The Future of Ontario French

Abstract

A B S T R AC TThe present study is a Labovian sociolinguistic analysis of forms used to express the future tense in the spoken French of adolescents residing in Ontario, Canada. Two primary variants are examined: a) the periphrastic future (e.g. elle va partir); and b) the inflected future (e.g. elle partira). The general trend that emerges is that distribution rates of the periphrastic future are markedly higher than previous accounts of the variable and that many speakers are in fact categorical users of the periphrastic form in certain contexts. Note, too, that negation is not a strong predictor for all speakers with respect to the choice of the inflected future, a finding that is in strong contrast to previous analyses of the variable in Laurentian varieties of spoken French in Canada. After presenting the general results, we provide an in-depth analysis of the linguistic and social factors that condition variant use.

What the present can tell us about the future

“…For the factor of temporal distance, studies of Acadian varieties of French (Comeau 2011;King & Nadasdi 2003) found tendencies in line with what might be expected, with the PF being favored in proximal contexts. For Laurentian French, some studies have shown no significant effect (Blondeau 2006;Grimm & Nadasdi 2011), whereas others have found a significant role for temporal distance, but one in which the results run counter to expectations (Poplack & Dion 2009;Poplack & Turpin 1999).…”

“…Although neither Blondeau (2006) nor Grimm and Nadasdi (2011) found a significant effect of LTI, both studies looked only at PF and IF. Grimm and Nadasdi (2011: 182) write that it is thus "not surprising that we found no effect for adverbial specification, since its role seems to be linked to the futurate present. "…”

“…Concerning the certainty of the future action or state, King and Nadasdi's (2003) study of Acadian French spoken on Prince Edward Island and in Newfoundland found that outcomes that are certain to occur favor the use of the PF. In contrast, Comeau's (2011) examination of Baie Sainte-Marie Acadian French and Grimm and Nadasdi's (2011) analysis of Ontario French found that certainty of outcome was not a significant predictor of future-time form. For the factor of temporal distance, studies of Acadian varieties of French (Comeau 2011;King & Nadasdi 2003) found tendencies in line with what might be expected, with the PF being favored in proximal contexts.…”

“…As early as 1981, Deshaies and Laforge recognized that "negation leads to a quasi-automatic use of the IF" (29). 1 This factor has moreover been found to be significant in variationist studies on different varieties of Laurentian French (Blondeau 2006;Grimm & Nadasdi 2011;Poplack & Dion 2009;Poplack & Turpin 1999), and Poplack and Turpin (1999: 155) state that "negative contexts, which 1. « la négation entraîne un emploi quasi-automatique du futur simple ».…”

“…This state of affairs has led numerous linguists (e.g. Comeau 2011; Grimm & Nadasdi 2011;King & Nadasdi 2003;Poplack & Dion 2009;Poplack & Turpin 1999) to argue that the domain of future-time expression in native French provides an example of morphosyntactic variation.…”