had two iron dowels made’ and feroit faire les dites deux chevilles ‘would have the said two dowels made’.

Hence, the whole sequence is given and, from Krifka’s (2008) point of view, the fronted infinitive construction can only be analysed as constituting the head entry of the corresponding embedded clause and, so, taken to be the topic constituent.

The two fronted infinitives that correspond to a topic constituent are found in (100), namely a ce faire ‘at this to.do’ and consenter ‘consent’. It was chosen to give a complete picture of the context, hence the length of the sequence in (100).

(100) le dit Jouen vint a elle et la tempta derrechief comme elle se voulsist consentir a ce que il meist a mort le dit feu Colin son mari. A la quelle chose elle estans encores plaine de duel et de courous de ce que le dit feu son mari li faisoit souffrir et estans encores en la chaleur de ce se fust absentue a l’inducion du dit Jouen […] et en apres comme elle se fust advisee comme ce seroit mal fait de faire que son dit mari receust mort fust tres dolente et repentante de ce que elle s’estoit a ce consentue. Et pour ce, le plus tost que elle pout, parla audit Jouen secretement a part en lui monstrant comme ce seroit mal fait de mettre a mort le dit feu son mari. Et en le requerant que a ce faire ne voulsist penser en aucune maniere et que consentir ne le pourroit

The said Jouen came to her and tempted her again that she would want to consent to him killing the said deceased Colin her husband. At that thing she still being full of pain and anger about what the said deceased her husband made her suffer and still being in the heat about it, she consented to the instigation of the said Jouen […] and after that she had noticed that it would be a bad thing to do that her said husband should get killed, (she) was very distressed and repentant about the fact that she had consented to that. And because of that, as soon as she could, (she) spoke to the said Jouen secretly and

separately showing him that it would be a bad thing to kill the said defunct her husband. And in requesting him that to this (he) do NEG think of in any way and that consent (she) NEG him could(1359,231)

As can be seen in (100), the plan to kill the husband, which the first infinitive a ce faire refers to, and the woman’s consent to this plan, i.e. the second infinitive consentir, have both been addressed previously to the fronting of the two infinitives. Hence, both infinitives can be taken to be given. With Krifka (2008), one can analyse the fronted infinitives as bearing topic reading and as introducing the head entries to the modal predicates of the corresponding embedded clause, which themselves yield a contrast to the previous consent of the woman. One has to note likewise that the object pronoun le ‘him’ in the second fronting context is not the neutral variant here, hence, it is not a case of clitic left dislocation.¹⁶⁵

With respect to the fronted DP topic occurrences, the analysis of the two occurrences in relative clauses are postponed to the end of the present chapter. For the others, except in one case, the relative word order within the embedded clause is as follows: ‘fronted DP – subject pronoun – finite verb’. All clauses with fronted DP topics contain a subject pronoun. All fronted DP topics are full DPs except one demonstrative pronoun, and none of them is doubled by a pronominal within the clause. Regarding the nature of the embedded clause, all but one occurrence take place in complement clauses of the verb dire ‘say’ (101) or of performative verbs of command as in (102) below.¹⁶⁶

(101) Auquel frere il demanda se il avoit point eu ses cuirasses ; qui lui respondi que non. Et lors dist audit Jehannin qu'il dist a Jehan le Touaillier, son pere, que sesdictes cuirasses, qui estoient a Gournay, il voulsist fere porter audit lieu de Ferieres, en l'ostel dudit Jehannin.

To this brother he asked whether he had not had his cuirasses; who answered to him that no. And then (he) said to the said Jehannin that he said to Jehan le Touaillier, his father, that his said cuirasses, which belonged to Gournay, he

165 Compare the entry in the Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, consentir (à) qn,

http://atilf.atilf.fr/scripts/dmfX.exe?LEM=consentir;XMODE=STELLa;FERMER;;AFFICHAGE=0;MENU=

menu_dmf;;ISIS=isis_dmf2012.txt;OUVRIR_MENU=2;OO1=-1;s=s0c280b08;LANGUE=FR;, 8th February 2016, 14:45.

166 The occurrences where found in the LDR: 1357,22; 1358,101; 1359,250; 1424,56; 1428,183; 1432,218;

1432,220.

should make (them) bring them to the said place of Ferieres, at the mansion of the said Jehannin. (1432,218)

In (101) the fronted topic constituent corresponds to sesdictes cuirasses ‘his said cuirasses’.

Sesdictes cuirasses is activated in the previous discourse by the preceding conversation. Within the complement clause, the fronted sesdictes cuirasses can thus be analysed as topic constituent in the sense of Krifka (2008).

In (102) the fronted topic constituent corresponds to icele jeune femme ‘this young woman’.

(102) une jeune femme se feust venue plaindre audit capitaine que un de ses gens, nommé Jehannequin Regnault, anglois, vouloit emmener icele jeune femme par force, requerant a icelui capitaine que il lui voulsist mettre remede. Par quoy icelui capitaine eust commandé audit Bourreley et a aucuns autres ses serviteurs que ilz alassent par devers ledit Jehannequin Regnault et qu'ilz le contraignissent de laissier ladicte femme. Pour quoy ledit Bourreley lui eust fait commandement de par sondit maistre que icele jeune femme il laissast aler sans lui fere mal ne oppression

A young woman had come to complain to the said captain that one of his people called Jehannequin Regnault, English, wanted to take this young woman away by force, requesting of this captain that he should give her remedy. Whereupon this captain had commanded the said Bourreley and some others of his servants to go to the said Jehannequin Regnault and to force him to let go the said woman. Therefore the said Bourreley him had commanded by proxy of his said master that this young woman he should let go without doing her harm nor oppression (1428,183)

The reasoning for the topic-hood of icele jeune femme is similar to the one for (101) above. The constituent is activated in the previous discourse and, thus, semantically given to the reader of the LDR, even the content of the whole order given in the corresponding complement clause by the preceding subordinate clause qu'ilz le contraignissent de laissier ladicte femme. Hence, the function of icele jeune femme corresponds to Krifka’s (2008) conception of topics as head entries.

Consider (103) as another example of a fronted DP topic constituent. It is the only occurrence found in a comparative clause.

(103) le dit Guillaume qui lors estoit fermier et amoisonneur des dismes appartenans a l’abbé et couvent de Saincte Katerine lez Rouez en la parroisse d’Ausonville fust alé en certains champs de la dicte parroisse pour veoir et visiter les dites dismes et pour savoir comment l’en poieroit icelles dismes en la dite ville et parroisse et entres les autres il eust sceu et apparçeu que un homme appellé Pierre Herent avoit mains souffiseument paié les dismes de ses blés et avoit moult deffraudé la dite disme et pour ce se feust traiz par devers le dit Pierre pour l’aviser de ce et pour recouvrer le seurplus qui se failloit de la dite disme.

Si li dist teles paroles ou semblables « apaine seroit loyaulx homs envers personne mondeine quant envers Dieu fais telle disloyauté que les dismes qui sont a Dieu et par lui ordenez et qui sont une obligation qui lui est deue tu paies si mauvaisement »

the said Guillaume who then was afarmer and tenant of the tithes belonging to the abbot and the convent of Saincte Katerine lez Rouez in the parish of Ausonville had gone to some fields of the said parish to see and examine the said tithes and to know how one would pay these tithes in the said town and parish and among other things he had known and noticed that a man called Pierre Herent had less sufficiently paid the tithes of his wheat and had very much defrauded the said tithe and because of that (he) had gone to the said Pierre to inform him of it and to recover the surplus which was lacking of the said tithe. So (he) said to him such word or similar (ones): “(you) hardly would be a loyal man towards a mundane person when towards God you make such a disloyalty that the tithes which belong to God and are ordered by him and which are an obligation which him is owed you pay so badly.” (1359,250) (103) is special in various respects. First, the fronted DP les dismes qui sont a Dieu et par lui ordenez et qui sont une obligation qui lui est deue ‘the tithes which belong to God and are ordered by him and which are an obligation which him is owed’ is the largest fronted constituent in number that were found in this data and, as all the other instances of DP topic constituents, it lacks a doubling by a coreferential pronoun. Second, it is the only occurrence of fronting in direct speech and the only one implying a subject corresponding to a second person singular

pronoun. Finally, it is the only occurrence of topic constituent found in a comparative clause.

Within this whole context, the topic-hood of les dimes is generated in parallel to the other topic constituents that have been discussed before. Les dimes are not only activated several times in the discourse preceding the direct speech part but are also accessible within this very part. On the one hand, the speaker is the tenant of the tithes of the region and, on the other hand, the payment of the tithes was justified by reference to the Bible (Puza 2003) and, hence, is semantically linked to Dieu ‘God’. As a result, les dimes can be analysed as topic constituent in the sense of Krifka (2008).

Finally, the two fronted DP topics in a relative context are addressed. Both derive from LDR 1359,190, where one of the fronted infinitive constructions was found, too. In both cases the fronted DP corresponds to les dites chevilles ‘the said dowels’, which were also part of the fronted infinitive construction discussed in (99). Consider (104) and (105) for the present examples.

(104) le dit capitaine qui les dites chevilles n’avoit pas oubliees re[menda] au dit Colin que tantost et sanz delay il li envoiast les dites chevilles

The said captain who the said dowels NEG had not forgotten ordered the said Colin to send him immediately and without any delay the said dowels (1359,190)

(105) Et si tost comme la premiere fu faite les gens d’armes et autres estanz ou fort de la dite ville firent mettre le fevre qui la dite cheville avoit faite en prison fermee.

And as soon as the first was made, the men-at-arms and others being at the fort of the said town put the forger who the said dowel has made to locked prison (1359,190)

As illustrated by the use of the preceding dite(s) ‘said’, the fronted elements are given in both cases and remain active in the discourse. Consequently, both DPs correspond to Krifka’s (2008) conception of topics and, thus, should be analysed as topic constituents. Note that within relative clauses these are the only frontings bearing a topic reading. Since LDR 1359,190 is the only letter written by the scribe in question, one could debate whether the availability of topic constituents in relative clauses is restricted to this scribe.

To sum up, there are occurrences with fronted items bearing a topic reading. Only one-fifth of the occurrences are found in relative or comparative clauses, i.e. 80% of the occurrences are found in other subordinate contexts.