This essay on three recent books by outstanding scholars--"La raison scolaire" by Bernard Lahire, "Histoire de l'enseignement du francais du XVII[superscript e] au XX[superscript e] siecle" by Andre Chervel, and "L'ecole et la lecture obligatoire" by Anne-Marie Chartier--offers the opportunity to acquaint readers with…

This article questions how two very similar sets of experiments can yield such very different findings, and comments on the differences between the studies. Here Annamarie Kerkhoff presents a commentary on some perceived differences between the studies in areas such as age groups and group sizes evaluated. Kerkhoff also comments on some…

Prepositions can be found with and without adjacent complements in many forms of popular spoken French. The alternation appears in main clauses ("il veut pas payer pour ca [approximately] il veut pas payer pour" "he doesn't want to pay for [it]") and, though with a more restricted social and geographic distribution, in relative…

In their keynote contribution, Poplack, Zentz & Dion (henceforth PZD; Poplack, Zentz & Dion, 2011, this issue) propose an interesting "scientific test of convergence" (under section heading: "Introduction") which contains criteria to check whether a particular feature in a given language in contact with another one is…

The authors of "Phrase-final prepositions in Quebec French: An empirical study of contact, code-switching and resistance to convergence", Poplack, Zentz & Dion (2011, this issue), henceforth cited as PZD, make a strong case for showing that, in spite of surface similarities, preposition stranding in Canadian French relative clauses…

The present article investigates the acquisition of the pronominal systems by French and Italian monolingual children and by bilingual German-French and German-Italian children, demonstrating a stable asymmetry: object and reflexive clitics are acquired later than nominative clitics and strong subject and object pronouns. We will widen the scope…

It is argued that dictionary definitions of objects are enhanced by addition of usage information, sometimes idiomatic and sometimes indicating specific functions of the object. This lexical semantic approach is illustrated primarily with the example of the French word "boite." (MSE)

This article proposes an explanation for the use of resumptives in child language based on the feature of the nominal system. A cross-linguistic comparison shows no significant difference in resumptive use between child French, child English, and child Spanish. (50 references) (JL)

Argues that the null preposition phenomenon is a special case of reliance on the A-bar binding strategy, examining research on English-French interlanguage in college classrooms and suggesting that apparent categorical mismatches in A-bar chains may result from preposition incorporation. Second-language learners can appeal to the A-bar binding…

Examines "pseudoborrowing" of some English words into the French vocabulary. Considered the prestige language of Western Europe, English is viewed as a social hallmark of higher education; thus, even a modest knowledge and use of English reinforces this attitude. However, also suggests a modification of this concept, noting a reciprocal prestige…

A study of the feminization of personal titles in French is reported, and teaching materials based on the findings are suggested for use in college-level intermediate or advanced language classes. The objective is to help language learners understand the phenomenon of feminization and its practical implications. (Author/MSE)

Discusses two questions: (1) What has the recent research conducted in French immersion programs in Canada contributed to understanding of second language acquisition?; and (2) What has it contributed to the broader field of applied linguistics? Considers research in the coming decade, and discusses obstacles that may be faced in Canada in…

Focuses on several myths and fallacies prevalent in the field of French grammar. The importance of keeping up-to-date with language and grammatical usage is stressed, since the rules of language do change. Thus, the validity of the linguistic content of French grammar books must be questioned, so that any outmoded or invalid concepts can be…

Defines the general area of France where Occitan is spoken and the area where the information was collected. States that Occitan monolingualism has almost totally disappeared and describes the relationship between Occitan and French as one of bilingualism with diglossia, with the distribution of Occitan speakers being strongly influenced by…

Incompleteness of competence--lack of command of certain second-language (L2) aspects--and divergence--interlanguage representations of L2 properties different from native representations--are distinct states of grammatical competence, as seen in French and English speakers of Italian (L2). Discussion argues that competence differences reflect…