In this article we present some results showing the decline in radio speech in the use of the French negative particle ne over the last forty years or so. These results derive from a comparison of two radio corpora: an archival corpus recorded by A Ê gren (1973) in 1960±61. The second, contemporary corpus was recorded and analysed by one of the present authors (Smith) in 1997. Having described the variable in question, we present these corpora in turn and analyse results deriving from them. We then examine some of the linguistic constraints that endorse the progressive decline of ne in some contexts while hindering the process in others. Finally we consider some elements of the social context within which the decline of ne has been occurring.

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This article considers variable /l/-deletion in the French definite articles, subject clitic pronouns and in one frequent phono-lexical context, exemplified by table ‘table’ and ronfle ‘snore’. It reports the treatment of /l/ by a sample of secondary schoolchildren from Lorraine in north-eastern France. The definite articles and subject clitics are considered on the one hand in relation to the linguistic constraints which influence /l/-deletion, and on the other to the extra-linguistic variables of age, sex and speech style. Variable /l/-deletion in the phono-lexical context referred to above is examined principally in relation to the lexical input which influences /l/-deletion. Finally, we consider whether the sociolinguistic patterns reported here are indicative of linguistic change in progress, or whether the effects observed are revelatory rather of attitudes to non-standard linguistic forms inculcated in speakers by normative French pedagogy.