Phonetic norm versus usage in advanced French as a second language

• Published in: International review of applied linguistics in language teaching, IRAL Vol. 42; no. 4; pp. 365 - 382
• Main Author: Thomas, Alain
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Walter de Gruyter 15.10.2004; Walter de Gruyter GmbH
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Advanced Courses; Canada; College Students; Comparative Analysis; Control Groups; Educational Facilities Improvement; Experimental Groups; Foreign Countries; France; French; French as a second language; French as a Second Language Learning; French language; Language acquisition; Language Laboratories; Language Proficiency; Language Tests; Language Usage; Language Variation; Learning Laboratories; Linguistics; Listening Comprehension; Native Speakers; Negation; Nouns; Ontario; Oral Language; Phonemes; Phonetic Analysis; Phonetics; Phonology; Pronunciation; Pronunciation Instruction; Reduction; Second Language Learning; Second Languages; Semantics; Sociolinguistics; Speaking; Speech Communication; Statistical Data; Statistical Significance; Students; Study abroad; Variables; Variationist Linguistics; France; Canada
• ISSN: 0019-042X; 1613-4141
• DOI: 10.1515/iral.2004.42.4.365

This article is drawn from a large-scale ongoing study on linguistic progress in advanced French as a second language (FL2). The performance of 48 English-speaking students who spent their third year of university in France (the ‘experimental’ group)has been compared to that of 39 classmates who chose to stay and study at home in southern Ontario, Canada (the ‘control’ group). The analysis presented here will be limited to three morpho-phonemic variables where native speaker usage can differ considerably from official norms, i.e., ‘liaison’, schwa and the negative particle ne. Results generally point to different pronunciation difficulties at the advanced level than at the beginners' level. Also, comparisons between the experimental and the control groups lead to a reappraisal of the notions of ‘norm’ and phonetic ‘progress’ in spoken French.