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Ne deletion in Picard and in regional French: Evidence for distinct grammars

  • Julie Auger and Anne-José Villeneuve
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Social Lives in Language – Sociolinguistics and multilingual speech communities
This chapter is in the book Social Lives in Language – Sociolinguistics and multilingual speech communities

Abstract

Ne deletion is arguably the best studied variable in French. Despite differences in overall rates of deletion, linguistic factors governing deletion pattern very similarly in most varieties. The comparative study presented here offers a new perspective by using ne deletion as a criterion to differentiate two closely-related languages, French and Picard. While patterns of ne deletion in the variety of French under study are similar to those found in other French varieties, ne in Picard behaves differently from its French counterpart, with respect to both frequency of deletion and linguistic factor effects. We investigate patterns of ne deletion in three bilingual speakers for whom we have both written and oral Picard, as well spoken French. We compare their French data with those of monolingual French speakers from the region. This study contributes additional linguistic evidence for the claim that Picard and French are distinct languages.

Abstract

Ne deletion is arguably the best studied variable in French. Despite differences in overall rates of deletion, linguistic factors governing deletion pattern very similarly in most varieties. The comparative study presented here offers a new perspective by using ne deletion as a criterion to differentiate two closely-related languages, French and Picard. While patterns of ne deletion in the variety of French under study are similar to those found in other French varieties, ne in Picard behaves differently from its French counterpart, with respect to both frequency of deletion and linguistic factor effects. We investigate patterns of ne deletion in three bilingual speakers for whom we have both written and oral Picard, as well spoken French. We compare their French data with those of monolingual French speakers from the region. This study contributes additional linguistic evidence for the claim that Picard and French are distinct languages.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Introduction: Social lives in language 1
  5. Photos of Gillian: Then and now 17
  6. Biographies of contributors and email addresses 19
  7. Part I. Language Ideology: From the speakers, what can we learn about the language?
  8. Language, mobility and (in)security: A journey through Francophone Canada 27
  9. Language repertoires and the middle class in urban Solomon Islands 43
  10. Land, language and identity: The socio-political origins of Gurindji Kriol 69
  11. "I've been speaking Tsotsitaal all my life without knowing it": Towards a unified account of tsotsitaals in South Africa. 95
  12. Tok Bokis, Tok Piksa: Translating parables in Papua New Guinea 111
  13. Part II. Bridging Macro- and Micro-sociolinguistics
  14. Chiac in context: Overview and evaluation of Acadie's Joual 137
  15. How to predict the evolution of a bilingual community 179
  16. How local is local French in Quebec? 195
  17. Part III. Quantitative sociolinguistics: From the languages, what can we learn about the speakers?
  18. Ne deletion in Picard and in regional French: Evidence for distinct grammars 223
  19. The dynamics of pronouns in the Québec languages in contact dynamics 249
  20. Subordinate clause marking in Montreal Anglophone French and English 273
  21. Mysteries of the substrate 315
  22. Empirical problems with domain-based notions of "simple" 327
  23. Index of names 357
  24. Index of subjects 361
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.24.16aug

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Introduction: Social lives in language 1
  5. Photos of Gillian: Then and now 17
  6. Biographies of contributors and email addresses 19
  7. Part I. Language Ideology: From the speakers, what can we learn about the language?
  8. Language, mobility and (in)security: A journey through Francophone Canada 27
  9. Language repertoires and the middle class in urban Solomon Islands 43
  10. Land, language and identity: The socio-political origins of Gurindji Kriol 69
  11. "I've been speaking Tsotsitaal all my life without knowing it": Towards a unified account of tsotsitaals in South Africa. 95
  12. Tok Bokis, Tok Piksa: Translating parables in Papua New Guinea 111
  13. Part II. Bridging Macro- and Micro-sociolinguistics
  14. Chiac in context: Overview and evaluation of Acadie's Joual 137
  15. How to predict the evolution of a bilingual community 179
  16. How local is local French in Quebec? 195
  17. Part III. Quantitative sociolinguistics: From the languages, what can we learn about the speakers?
  18. Ne deletion in Picard and in regional French: Evidence for distinct grammars 223
  19. The dynamics of pronouns in the Québec languages in contact dynamics 249
  20. Subordinate clause marking in Montreal Anglophone French and English 273
  21. Mysteries of the substrate 315
  22. Empirical problems with domain-based notions of "simple" 327
  23. Index of names 357
  24. Index of subjects 361
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