Second language acquisition and "real" French: An investigation of subject doubling in the French of Montreal Anglophones
Abstract
ABSTRACT --We investigated the French of the first generation of Montreal Anglophones who
had had access to French immersion schooling. Our aim was to determine the extent
to which these Anglophones had acquired the variable grammar of their Francophone
peers and how that was related to the type of French instruction received
and to the types of exposure to French. In Montreal French, a subject NP may
be “echoed” by a pronoun without emphatic or contrastive effect. Because this
is not a feature of standard French, Anglophones who learned French primarily in
school were not expected to exhibit it. On the other hand, Anglophones who frequently
spent time with Montreal Francophones were expected to have picked it
up. To test this hypothesis, we used a database of speech from 29 speakers, varying
in their quantity and type of exposure to French. Multivariate analyses determined
the degree of correlation of several linguistic and social factors (related to type and
quantity of exposure to French) to the presence of a doubled subject. These data
were then compared with that for L1 French. Speakers who were more nativelike
with respect to the rate of subject doubling and effects of linguistic factors were
those who had had more contact with native speakers, especially as adults.
had had access to French immersion schooling. Our aim was to determine the extent
to which these Anglophones had acquired the variable grammar of their Francophone
peers and how that was related to the type of French instruction received
and to the types of exposure to French. In Montreal French, a subject NP may
be “echoed” by a pronoun without emphatic or contrastive effect. Because this
is not a feature of standard French, Anglophones who learned French primarily in
school were not expected to exhibit it. On the other hand, Anglophones who frequently
spent time with Montreal Francophones were expected to have picked it
up. To test this hypothesis, we used a database of speech from 29 speakers, varying
in their quantity and type of exposure to French. Multivariate analyses determined
the degree of correlation of several linguistic and social factors (related to type and
quantity of exposure to French) to the presence of a doubled subject. These data
were then compared with that for L1 French. Speakers who were more nativelike
with respect to the rate of subject doubling and effects of linguistic factors were
those who had had more contact with native speakers, especially as adults.