Cover not available
Article published In:
The Morphological Expression of Temporality on the Verb in French as a Second Language / L’expression morphologique de la temporalité sur le verbe en français langue seconde
Edited by Pascale Leclercq and Martin Howard
[Language, Interaction and Acquisition 6:1] 2015
► pp. 42–73

Subjunctive use and development in L2 French

A longitudinal study

| University of York
| University of Southampton
We investigated the use and development of the Subjunctive in L2 French. Participants were 29 students of French at a UK university, who additionally spent nine months in France, and ten native speakers of French. Data were collected from two production tasks (oral and written) and a grammaticality judgement task. The results show that all participants made some use of the Subjunctive before leaving for France, with only limited development in its use during their stay. It is more frequently used in writing than in speech, consistent with French corpus-based research (O’Connor DiVito 1997). The judgement findings reveal significant differences between different Subjunctive triggers, with learners consistently better able to recognise affirmative triggers over conjunctions and negatives. Overall, it appears that affirmative Subjunctive triggers represent a key source of development, with most change evident for lower proficiency learners.
Keywords: Subjunctive, speech, mood, study abroad, writing
Published online: 28 August 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.6.1.02mcm
References (49)
Abouda, L. (2002). Négation, interrogation et alternance indicatif-subjonctif. Journal of French Language Studies 121, 1–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, N. & Smith, A. (2002). The influence of linguistic and social factors on the recent decline of French. Journal of French Language Studies 121, 23–41. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bartning, I. (2005). Je ne pense pas que ce soit vrai - le subjonctif un trait tardif dans l’acquisition du français. In M. Metzeltin (ed.), Hommage à Jane Nystedt (31–49). Wien: Drei Eidechsen.Google Scholar
. (2009). The advanced learner variety: Ten years later. In E. Labeau & F. Myles (eds.), The advanced learner variety: The case of French (11–40). Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
. (2014). Late morphosyntactic features in very advanced L2 French - a view towards the endstate. Unpublished manuscript, University of Stockholm.Google Scholar
Bartning, I. & Schlyter, S. (2004). Itinéraires acquisitionnels et stades de développement en français L2. French Language Studies 141, 281–299. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., Conrad, S. & Reppen, R. (1998). Corpus linguistics: Investigating language structure and use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., Davis, M., Jones, J.K. & Tracy-Ventrua, N. (2006). Spoken and written register variation in Spanish: A multi-dimensional analysis. Corpora 11, 1–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Butt, J. & Benjamin, C. (2000). A new reference grammar of modern Spanish. London: Arnold.Google Scholar
Carton, F. (1973). Usage des variétés de français dans la région de Lille. Ethnologie française 31, 235–244.Google Scholar
Chambers, A. (2013). Learning and teaching the subjunctive in French: The contribution of corpus data. Bulletin suisse de linguistique appliquée 971, 41–58.Google Scholar
Coates, J. (1980). The semantics of the modal auxiliaries. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Collentine, J. (2010). The acquisition and teaching of the Spanish subjunctive: an update on current findings. Hispania 931, 39–51.Google Scholar
. (2014). Subjunctive in second language Spanish. In K.L. Geeslin (ed.), The handbook of Spanish second language acquisition (270–288). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar
Coveney, A. (2002). Variability in spoken French: A sociolinguistic study of interrogation and negation. Bristol: Intellect Books.Google Scholar
Dewaele, J.M. (2004). Retention or omission of the ‘ne’ in advanced French IL: The variable effect of extralinguistic factors. Journal of Sociolinguistics 81, 433–450. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N. & Collins, L. (2009). Input and second language acquisition: The roles of frequency, form, and function. Modern Language Journal 931, 329–335. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R. (1997). Second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Frontier, A. (1997). La grammaire du français. Paris: Editions Belin.Google Scholar
Gudmestad, A. (2012). Acquiring a variable structure: an interlanguage analysis of second-language mood use in Spanish. Language Learning 621, 373–402. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. (2014). Variationist approaches to second language Spanish. In K.L. Geeslin (ed.), The handbook of Spanish second language acquisition (80–95). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hawkins, R. & Towell, R. (2001). French grammar and usage (2nd ed.). London: Arnold.Google Scholar
Howard, M. (2008). Morpho-syntactic development in the expression of modality: The subjunctive in French L2 acquisition. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics 111, 171–192.Google Scholar
. (2012). On the relationship between sociolinguistic and grammatical development: A longitudinal case-study of L2 French. In L. Roberts, C. Lindqvist, C. Bardel & N. Abrahamsson (eds.), EUROSLA Yearbook 12 (88–111). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Isabelli, C. (2007). Development of the Spanish subjunctive by advanced learners: Study abroad followed by at-home instruction. Foreign Language Annals 401, 330–341. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Isabelli, C. & Nishida, C. (2005). Development of the Spanish subjunctive in a nine-month study-abroad setting. In D. Eddington (ed.), Selected proceedings of the 6th conference on the acquisition of Spanish as first and second languages (78–91). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Iverson, M., Kempchinsky, P. & Rothman, J. (2008). Interface vulnerability and knowledge of the subjunctive/indicative distinction with negated epistemic predicates in L2 Spanish. In L. Roberts, F. Myles & A. David (eds.), EUROSLA Yearbook 8 (135–163). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
L’Huillier, M. (1999). Advanced French grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lang, M. & Perez, I. (1996). Modern French grammar: A practical guide. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laurier, M. (1989). Le subjonctif dans le parler franco-ontarien: un mode en voie de disparition? In R. Mougeon & E. Beniak (eds.), Le français canadien parlé hors Québec (105–126). Laval: Presses de l’Université Laval.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
McManus, K., Tracy-Ventura, N., Mitchell, R., Richard, L. & Romero de Mills, P. (2014). Exploring the acquisition of the French subjunctive: Local syntactic context or oral proficiency? In P. Leclercq, A. Edmonds & H. Hilton (eds.), Measuring L2 proficiency: Perspectives from SLA (167–190). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. (2011). Morphological errors in Spanish second language learners and heritage speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 331, 163–192. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Neumann-Holzschuh, I. (2005). Le subjonctif en français acadien. In P. Brasseur & A. Falkert (eds.), Français d’Amérique: approches morphosyntaxiques (125–144). Paris: L’Harmattan.Google Scholar
O’Connor DiVito, N. (1997). Patterns across spoken and written French: Empirical research on the interaction among forms, functions and genres. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Poplack, S. (1989). The care and handling of a megacorpus: The Ottawa-Hull French project. In R. Fasold & D. Schiffrin (eds.), Language change and variation (411–451). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. (1990). Prescription, intuition et usage: le subjonctif français et la variabilité inhérente. Langage et société 541, 5–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Preston, D. (1996). Variationist perspectives on second language acquisition. In R. Bayley & D.R. Preston (eds.), Second language acquisition and linguistic variation. (1–45). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. (2000). Three kinds of sociolinguistics and SLA: A psycholinguistic perspective. In F.M.B. Swierzbin, M. Anderson, C. Klee & E. Tarone (eds.), Social and cognitive factors in second language acquisition: Selected proceedings of the 1999 Second Language Research Forum (3–30). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla.Google Scholar
Regan, V., Howard, M. & Lemée, I. (2009). The acquisition of sociolinguistic competence in a study abroad context. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Riegel, M., Pellat, J.-C. & Rioul, R. (1994). Grammaire méthodique du français. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Soutet, O. (2000). Le Subjonctif. Paris: Editions Ophrys.Google Scholar
Tarone, E. (1988). Variation in interlanguage. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
. (2002). Frequency effects, noticing, and creativity: Factors in a variationist interlanguage framework. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 241, 287–296. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. (2007). Sociolinguistic approaches to second language acquisition research 1997–2007. Modern Language Journal 911, 837–848. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tracy-Ventura, N., McManus, K., Norris, J. & Ortega, L. (2014). ‘Repeat as much as you can’: Elicited imitation as a measure of oral proficiency in L2 French. In P. Leclercq, A. Edmonds & H. Hilton (eds.), Measuring L2 proficiency: Perspectives from SLA (143–166). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Villeneuve, A.-J. (2011). A Sociolinguistic study of Vimeu French. Unpublished PhD thesis, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Cited by (11)

Cited by 11 other publications

Grevisse, Daniel Grégoire, Marzena Watorek & Frédéric Isel
2023. The Subjunctive as a Model of Grammatical Complexity: An Integrative Review of Issues Based on Combined Evidence from Mental Chronometry and Neurosciences. Brain Sciences 13:6 ► pp. 974 ff. DOI logo
KENNEDY TERRY, KRISTEN M.
2022. At the Intersection of SLA and Sociolinguistics: The Predictive Power of Social Networks During Study Abroad. The Modern Language Journal 106:1 ► pp. 245 ff. DOI logo
Dudley, Amber & Roumyana Slabakova
2021. L2 Knowledge of the Obligatory French Subjunctive: Offline Measures and Eye Tracking Compared. Languages 6:1 ► pp. 31 ff. DOI logo
Michaud, Gabriel
2021. L’incidence d’un enseignement centré sur la forme sur la performance orale. The Canadian Modern Language Review 77:3 ► pp. 269 ff. DOI logo
Ayoun, Dalila
2020. A Longitudinal Study in the L2 Acquisition of the French TAM System. Languages 5:4 ► pp. 42 ff. DOI logo
Gudmestad, Aarnes
2018. Advanced‐Level Mood Distinction. In The Handbook of Advanced Proficiency in Second Language Acquisition, ► pp. 341 ff. DOI logo
Howard, Martin & Pascale Leclercq
2017. Tense, aspect and modality in second language acquisition. In Tense-Aspect-Modality in a Second Language [Studies in Bilingualism, 50], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Leclercq, Pascale & Amanda Edmonds
2017. How L2 learners of French and English express modality using verbal means: A crosslinguistic and developmental study. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 55:3 DOI logo
Ponnet, Aaricia, Kristof Baten & Saartje Verbeke
2016. The acquisition of differential object marking in Hindi as a foreign language. Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics 5:2 ► pp. 101 ff. DOI logo
Tracy-Ventura, Nicole, Jean-Marc Dewaele, Zeynep Köylü & Kevin McManus
2016. Personality changes after the ‘year abroad’?. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 1:1 ► pp. 107 ff. DOI logo
Tracy-Ventura, Nicole, Rosamond Mitchell & Kevin McManus
2016. The LANGSNAP longitudinal learner corpus. In Spanish Learner Corpus Research [Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 78], ► pp. 117 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 october 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.