Specificity Markers and Nominal Exclamatives in French

This paper is dedicated to the French specificity marker précis, one of the possible translations of the English specificity marker particular. Firstly, it is shown that un N précis (i) does not tolerate singleton domains, (ii) presents as non accidental the fact that it is the referent, and (presumably) not the alternative elements of the domain, which satisfies the verbal predicate and (iii) tends to be focused and to background the rest of the sentence. On these three points, précis differs from the other specificity marker certain. Secondly, it is suggested that the different uses of un certain N differentiated by Houghton (2000) are different ways to justify the fact the speaker indicates that a second description of the referent exists without giving it (Jayez and Tovena, 2002). Thirdly, it is shown that neither un certain N nor un N précis are acceptable in certain kinds of nominal exclamative sentences (cf. ??Oh! un certain paquet! ‘Oh! A certain package!’, ??Oh! un paquet prcis! ‘Oh! A particular package!). It is claimed that the unacceptability of un certain N in these exclamative nominal sentences comes from the impossibility to use this NP as a predicate nominal, while the one generated by un N précis in enss is the result of a clash between two incompatible information structures.