This study examines the acquisition of target-like patterns of variation by 22 American learners of French during study abroad (SA) in France and correlates such acquisition with the creation of dense, multiplex, exchange-based social networks (Milroy 1980) with native speakers (NSs) during the SA period. In this longitudinal study, naturalistic…

The history of "Verlan," a form of French word play involving inversion of syllables with varying degrees of complexity, is described and its phonological and morphological patterns are outlined. Appropriate and inappropriate contexts for use of Verlan, extralinguistic functions, and the results of lexicalization of verlanized words are…

This article discusses the variable behavior of the silent "e" in French, in three different stylistic contexts: lecture, conversation, and reading. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

A discussion of the use of the imperfect tense in French, aimed primarily at speakers of English and German. (Text is in French.) (AM)

Discusses problems of terminology in modern-day French-English translation, and means by which translator skills can keep up with linguistic evolution. (Text is in French.) (AM)

Discusses an experiment in progress to prove that irony in written texts is discernible to the non-native speaker through logical or linguistic cues. (Text is in French.) (AM)

Discusses dislocation, a construction in which one element, usually a noun, is isolated either at the beginning or at the end of a sentence while being represented in the body of the sentence by a pronoun. Discusses the place of dislocation in linguistic studies and its pedagogical implications. (SED)

The concept of journalistic norms and recent French experience with this are reviewed. It is concluded that the press might be a reasonable arbiter between conservative institutional norms and recent rapid change in the French language. (MSE)

This article describes a study attempting to correlate language style in elementary school children with sociocultural factors. (Text is in French.) (CDSH/CLK)

A brief study of terms of address and reference in three examples of regional French of the departments of Sarthe and Mayenne. The questions raised in the study deal with ethnology, ethnolinguistics, popular or familiar French and traits of spoken French. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Describes a study that attempts to systematize the criteria required for accurate translations of technical documents. The results of a Linguistic Appreciation Questionnaire-Test, administered to 19 professional translators, were used to categorize the most common translation variables: style, structure, rhythm, and meaning of text in the hope of…

A study investigated variation from certain morphophonological and phonetic features normally associated with familiar, popular, or vulgar speech as they occur in a prestigious variety of French (spoken on a French literary talk show). Phonostylistic variation in the speech of host and guests is examined. (Author/MSE)

Discusses the relationship in language and specifically in French between the standard language norm, the various registers and styles available to native speakers of a given language, and second language learning. (Text is in French.) (CLK)