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A new look at ‘ne’ loss in the Spoken French of Tours

A case of change in progress?
  • William J. Ashby and Bonnie B. Fonseca-Greber
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On Spoken French
This chapter is in the book On Spoken French

Abstract

Although the standard French norm prescribes that negation is marked twice in the verb phrase (ne…pas), contemporary usage prefers to drop the first element (ne) in Spoken French. In a 1981 article based on a corpus of Spoken French recorded in Tours in 1976, Ashby brought to light a significant co-variation/correlation between ne loss and speaker age: younger speakers dropped ne much more often than older speakers. This distribution seems to stem from a change in apparent time. However, as Labov (1994) notes, a linguistic feature that is more frequent in younger speakers does not necessarily indicate change in progress. One could assume that it could be due to age-grading, a phenomenon whereby speakers alter their linguistic behavior over the course of their lifetimes, while the grammar of the speech community remains stable and does not change. In order to distinguish between these two hypotheses (change in progress on the one hand, age grading on the other), this study compares distributions of the linguistic variable ne at two different points in time: the 1976 Tours corpus is paired with a new Tours corpus recorded in 1995. This comparison shows in real time that the loss of ne has accelerated – a finding which supports the change in progress hypothesis.

Abstract

Although the standard French norm prescribes that negation is marked twice in the verb phrase (ne…pas), contemporary usage prefers to drop the first element (ne) in Spoken French. In a 1981 article based on a corpus of Spoken French recorded in Tours in 1976, Ashby brought to light a significant co-variation/correlation between ne loss and speaker age: younger speakers dropped ne much more often than older speakers. This distribution seems to stem from a change in apparent time. However, as Labov (1994) notes, a linguistic feature that is more frequent in younger speakers does not necessarily indicate change in progress. One could assume that it could be due to age-grading, a phenomenon whereby speakers alter their linguistic behavior over the course of their lifetimes, while the grammar of the speech community remains stable and does not change. In order to distinguish between these two hypotheses (change in progress on the one hand, age grading on the other), this study compares distributions of the linguistic variable ne at two different points in time: the 1976 Tours corpus is paired with a new Tours corpus recorded in 1995. This comparison shows in real time that the loss of ne has accelerated – a finding which supports the change in progress hypothesis.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Dedications v
  3. Table of contents vii
  4. Portrait xi
  5. Acknowledgements xiii
  6. William J. Ashby – A pioneer in diachronic Spoken French corpus linguistics 1
  7. A data-driven glossing philosophy of Spoken French 29
  8. Section 1. In the beginning was the Word…
  9. Editor’s note 56
  10. Il parle or Iparle ? 57
  11. The rhythmic group, liaison, nouns and verbs of French 67
  12. The Ashby legacy 75
  13. Section 2. A paradigm shift or what counts as evidence now?
  14. Editor’s note – Section 2 78
  15. The loss of the negative morpheme ne in Parisian French 79
  16. Interrogative forms in Parisian French 95
  17. Prefixed conjugation in Parisian French 113
  18. The Ashby legacy 129
  19. Section 3. Language change in apparent time – Tours-1
  20. Editor’s note – Section 3 132
  21. The loss of the negative particle ne in French 133
  22. French liaison as a sociolinguistic phenomenon 151
  23. The elision of /l/ in Modern French 163
  24. The Ashby legacy 177
  25. Section 4. Understanding language change
  26. Editor’s Note – Section 4 180
  27. The drift of French syntax 181
  28. The syntax, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics of left- and right-dislocations in French 207
  29. An acoustic profile of right-dislocations in French 249
  30. The Ashby legacy 277
  31. Section 5. Knowing how to ask good research questions
  32. Editor’s note – Section 5 280
  33. Français du Canada/français de France 281
  34. When does variation indicate linguistic change in progress 293
  35. The variable use of on ‘one’ versus tu/vous ‘you’ for indefinite reference in Spoken French 321
  36. The Ashby legacy 363
  37. Section 6. Discourse grammar: Preferred Argument Structure & presentatives
  38. Editor’s note – Section 6 366
  39. Preferred Argument Structure in spoken French and Spanish 371
  40. French presentational structures 389
  41. Au sujet de quoi? 403
  42. The Ashby legacy 415
  43. Section 7. L’envoi – Language change in real-time
  44. Editor’s Note – Section 7 418
  45. A new look at ‘ne’ loss in the Spoken French of Tours 419
  46. Variable liaison in the Spoken French of Tours: A real-time analysis 451
  47. The Ashby legacy 475
  48. Section 8. Coda
  49. Editor’s note – Section 8 480
  50. Remodelling the house 483
  51. The College of Creative Studies 505
  52. The Ashby legacy 517
  53. Appendix. An incomplete list of Spoken French Corpora through the years 519
  54. Author index 529
  55. Subject and language index 532
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.226.c32

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Dedications v
  3. Table of contents vii
  4. Portrait xi
  5. Acknowledgements xiii
  6. William J. Ashby – A pioneer in diachronic Spoken French corpus linguistics 1
  7. A data-driven glossing philosophy of Spoken French 29
  8. Section 1. In the beginning was the Word…
  9. Editor’s note 56
  10. Il parle or Iparle ? 57
  11. The rhythmic group, liaison, nouns and verbs of French 67
  12. The Ashby legacy 75
  13. Section 2. A paradigm shift or what counts as evidence now?
  14. Editor’s note – Section 2 78
  15. The loss of the negative morpheme ne in Parisian French 79
  16. Interrogative forms in Parisian French 95
  17. Prefixed conjugation in Parisian French 113
  18. The Ashby legacy 129
  19. Section 3. Language change in apparent time – Tours-1
  20. Editor’s note – Section 3 132
  21. The loss of the negative particle ne in French 133
  22. French liaison as a sociolinguistic phenomenon 151
  23. The elision of /l/ in Modern French 163
  24. The Ashby legacy 177
  25. Section 4. Understanding language change
  26. Editor’s Note – Section 4 180
  27. The drift of French syntax 181
  28. The syntax, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics of left- and right-dislocations in French 207
  29. An acoustic profile of right-dislocations in French 249
  30. The Ashby legacy 277
  31. Section 5. Knowing how to ask good research questions
  32. Editor’s note – Section 5 280
  33. Français du Canada/français de France 281
  34. When does variation indicate linguistic change in progress 293
  35. The variable use of on ‘one’ versus tu/vous ‘you’ for indefinite reference in Spoken French 321
  36. The Ashby legacy 363
  37. Section 6. Discourse grammar: Preferred Argument Structure & presentatives
  38. Editor’s note – Section 6 366
  39. Preferred Argument Structure in spoken French and Spanish 371
  40. French presentational structures 389
  41. Au sujet de quoi? 403
  42. The Ashby legacy 415
  43. Section 7. L’envoi – Language change in real-time
  44. Editor’s Note – Section 7 418
  45. A new look at ‘ne’ loss in the Spoken French of Tours 419
  46. Variable liaison in the Spoken French of Tours: A real-time analysis 451
  47. The Ashby legacy 475
  48. Section 8. Coda
  49. Editor’s note – Section 8 480
  50. Remodelling the house 483
  51. The College of Creative Studies 505
  52. The Ashby legacy 517
  53. Appendix. An incomplete list of Spoken French Corpora through the years 519
  54. Author index 529
  55. Subject and language index 532
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