A framework is provided for the description and contrastive analysis of limited-domain syntactic choice in English and French. Using a corpus of naturally occurring English and French sets of instructional texts, the expressions available in each language for conveying the two procedural semantic relations of "generation" and "enablement" are…

Considers the socio-stylistic distinction of the French variable morpho-syntactic particle "ne." The interspeaker axes of variation in "ne" are summarized, and intraspeaker data deriving from a corpus of spoken French are considered. Examines intraspeaker variation in "ne" by focusing on the use of the variable by a single speaker in both speech…

Explores the combinatorial possibilities of semantic primitives of time and space in French, as defined in the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage. Highlights the need for new ways to express the allolexical relationship in some combinations, particularly those expressing "when/time." (Author/MSE)

Outlines some of the principle structural changes that have occurred in the Norman French dialect, spoken on the Isle of Jersey, as the result of contact with English. (18 references) (GLR)

Reports research at the University of Saskatchewan in which experiments with variously rearranged English and French sentences showed grammatical acceptability decreasing as the disruption of the sentence producing field of subject, verb, object, qualifier increased. (RM)

Reports on research consisting of compiling a contrastive verb valency dictionary of Dutch, French, and English whose main strength lies in depicting semantic differences between its entries and conceptual differences between languages. Using these analyses, one can start to discern nuclear and peripheral meanings, analyze possible meaning…

Tests the understanding of French pronominal-verbal constructions on native and English speakers of French and assesses their sensitivity to the possible multiple readings such as: reflexive, reciprocal, intrinsic, and passive. The article attributes the superior performance of English speakers to the corresponding morphosyntactic and lexical…

Discusses the relative merits of feature versus model based semantics for the interpretation of verb phrases in English, French, and German. The article concludes that the simplicity afforded by features is offset by the depth of analysis achieved with event models that are additionally able to support a sophisticated approach to machine…

Discusses the ways languages of Europe render the "given"-"new" distinction on the basis of data collected by means of presenting speakers of various languages with the task of reconstructing a route on a map. The article raises questions about the nature of "wh"-pronouns in English and about what is shared by these…