Coveney, Aidan, <i>Variability in Spoken French. A Sociolinguistic Study of Interrogation and Negation.</i> Bristol (UK) and Portland (Oregon, USA): Elm Bank Publications, 2002, 2e édition, 296 pp. 1 84150 700 8.

Gadet, Françoise

doi:10.1017/s0959269502240363

Cited by 1 publication

(17 citation statements)

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“…The subject relative pronoun qui "who, that" also favors ne retention (Coveney, 1998(Coveney, , 2002Hansen & Malderez, 2004). By contrast, the neuter SP ce "it" strongly disfavors ne retention: In Coveney (2002), ne was retained in only 2.3% of such examples. Finally, in cases when the SP is dropped in speech (e.g., faut pas "one should not"; ya pas "there is not"), no variation is possible, and ne is categorically absent (Ashby, 2001;Coveney, 2002).…”

Section: Linguistic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…For example, Coveney (2002) reported 67.2% ne after a NP subject versus only 14.6% after a SP. The subject relative pronoun qui "who, that" also favors ne retention (Coveney, 1998(Coveney, , 2002Hansen & Malderez, 2004). By contrast, the neuter SP ce "it" strongly disfavors ne retention: In Coveney (2002), ne was retained in only 2.3% of such examples.…”

Section: Linguistic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, the postverbal negator is salient and can receive prosodic stress (Armstrong, 2002). Whatever the underlying reasons for evolution in French negation, scholars largely agree that the presence or absence of ne conveys no semantic difference (Coveney, 2002;Sankoff & Vincent, 1977), although Coveney noted that speakers sometimes insert ne for emphasis or when reformulating an utterance that has been misunderstood. Semantically, however, the sentences in Examples 1 and 2 convey identical truth values.…”

Section: Examplementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most robust and consistent finding concerns subject type. After a lexical noun phrase (NP) or other nonpronominal subject, ne is retained at a significantly higher rate than after a subject pronoun (SP) in spoken French (Armstrong, 2002;Ashby, 1981;Coveney, 2002;Hansen & Malderez, 2004). For example, Coveney (2002) reported 67.2% ne after a NP subject versus only 14.6% after a SP.…”

Section: Linguistic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After a lexical noun phrase (NP) or other nonpronominal subject, ne is retained at a significantly higher rate than after a subject pronoun (SP) in spoken French (Armstrong, 2002;Ashby, 1981;Coveney, 2002;Hansen & Malderez, 2004). For example, Coveney (2002) reported 67.2% ne after a NP subject versus only 14.6% after a SP. The subject relative pronoun qui "who, that" also favors ne retention (Coveney, 1998(Coveney, , 2002Hansen & Malderez, 2004).…”

Section: Linguistic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Negation in Near‐Native French: Variation and Sociolinguistic Competence

Donaldson

2016

Language Learning

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This study investigated how adult second language (L2) speakers of French with near‐native proficiency realize verbal negation, a well‐known sociolinguistic variable in contemporary spoken French. Data included 10 spontaneous informal conversations between near‐native speakers of French and native speakers (NSs) closely acquainted with them. Although some near‐native speakers retained ne more frequently than their interlocutors, others produced ne at rates indistinguishable from the NSs. A variationist analysis of 1,877 examples of negation revealed that the near‐native speakers had largely acquired the relevant linguistic and sociostylistic factors that condition NS use, although an important subset of the near‐native speakers did not vary their ne use according to whether the negation appears in a lexicalized or nonlexicalized phrase. The results contribute to understanding L2 near‐nativeness, specifically with respect to sociolinguistic competence in adult learners.

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