An Algebraic Approach to French Sentence Structure

We propose to investigate the structure of French sentences with the help of a minimal algebraic technique based on the assignment of types to words. Mathematically speaking, the types are elements of the free "pregroup" (a generalization of a partially ordered group) generated by a partially ordered set of basic types. In particular, this partial order is carefully adjusted to account for the order of preverbal clitic pronouns in a sentence.