This eightieth volume in the series on Modern French Identities focuses on the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence in various contexts and among different populations. Some of the studies deal with immersion (three chapters) and study abroad (two chapters) programs and come to the conclusion that sociolinguistic variation can only be acquired through intensive and extensive contact with native speakers (NS). A chapter by Dewaele highlights the differences in attitudes toward French between NS and nonnative speakers (NNS). The author notices that these differences fade as proficiency in NNS increases. The last chapter, by Regan and Ní Chasaide, examines the linguistic practices of recent Polish immigrants in France. Regan and Ní Chasaide observe that language transmission is particularly valued in the community in an effort to maintain intergenerational family relationships.
In the first of the immersion studies, Mougeon and Rehner attempt to “shed light on the notion of ‘nativelikeness’ in identifying which acquisition patterns are effective at post-secondary level” (p. 11)—that is, on how closely the level of proficiency attained by French immersion programs approaches that of NS. They show that the appropriate use of sociostylistic variants is linked to early exposure along with frequency, length, and intensity of contacts with NS. They also note that the inclusion of stylistic variants in teaching materials has little impact on the use of these variants in student speech. In the next chapter, Nadasdi, Mougeon, and Rehner focus specifically on how classroom input and student production align in terms of sociostylistic variants. They observe that informal variants are almost completely absent from classroom speech and that materials fail to provide clues about the sociolinguistic salience of variation. In contrast, Hélène Blondeau shows that sociolinguistic competence is acquired by Anglophones in Montreal who, following the Quiet Revolution of the 1970s, have had to adapt to the francophone majority and often had an economic interest in doing so. Blondeau insists on the fact that acquisition of linguistic community norms has come about through intense contacts and not through schooling.
The two study abroad articles concern Irish secondary students whose time in France ranged from a few weeks to an entire year. They confirm that interaction with real NS in the country is necessary for the acquisition of informal variants. Indeed, immersion programs in Ireland did not lead to such acquisition. Ní Chasaide and Ryan observe, however, that short experiences abroad are sometimes extended through instant messaging, which can maintain and sometimes extend the acquisition of variants.
The book, by and large, confirms extant research on the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence but also raises a number of questions. First, outsiders to Canadian reality could be surprised by the very restrictive definition of nativeness. Given that NS share a larger verbal repertoire than NNS, the tables presented in the book show that not all NS use the more colloquial variants, and conversely, some advanced NNS—especially Anglo-Montrealers—use them regularly, showing that the distinction between NS and NNS is at best blurred. Readers will wonder whether Canadian francophone NS actually expect NNS to use the same informal variants as they do. Even though Blondeau suggests that the notion of “feeling comfortable” corresponds to the “-emic” definition of sociolinguistic competence (p. 93), do notions of feeling comfortable and sociolinguistic competence necessarily involve the use of colloquialisms? This idea is, to a certain extent, quite disturbing. Second, this is definitely a book written by linguists. As a result, the question of identity is often underproblematized. For most authors, using colloquial language points to shifts of identity in second language learners, and a number of testimonies do indeed attest to that. However, is it possible that, for some NNS, convergence reflects not acts of identity but rather, as Labov (Reference Labov2001) argues concerning sound change, “the simple product of frequencies of interaction” (p. 191)?
As a whole, the articles in this book provide detailed and concrete pictures of real-life situations. They will be of interest to all readers and researchers who are interested in adopting sociolinguistic approaches in teaching.
