Premium
Syntax and Discourse in Near‐Native French: Clefts and Focus
Author(s) -
Donaldson Bryan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2012.00701.x
Subject(s) - syntax , linguistics , focus (optics) , first language , interface (matter) , psychology , discourse analysis , computer science , philosophy , physics , bubble , maximum bubble pressure method , parallel computing , optics
This study examines aspects of the syntax‐discourse interface in near‐native French. Two cleft structures— c’est clefts and avoir clefts—are examined in experimental and spontaneous conversational data from 10 adult Anglophone learners of French and ten native speakers of French. C’est clefts mark focus, and avoir clefts introduce new discourse referents. Although previous research on the syntax‐discourse interface has revealed residual difficulties in near‐native speakers, the near‐natives in the present study evinced nativelike behavior on a range of measures, a finding that suggests complete acquisition of aspects of the syntax‐discourse interface.