Using sociostylistic variants in advanced French interlanguage

The case of nous/on

Jean-Marc Dewaele | Birkbeck College, University of London

This study investigates the use of pronouns nous and a subgroup of on in a corpus of advanced oral and written French interlanguage produced by 32 Dutch L1 speakers. The subject nous + first person plural verb is characteristic of formal styles while on + third person singular verb is typical of informal styles. A quantitative analysis of the oral corpus revealed that the amount of authentic interaction, but not the amount of formal instruction, in the target language is significantly related to the choice of on. Its use correlated with morpholexical accuracy rates, fluency, omission of ne in negations and use of colloquial vocabulary. A similar analysis of the written corpus revealed equal proportions of on, which suggests that as a group, the learners had not yet completely acquired the constraints on this variable.

Published online: 08 August 2002
https://doi.org/10.1075/eurosla.2.13dew

Cited by

Cited by 14 other publications

Dewaele, Jean-Marc & Nathalie Wourm

2002. L'acquisition de la compétence sociopragmatique en langue étrangère. Revue française de linguistique appliquée Vol. VII:2 ► pp. 139 ff.

ETIENNE, CORINNE & KELLY SAX

2009. Stylistic Variation in French: Bridging the Gap Between Research and Textbooks. The Modern Language Journal 93:4 ► pp. 584 ff.

Gautier, Rozenn & Jean-Pierre Chevrot

2021. In Sociolinguistic Variation and Language Acquisition across the Lifespan [Studies in Language Variation, 26], ► pp. 228 ff.

Geeslin, Kimberly L., Aarnes Gudmestad, Matthew Kanwit, Bret Linford, Avizia Long, Lauren B. Schmidt & Megan Solon

2018. In Speaking in a Second Language [AILA Applied Linguistics Series, 17], ► pp. 1 ff.

Howard, Martin

2006. Variation in Advanced French Interlanguage: A Comparison of Three (Socio)linguistic Variables. The Canadian Modern Language Review 62:3 ► pp. 379 ff.

HOWARD, MARTIN

2012. The Advanced Learner's Sociolinguistic Profile: On Issues of Individual Differences, Second Language Exposure Conditions, and Type of Sociolinguistic Variable. The Modern Language Journal 96:1 ► pp. 20 ff.

Isabelli-García, Christina L. & Casilde A. Isabelli

2020. In Researching Second Language Acquisition in the Study Abroad Learning Environment, ► pp. 23 ff.

Mougeon, Françoise & Katherine Rehner

2009. From Grade School to University: The Variable Use of on/nous by University FSL Students. The Canadian Modern Language Review 66:2 ► pp. 269 ff.

REHNER, KATHERINE

2010. The use/non-use of ne in the spoken French of university-level learners of French as a second language in the Canadian context. Journal of French Language Studies 20:3 ► pp. 289 ff.

Rehner, Katherine

2011. The sociolinguistic competence of former immersion students at the post-secondary level: the case of lexical variation. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 14:3 ► pp. 243 ff.

Thomas, Alain

2015. Nous/on : De la réalité linguistique à la salle de classe. Arborescences :5 ► pp. 126 ff.

Ureel, Jim J. J., Ella Diels, Isabelle S. Robert & Iris Schrijver

2022. The development of L2 sociolinguistic competence in translation trainees: an accommodation-based longitudinal study into the acquisition of sensitivity to grammatical (in)formality in English. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 16:1 ► pp. 78 ff.

van Compernolle, Rémi A. & Lawrence Williams

2009. LEARNER VERSUS NONLEARNER PATTERNS OF STYLISTIC VARIATION IN SYNCHRONOUS COMPUTER-MEDIATED FRENCH. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 31:3 ► pp. 471 ff.

VAN COMPERNOLLE, RÉMI A. & LAWRENCE WILLIAMS

2012. Reconceptualizing Sociolinguistic Competence as Mediated Action: Identity, Meaning-Making, Agency. The Modern Language Journal 96:2 ► pp. 234 ff.

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