Functional transformations in the dispersive field of the ‘intransitivity-transitivity’ continuum in the use of verbs in spoken French

The subject of the present study is the functional transformation in the object-argument orientation of certain verbs in spoken French. The process under consideration leads to three types of changes: (1) a change in the type of the object argument within transitivity, (2) the adoption of an object argument by intransitive verbs, and (3) the loss of an object argument by transitive verbs. The article analyzes the reasons for these processes.