la place de l’adjectif : des théories aux corpus

In this article some classical theories concerning adjective position in modern French are compared with the data that online corpora can reveal. Indeed, having few examples or closed noncomputerized corpora at their disposal, researchers of the “noncomputerized” era sought, with some success, to establish general and generalizable values to explain adjective position in modern French. It turns out, however, that a number of these generalizations are contradicted by the findings revealed by the corpora. We will briefly highlight them and then indicate to what extent corpus-based study, especially that availing of almost unlimited online corpora, can lead to a better understanding of this phenomenon. A new way of analyzing adjective position, based on statistics rather than mere raw frequency, seems today quite feasible thanks to online corpora and referentials.