Liaison in French as a second language

This thesis deals with the learning of liaison by adult learners of French as a second language (FSL). Data from three discourses (reading, spontaneous, description) was gathered from two groups of students completing a second year oral FSL University course. The purpose of this study is to (a) describe and compare the production of liaison by two groups of FSL speakers, (b) provide a theoretical account of their liaison patterns, and (c) discuss pedagogical implications of this study. A transcription as well as a quantitative analysis of the speech samples from both groups was carried out for production of liaison (obligatory, optional, forbidden), false liaisons, resyllabification, temporally anchored consonants, creations and interferences, and voiced hesitations. Results revealed that first of all, obligatory liaison was almost always produced (94%). Those obligatory liaisons that were not produced were predominantly in a [DET+N] sequence as well as after 'c'est'. Second, forbidden liaisons were rarely produced [less than 4%). Those that were produced occurred between the conjunction 'et' and a following word, between a singular noun with a final nasal consonant, and before 'h aspiré ' words. Third, optional liaisons were infrequently produced (14%). Those that were produced occurred after certain verbs ('être, devoir'), after the negative 'pas', and the conjunction ' quand'. Overall, both groups behaved similarly with respect to liaison production. This is significant considering the differences among the two groups (instructor, year of study, content of the three tasks). This suggests that there are some common stages in second language learning with respect to liaison. Fourth, there were very little false liaisons produced, suggesting that they do not seem to be a strategy language learners use. Fifth, more than 93% of the liaisons produced were resyllabified. Those that were not were due to factors such as length of word, word frequency, etc. Sixth, speakers produced temporally anchored consonants in non-liaison contexts, creations and interferences with respect to words in a liaison context, and voiced hesitations after a liaison word. Seventh, the nature of the discourse was found to play a role in liaison production. Forbidden liaisons, false liaisons, non-resyllabification, temporally anchored consonants as well as voiced hesitations occurred more frequently in the spontaneous-type discourses than in the reading. The interpretation of the results was based on Encrevé's (1988) model of liaison as well as on the prosodic domains of liaison (Selkirk 1984, 1986, De Jong 1990). Liaison was found to occur most frequently within the Clitic Group. However, liaison was infrequent, if not rare, in both the Small Phonological Phrase as well as the Maximal Phonological Phrase. Non-resyllabified liaisons in L2 speech occurred predominantly in the Clitic Group, contrary to the speech of native speakers, who only produce leftward syllabifications with optional liaisons, and never with obligatory liaisons (Encrevé 1988). Furthermore, it seems that for certain cases, FSL learners reanalysed floating consonants as fixed consonants, anchoring them to a skeletal position, producing, for example, 'il a les cheveux courts' [ku Rt]. The results have revealed that while liaison has in general been acquired, the main difference between native and FSL speakers is due to the nature of the error: L2 speakers have difficulties with word-final consonants which tend to be pronounced in non-liaison contexts.