Absolute participial constructions and predication connection : beyond the syndetic linking

The absolute clause, or construction, historically related with the Latin “ablativus
absolutus”, forms a predicative relation between two terms without explicitly marking their mutual relation or their relation with the rest of the enunciation (cf. Riegel et al. 2009 : 356). In French, it has been examined by several linguists, especially Suzanne Hanon (1989) who has dedicated a whole monography to the subject. The second term of the construction can be an adjective (Il se promenait, la tête basse “He walked his head low”), a prepositional phrase (Il se promenait les mains dans les poches « He walked his hands in his pockets ») or a predicative participle (Son amie rentrant demain, il a nettoyé l'appartement “His friend coming tomorrow he cleaned the flat”). This last type will be examined in this paper. The definitory features of absolute participial constructions reveal paradoxical characteristics: on one hand they are in a dependency /subordinate relation with the governing predication and although they form a predication (a “clause”) they always lack verbal flexion marking person, time, mood or aspect. On the other hand, there is no syndetic mark indicating the relation between absolute participial constructions and the main clause. Since no adverbial, prepositional or conjunctional connective is needed, they seem to function autonomously. The objective of our paper is to specify the ways of using and defining absolute participial constructions.