L’adjectif appréciatif nice : observations sur la nature variable de la prédication

Abstract

This article is an analysis of the various uses of the qualifying adjective nice : as an attributive adjective standing alone in front of the head noun, or completed by a PP : [with NP] or [of NP] ; as a predicative adjective, and it is then compared with the predicative NP [a nice N]. It is here argued that the predicative APs [nice] and [nice [with NP]] are both stage level predicates (SLP), while the predicative AP [nice [of NP]] and the predicative NP [a nice N] are individual level predicates (ILP). Paradoxically, the latter ILP predicate − i.e. [a nice N] as subject complement− is then shown to be sometimes compatible with an NP-subject whose head noun is postmodified by an eventive relative clause. It is also claimed that the construction « NP is [a nice N] » can have three different readings : an intersective one in which nice qualifies the NP-subject ; more often a subsective reading in which nice qualifies the head noun of the predicative NP ; or a double reading, when the subsective reading does not exclude an additional intersective one.

Keywords

• evaluative/descriptive adjectives
• attributive/predicative adjectives
• individual level/stage level predication
• intersective/subsective reading.