CONTEXT-DEPENDENT VERBAL ADJECTIVES IN FRENCH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

The paper examines discursive and syntactic features of context-dependent French verbal adjectives ending in -ant, like dependant or suivant, in scientific (medical) discourse. The prototype of verbal adjectives in -ant has no tense or aspect, thus converting the content of its verb root (depend-, suiv-) into a feature "(able of) V-ing" - objective or subjective. On the other hand, context-dependent verbal adjectives in French do not express objective or subjective features of entities, their discursive function being to establish the referential connection between the entity (acting as a figure) described by the adjective's head noun, and its referential landmark (or ground) corresponding to a local or global topos, and retrievable in the context or in adjective complements.