Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:28:45.261Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the role of the present indicative in variable future-time reference in Hexagonal French

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2017

Aarnes Gudmestad ,
Amanda Edmonds ,
Bryan Donaldson  and
Katie Carmichael
Aarnes Gudmestad*
Affiliation:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Amanda Edmonds*
Affiliation:
Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3
Bryan Donaldson*
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Katie Carmichael*
Affiliation:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
*
agudmest@vt.edu
amanda.edmonds@univ-montp3.fr
badonald@ucsc.edu
katcarm@vt.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article investigates variable future-time expression among native speakers of Hexagonal French who participated in informal conversations. The quantitative analysis is the first to examine the inflectional future, periphrastic future, and present indicative as separate forms within a single statistical model of French oral production. Results indicate that temporal distance and presence/absence of a temporal expression predict use of these verb forms. The second phase of the analysis focused on the use of the present indicative in future-time contexts. The examination of each instance of the present indicative shows that an immediate lexical temporal indicator is not necessary for this form to convey futurity and that future-time reference is often established at the discourse level and occasionally through apparent shared knowledge between the interlocutors. This investigation suggests the value of including the present indicative in the analysis of future-time reference in Hexagonal French in order to fully capture variation.

Résumé

Cet article étudie l'expression variable du futur chez des locuteurs natifs du français hexagonal participant à des conversations informelles. Cette analyse quantitative est la première à étudier le futur flexionnel, le futur périphrastique et l'indicatif présent à l'intérieur d'un même modèle statistique de production orale française. Les résultats indiquent que la distance temporelle et la présence ou l'absence d'une expression temporelle prédisent l'utilisation de ces formes verbales. La deuxième phase de l'analyse a porté sur l'utilisation de l'indicatif présent dans les contextes futurs. L'analyse de chaque exemple du présent démontre que la présence d'un indicateur temporel lexical immédiat n'est pas nécessaire pour que cette forme puisse référer au futur, et que la référence au futur s'établit souvent au niveau du discours et parfois par une connaissance partagée apparente entre les interlocuteurs. Cette enquête suggère que pour saisir pleinement la variation, il convient d'inclure l'indicatif présent dans l'analyse de la référence du futur, pour le cas du français hexagonal.

Keywords

future-time referencepresent indicativeHexagonal Frenchvariationtemporalityréférence au futurindicatif présentfrançais hexagonalvariationtemporalité
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 63 , Issue 1 , March 2018 , pp. 42 - 69
Copyright
© Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aaron, Jessi Elana. 2010. Pushing the envelope: Looking beyond the variable context. Language Variation and Change 22(1): 1–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, Keith. 2007. The western classical tradition in linguistics. London: Equinox.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen. 2005. The future of desire: Lexical futures and modality in L2 English future expression. In Proceedings of the 7th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference, ed. Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Sprouse, Rex A., and Liljestrand, Audrey, 1–12. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Blanche-Benveniste, Claire. 2010. Approches de la langue parlée en français. Paris: Éditions Ophrys.Google Scholar
Blondeau, Hélène. 2006. La trajectoire de l'emploi du futur chez une cohorte de Montréalais francophones entre 1971 et 1995. Revue canadienne de linguistique appliquée 9(2): 73–98.Google Scholar
Blondeau, Hélène, Dion, Nathalie, and Ziliak, Michel. 2014. Future temporal reference in the bilingual repertoire of Anglo-Montrealers: A twin variable. International Journal of Bilingualism 18(6): 674–692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blondeau, Hélène, and Labeau, Emmanuelle. 2016. La référence temporelle au futur dans les bulletins météo en France et au Québec: Regard variationniste sur l'oral préparé. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 61(3): 240–258.Google Scholar
Bybee, Joan, Perkins, Revere, and Pagliuca, William. 1994. The evolution of grammar: Tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Comeau, Philip. 2011. A window on the past, a move toward the future: sociolinguistic and formal perspectives on variation in Acadian French . Doctoral dissertation, York University.Google Scholar
Donaldson, Bryan. 2011a. Left-dislocation in near-native French. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 33(3): 399–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, Bryan. 2011b. Nativelike right-dislocations in near-native French. Second Language Research 27(3): 361–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, Bryan. 2012. Syntax and discourse in near-native French: Clefts and focus. Language Learning 62(3): 902–930.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, Bryan. 2016. Aspects of interrogative use in near-native French: Form, function, and register. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 6(4): 467–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, Bryan. 2017. Negation in near-native French: Variation and sociolinguistic competence. Language Learning 67(1): 141–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edmonds, Amanda, and Gudmestad, Aarnes. 2015. What the present can tell us about the future: A variationist analysis of future-time expression in native and non-native French. Language, Interaction and Acquisition 6(1): 15–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edmonds, Amanda, Gudmestad, Aarnes, and Donaldson, Bryan. In press. A concept-oriented analysis of variable future-time reference in native and near-native Hexagonal French. Journal of French Language Studies. Published online 28 October 2016. <https://doi-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/10.1017/S0959269516000259>>Google Scholar
Emirkanian, Louisette, and Sankoff, David. 1985. Le futur simple et le futur périphrastique. In Les tendances dynamiques du français parlé à Montréal (tome 1), ed. Lemieux, Monique and Cedergren, Henrietta, 189–204. Gouvernement du Québec.Google Scholar
Fleury, Serge, and Branca-Rosoff, Sonia. 2010. Une expérience de collaboration entre linguiste et spécialiste de TAL: L'exploitation du corpus CFPP 2000 en vue d'un travail sur l'alternance futur simple / futur périphrastique. Cahiers AFLS 16(1): 63–98. Available at <http://afls.net/cahiers/16.1/5.%20Fleury%20and%20Branca.pdf>Google Scholar
Givón, Talmy. 1983. Topic continuity in discourse: A quantitative cross-language study. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimm, Rick. 2010. A real-time study of future temporal reference in spoken Ontarian French. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 16(2): 83–92.Google Scholar
Grimm, Rick. 2015. Grammatical variation and change in spoken Ontario French: The subjunctive mood and the expression of future temporal reference . Doctoral dissertation, York University.Google Scholar
Grimm, Rick, and Nadasdi, Terry. 2011. The future of Ontario French. Journal of French Language Studies 21(2): 173–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudmestad, Aarnes, and Edmonds, Amanda. 2015. Categorical and variable mood distinction in Hexagonal French: Factors characterising use for native and non-native speakers. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics 18(1): 107–131.Google Scholar
Gudmestad, Aarnes, and Edmonds, Amanda. 2016. Variable future-time reference in French: A comparison of learners in a study-abroad and a foreign-language context. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 61(3): 259–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gueunier, Nicole, Genouvrier, Emile, and Khomsi, Adbelhamid. 1978. Les Français devant la norme: Contribution à une étude de la norme du français parlé. Paris: Champion.Google Scholar
Hansen, Anita Berit. 2016. French in Paris (Ile-de-France): A speaker from the 14th arrondissement. In Varieties of spoken French, ed. Detey, Sylvain, Durand, Jacques, Laks, Bernard, and Lyche, Chantal, 123–136. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeanjean, Colette. 1988. Le futur simple et le futur périphrastique en français parlé: étude distributionnelle. In Grammaire et Histoire de la Grammaire : Hommage à la Mémoire de Jean Stéfanini, ed. Blanche-Benveniste, Claire, Chervel, André and Gross, Maurice, 235–257. Paris: Publications de l'Université de Provence.Google Scholar
Johnson, Daniel Ezra. 2009. Getting off the GoldVarb standard: Introducing Rbrul for mixed-effects variable rule analysis. Language and Linguistics Compass 3(1): 359–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanwit, Matthew. 2017. What we gain by combining variationist and concept-oriented approaches: The case of acquiring Spanish future-time expression. Language Learning 67(2): 461–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, Ruth, and Nadasdi, Terry. 2003. Back to the future in Acadian French. Journal of French Language Studies 13(3): 323–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Labov, William. 1969. Contraction, deletion, and inherent variability of the English copula. Language 45(4): 715–762.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Labov, William. 1972. Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Lambrecht, Knud. 1994. Information structure and sentence form: Topic, focus, and the mental representations of discourse referents. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Goffic, Pierre, and Frédérique Lab. 2001. Le présent « pro futuro ». Cahiers Chronos 7: 77–98.Google Scholar
O'Connor DiVito, Nadine. 1997. Patterns across spoken and written French: Empirical research on the interaction among forms, functions and genres. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Poplack, Shana, and Dion, Nathalie. 2009. Prescription vs. praxis: The evolution of future temporal reference in French. Language 85(3): 557–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poplack, Shana, Lealess, Allison, and Dion, Nathalie. 2013. The evolving grammar of the French subjunctive. Probus 25(1): 139–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poplack, Shana, and Turpin, Danielle. 1999. Does the futur have a future in (Canadian) French? Probus 11(1): 133–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reinhart, Tanya. 1981. Pragmatics and linguistics: An analysis of sentence topics. Philosophica 27: 53–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Nicholas S. 2012. Future temporal reference in Hexagonal French. University of Pennsylvania Working papers in linguistics 18: 97–106.Google Scholar
Roberts, Nicholas S. 2013. The influence of linguistic factors on the expression of futurity in Martinique French. Newcastle Working Papers in Linguistics 19(1): 138–151.Google Scholar
Roberts, Nicholas S. 2016. The future of Martinique French : The role of random effects on the variable expression of futurity. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 61(3): 286–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Söll, Lüdwig. 1983. De la concurrence du futur simple et du futur proche en français moderne. In Études de grammaire française descriptive, ed. Hausmann, Franz-Josef, 16–24. Heidelberg: Julius Groos Verlag.Google Scholar
von Stutterheim, Christiane, and Klein, Wolfgang. 1987. A concept-oriented approach to second language studies. In First and Second Language Acquisition Processes, ed. Pfaff, Carol Wollman, 191–205. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Tagliamonte, Sali A. 2012. Variationist sociolinguistics: Change, observation, interpretation. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Villeneuve, Anne-José, and Comeau, Philip. 2016. Breaking down temporal distance in a Continental French variety: Future temporal reference in Vimeu. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 61(3): 314–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar