232 Bożena Cetnarowska
of the functor and the dependent next to one another. It is of primary importance in
English and French (i.e. the two languages discussed at length in Bouchard 2002). The
syntactic ordering of the head and its dependent is determined by the Central Linear-
ization Parameter (referred to also as the Head-Complement Parameter):
(22) Central Linearization Parameter (Bouchard 2002: 60)
The functor precedes/follows its dependent.
Both in French and in English the Central Linearization Parameter is set in such a way
that the functor precedes the dependent, i.e. “the head precedes the element which
saturates or modifies it” (Bouchard 2009: 266).
(23) The Linearization Parameter in English and French
The head precedes its dependent.
Although French and English are head-initial languages, they differ in the placement
of adjectival modifiers with respect to the head noun. In English nearly all adjectives
obligatorily precede their head noun, contrary to the prediction of the Central Linear-
ization Parameter (CLP). This regularity holds both for intersective, intensional and
subsective adjectives. The only adjectives which occur in the post-head position in
English are those which require the stage-level interpretation, as in (24d).
(24) a. red cars (intersective adjective)
b. alleged miracle (intensional adjective)
c. good surgeon (subsective adjective)
d. the people present (stage-level adjective)
The distribution of attributive adjectives in a French noun phrase is a more complex
matter than in English. French intersective adjectives (which modify the whole of N)
follow their heads, e.g. vieux ‘old’ or rouge ‘red’ in (25a) and (25b). Intensional and
subsective adjectives appear pre-nominally, as in (25c) and (25d), and they modify a
subpart of N:
(25) a. vase cher
vase expensive
‘expensive vase’
b. un ami vieux
a friend old
‘an old (aged) friend’
c. un vieux ami
a/an old friend
‘an old (long-standing) friend’
d. supposé miracle
alleged miracle
‘alleged miracle’