Les adjectifs ethniques sont-ils des adjectifs de relation?
Are Ethnical Adjectives Pseudo-Adjectives?

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with denominal adjectives, usually called «pseudo-adjectives» or «non predicating adjectives». The author wonders whether ethnical adjectives are part of them. In this article, the analyses are limited to ethnical adjectives used in copulative sentences like "L'Alsace est française" or "Ce mot est alsacien". The author distinguishes two uses of ethnical adjectives. Firstly, ethnical adjectives are not pseudo-adjectives when they are used like an ordinary adjective (cf. "L'Alsace est très française" and "L'Alsace est belle"). According to predicate calculus, the two adjectives "française" and "belle" function here as a predicate. In this case, the ethnical adjective "française" does not refer to France but means 'like France'. Its semantic analysis shows then that it is different from its derivation stem "France". Secondly, ethnical adjectives are pseudo-adjectives when they function as an argument. In such a case, they refer to objects like in sentences as "L'Alsace est française". This ethnical adjective is ambiguous: which derivation stem has it? "France" (territory), "Français" (people) or "français" (language)? However, in each of these three cases, it does not predicate, but functions as an argument by referring to an object. In this sentence, the predicate is a relational implicit sense. This predicate can have several contextual readings, such as "is part of", "belongs to", "is dominated by" or "is occupied by".

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