Verbless sentences

Outline

The aim of this lecture is to examine verbless sentences within discourse and how they function within it. In a verb-centred language such as French, they constitute marginal utterances, appearing in discourse genres that are themselves marginal — such as brief discourse genres (road signs, captions, titles, maps, drafts) — or by adopting specific discursive positions within the flow of the text (discourse-introducing, conclusive, or, conversely, rhematic utterances).

The first section will present our model of sentence structure as well as our typology of verbless sentences in discourse. These sentences are organised around a predicative unit characterised by a mode of utterance (assertion, interrogation, injunction and, in a restricted sense, exclamation). We shall highlight the fundamental patterns of this type of sentence by examining them in relation to the discursive genres in which they occur.

The following sections will provide an overview of these phrases by categorising the types of discourse in which they appear.

Two-term verbless sentences with a recurring attributive function, such as ‘Great, this trip!’ / ‘Excellent, this dessert!’, are found in spoken forms (spontaneous speech, simulated speech). This dislocation highlights two groups of words – ‘Great’ and ‘this trip’ – which constitute units of discourse linked by a mode of utterance. Other types of sentences bring together two-term utterances without any dislocation occurring, such as ‘Stationnement / interdit” (Parking / forbidden)/ Le député /en déplacement electoral (The MP /on the campaign trail), which appear on signs or in newspaper headlines

Single-term verbless sentences comprise statements that may refer to a referent (Pleased to meet you!) or be discursive (Unbelievable! He didn’t turn up), with various semantic values (particularly attributive ones). We shall see that, under certain conditions, these phrases help to organise discourse, particularly in the press.

There are also one- or two-word verbless sentences, which convey an existential meaning (Un tas de bois  (A pile of wood) / Sous le balcon, un tas de bois (Under the balcony, a pile of wood)), found in descriptions as well as in stage directions (To the left, a table). They help to define the setting.

Verbless sentences can also describe events when they focus on nominalisations, such as Lecture du dernier roman (‘Reading the latest novel’). They occur in writing for one’s own purposes, such as diaries or all manner of drafts, but also in the form of outlines or stage directions.