Cover not available
Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 6:4 (2016) ► pp.467–503
Article

Aspects of interrogative use in near-native French

Form, function, and register

| University of California, Santa Cruz
This paper reports on interrogative (question) use in the informal spontaneous speech of near-native second-language French speakers. Interrogatives present considerable variation in French, and choices of interrogative form depend on semantics, communicative function, and register. Using a corpus of spontaneous conversations between near-native (NNSs) and native speakers (NSs), the inventory of interrogatives used is described; A detailed examination is then given of the question marker est-ce que (“is it that”), a candidate for overuse in L2 French (Zwanziger 2008, p. 91). The results, from 825 occurrences of interrogative structures, reveal that the NNSs possess extremely similar inventories of interrogative forms to their NS interlocutors and that their interrogative choices are both communicatively and socio-stylistically appropriate. What appears quantitatively as overuse of est-ce que by two NNSs is, from a communicative point of view, entirely felicitous: Like NSs, the NNSs reserve est-ce que for several marked interrogative contexts. The results suggest that the NNSs successfully integrate syntactic, semantic, communicative, and sociolinguistic information in spontaneous conversation.
Keywords: French, interrogatives, variation, syntax, discourse, interface
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Interrogatives in French
    • 2.1Total interrogatives
    • 2.2Partial interrogatives
    • 2.3Frequencies
    • 2.4Register variation
    • 2.5Functional and formal constraints
    • 2.6 Est-ce que
  • 3.Second language acquisition
    • 3.1Sociolinguistic competence
    • 3.2Near-nativeness
    • 3.3French interrogatives
    • 3.4Summary
  • 4.Study
    • 4.1Objectives and research questions
    • 4.2Participants
    • 4.3Conversational data
  • 5.Results and discussion
    • 5.1Overall results
    • 5.2Total interrogatives
    • 5.3Partial interrogatives
    • 5.4Local syntactic priming
    • 5.5 Est-ce que
    • 5.6General discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 March 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.14024.don
References (62)
References
Abrahamsson, N., & Hyltenstam, K. (2008). The robustness of aptitude effects in near-native second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 301, 481–509. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Andringa, S. (2014). The use of native speaker norms in Critical Period Hypothesis research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 361, 565–596. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, N. R. (2001). Social and stylistic variation in spoken French: A comparative approach. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ashby, W. J. (1977). Interrogative forms in Parisian French. Semasia, 41, 35–52.Google Scholar
Bayley, R. & Regan, V. (2004). Introduction: The acquisition of sociolinguistic competence. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 81, 323–338. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Belletti, A., Bennati, E., & Sorace, A. (2007). Theoretical and developmental issues in the syntax of subjects: Evidence from near-native Italian. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 251, 657–689. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Birdsong, D. (1992). Ultimate attainment in second language acquisition. Language, 681, 706–755. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009). Age and the end state of second language acquisition. In W. C. Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia (Eds.), The new handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 401–424). Bingley, UK: Emerald.Google Scholar
(2014). The Critical Period Hypothesis for second language acquisition: Tailoring the coat of many colors. In M. Pawlak & L. Aronin (Eds.), Essential topics in applied linguistics and multilingualism (pp. 43–50). Dordrecht: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Birdsong, D., & Molis, M. (2001). On the evidence for maturational constraints in second-language acquisition. Journal of Memory and Language, 441, 235–249. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bley-Vroman, R. (1989). What is the logical problem of foreign language learning? In S. M. Gass & J. Schachter (Eds.), Linguistic perspectives on second language acquisition (pp. 41–68). New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Canale, M. & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 11, 1–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coveney, A. (1997). L’approche variationniste et la description de la grammaire du français: Le cas des interrogatives. Langue française, 1151, 88–100. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2002). Variability in spoken French: A sociolinguistic study of interrogation and negation. Bristol, UK: Elm Bank.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. M. (2000). The robustness of Critical Period effects in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 221, 499–533. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dekydtspotter, L., & Miller, A. K. (2013). Inhibitive and facilitative priming induced by traces in the processing of wh-dependencies in a second language. Second Language Research, 291, 345–372. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dewaele, J.-M. (2000). Structures interrogatives dans le discours français oral d’apprenants et de locuteurs natifs. In A. Englebert, M. Pierrard, L. Rosier, & D. Van Raemdonck (Eds.), Actes du XXIIe Congrès International de Linguistique et de Philologie Romanes (vol. IX1, pp. 69–76). Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar
(2004). Retention or omission of ne in advanced French interlanguage: The variable effect of extralinguistic factors. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 81, 433–450. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dewaele, J.-M. & Regan, V. (2002). Maîtriser la norme sociolinguistique en interlangue française: Le cas de l’omission variable de ‘ne’. Journal of French Language Studies, 121, 123–148. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Di Vito, N. O’Connor. (1997). Patterns across spoken and written French: Empirical research on the interaction among forms, functions, and genres. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Donaldson, B. (2011a). Left dislocation in near-native French. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 331, 399–432. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011b). Nativelike right dislocation in near-native French. Second Language Research, 271, 361–390. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012). Syntax and discourse in near-native French: Clefts and focus. Language Learning, 621, 902–930. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Doughty, C. J. (2013). Optimizing post-critical-period language learning. In G. Granena & M. Long (Eds.), Sensitive periods, language aptitude, and ultimate L2 attainment (pp. 153–176). Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Edmonds, A. (2010). Qu’est-ce qui s’est passé? Des questions stéréotypées chez les apprenants du français. Revue textes & contextes, 51, [online journal].Google Scholar
Etienne, C., & Sax, K. (2009). Stylistic variation in French: Bridging the gap between research and textbooks. Modern Language Journal, 931, 584–606.Google Scholar
Felser, C., & Roberts, L. (2007). Processing wh-dependencies in a second language: A cross-modal priming study. Second Language Research, 231, 9–36.Google Scholar
Forsberg Lundell, F., Bartning, I., Engel, H., Gudmundson, A., Hancock, V., & Lindqvist, C. (2014). Beyond advanced stages in high-level spoken L2 French. Journal of French Language Studies, 241, 255–280. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gadet, F. (1997). Le français ordinaire. Paris: Armand Colin.Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. & Long, A. Y. (2014). Sociolinguistics and second language acquisition: Learning to use language in context. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Granena, G. & Long, M. (2013). Introduction and overview. In G. Granena & M. Long (Eds.), Sensitive periods, language aptitude, and ultimate L2 attainment (pp. ix–xvi). Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grevisse, M. & Goosse, A. (2008). Le bon usage (14th ed). Brussels: De Boeck.Google Scholar
Hopp, H. (2009). The syntax-discourse interface in near-native L2 acquisition: Off-line and on-line performance. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 121, 463–483.Google Scholar
Jefferson, G. (1984). Transcript notation. InJ. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social interaction (pp. ix–xvi). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. S. & Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical Period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 211, 60–99.Google Scholar
Katz, S. L. & Blyth, C. S. (2007). Teaching French grammar in context. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Lambrecht, K. (1981). Topic, antitopic, and verb agreement in non-standard French. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Long, M. (2013). Maturational constraints on child and adult SLA. In G. Granena & M. Long (Eds.), Sensitive periods, language aptitude, and ultimate L2 attainment (pp. 3–42). Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marinova-Todd, S. H. (2003). Comprehensive analysis of ultimate attainment in adult second language acquisition. Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Mougeon, R., Rehner, K., & Nadasdi, T. (2004). The learning of spoken French variation by immersion students from Toronto, Canada. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 81, 408–432. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mougeon, R., Nadasdi, T., & Rehner, K. (2010). The sociolinguistic competence of immersion students. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Myers, L. L. & Pellet, S. (2014). Pourquoi in spoken French: Corpus-based function-form mapping. In S. Katz Bourns & L. L. Myers (Eds.), Perspectives on linguistic structure and context (pp. 157–182). Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Myers, L. L. (2007). Wh-interrogatives in spoken French: A corpus-based analysis of their form and function. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Pohl, J. (1965). Observations sur les formes d’interrogation dans la langue parlée et dans la langue écrite non-littéraire. In Xe Congrès International de Linguistique et Philologie Romanes (vol. 21, pp. 501–513). Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Price, G. (1971). The French language: Present and past. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Quillard, V. (2001). La diversité des formes interrogatives: Comment l’interpréter? Langage et Société, 951, 57–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Regan, V. (1996). Variation in French interlanguage: A longitudinal study of sociolinguistic competence. InR. Bayley & D. R. Preston (Eds.), Second language acquisition and linguistic variation (pp. 177–201). Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rehner, K. (2002). The developent of aspects of linguistic and discourse competence by advanced second language learners of French. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Toronto, Canada.Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (2009). Pragmatic deficits with syntactic consequences? L2 pronominal subjects and the syntax-pragmatics interface. Journal of Pragmatics, 411, 951–973. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rowlett, P. (2007). The syntax of French. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sax, K. J. (2003). Acquisition of stylistic variation in American learners of French. Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R., Kempchinsky, P., & Rothman, J. (2012). Clitic-doubled left dislocation and focus fronting in L2 Spanish: A case of successful acquisition at the syntax-discourse interface. Second Language Research, 281, 319–343. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Söll, L. (1983). L’interrogation directe dans un corpus de langage enfantin. In F.-J. Hausmann (Ed.), Études de grammaire française descriptive (pp. 45–54). Heidelberg: Julius Groos Verlag.Google Scholar
Sorace, A. (2011). Pinning down the concept of “interface” in bilingualism. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 11, 1–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012). Pinning down the concept of interface in bilingual development: A reply to peer commentaries. Linguistic Approaches to Billingualism, 21, 209–216. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorace, A. & Filiaci, F. (2006). Anaphora resolution in near-native speakers of Italian. Second Language Research, 221, 339–368. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Valdman, A. (1988). Classroom foreign language learning and language variation: The notion of pedagogical norms. World Englishes, 71, 221–236. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2000). Comment gérer la variation dans l’enseignement du français langue étrangère aux Etats-Unis. The French Review, 731, 648–666.Google Scholar
van Compernolle, R. (2015). Native and non-native perceptions of appropriateness in the French second-person pronoun system. Journal of French Language Studies, 251, 45–64. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van Compernolle, R. & Williams, L. (2009). Learner versus nonlearner patterns of stylistic variation in synchronous computer-mediated French: Yes/No questions and nous versus on . Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 311, 471–500.Google Scholar
White, L., & Genesee, F. (1996). How native is near-native? The issue of age and ultimate attainment in the acquisition of a second language. Second Language Research, 121, 233–265. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zwanziger, E. (2008). Variability in L1 and L2 French wh-interrogatives: The roles of communicative function, wh-word, and metalinguistic awareness. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Boston University.Google Scholar
Cited by (8)

Cited by eight other publications

Rehner, Katherine & Ivan Lasan
2023. Developing Second Language Learners’ Sociolinguistic Competence: How Teachers’ CEFR-Related Professional Learning Aligns with Learner-Identified Needs. Education Sciences 13:3 ► pp. 282 ff. DOI logo
De Paolis, Bianca Maria, Cecilia Andorno, F. Neveu, S. Prévost, A. Steuckardt, G. Bergounioux & B. Hamma
2022. Constructions clivées en Français L1 et L2 (Italien L1). Premiers résultats d’une étude expérimentale. SHS Web of Conferences 138 ► pp. 09001 ff. DOI logo
Destruel, Emilie & Bryan Donaldson
2021. The L2 Acquisition of French Interrogatives: Pragmatic Inferences in Clefted wh-Questions. Languages 6:4 ► pp. 165 ff. DOI logo
Geeslin, Kimberly L.
2018. Variable Structures and Sociolinguistic Variation. In The Handbook of Advanced Proficiency in Second Language Acquisition, ► pp. 547 ff. DOI logo
Gudmestad, Aarnes, Amanda Edmonds, Bryan Donaldson & Katie Carmichael
2018. On the role of the present indicative in variable future-time reference in Hexagonal French. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique 63:1 ► pp. 42 ff. DOI logo
Destruel, Emilie
2017. The pragmatics of French (non-)prototypical clefts: Influence of the type of question on naturalness and interpretation. Journal of Pragmatics 121 ► pp. 58 ff. DOI logo
Donaldson, Bryan
2017. Negation in Near‐Native French: Variation and Sociolinguistic Competence. Language Learning 67:1 ► pp. 141 ff. DOI logo
EDMONDS, AMANDA, AARNES GUDMESTAD & BRYAN DONALDSON
2017. A concept-oriented analysis of future-time reference in native and near-native Hexagonal French. Journal of French Language Studies 27:3 ► pp. 381 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.