Principal Investigator: Raymond Mougeon

Description:

This research is centred on several issues previously examined in studies on the history of Quebec French (e.g., Poirier, 1975; Chauveau & Lavoie 1997, and Morin 1994) and European French (e.g., Ayres Bennett, 2004, Lodge 1993, 2004). However our research differs from these studies because of its special focus on linguistic variation and its examination of sources on the history of both European and Quebec spoken French.

In our research we focus on cases of variation observable in contemporary spoken European and/or Quebec French (e.g., the alternation je vas vs je vais 'I go') at the beginning of the 17th c. and we attempt to track the evolution of the variants during the last 400 years, e.g., check if they have been preserved or have disappered, or if their discursive frequency has changed. We also check into the possibility that new variants may have arisen during the period under study. Our research is primarily based on literary or non literary texts and especially on texts that provide an idea of popular speech, (e.g., comedies, farces, informal letters or diaries written by people with a low level of education).  Recent illustrations of this kind research include Martineau and Mougeon (2003) and King, Martineau and Mougeon (2011). The former is devoted to the deletion of negative particle ne  in Quebec and European French and the latter to the alternation of 1st plural pronouns je vs nous vs on. In both studies we chart the linguistic and sociolinguistic evolution of linguistic variation from the begining of the 17th c. to the present on both sides of the Atlantic.
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References

Ayres-Bennett, W. 2004. Sociolinguistic variation in seventeenth century France.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.

Chauveau, J.-P. & Lavoie, T. 1993. À propos des origines dialectales du français québécois. Revue de linguistique romane, 57. 373-420.

Morin, Y-C. 1994. Les sources historiques de la prononciation du français du Québec.  Dans R. Mougeon &  É. Beniak (dir.), Les origines du français au Québec. Québec: Les Presses de l'Université Laval, 199-236.

Lodge, A. 1993. French from dialect to standard. London: Routledge

Lodge, Anthony. 2004. A sociolinguistic history of Parisian French, Cambridge University Press.

Poirier, C. 1975. La prononciation québécoise ancienne d'après les graphies d'un notaire du XVII^e s. Dans M. Juneau & G. Straka (dir.). Travaux de linguistique québécoise, vol. 1. Québec: Les Presses de l'Université Laval, 193-256.
 

Publications

King, R., Martineau, F. & Mougeon, R. 2011. The interplay of internal and external factors in grammatical change: First-person plural pronouns in French, Language, 87, (3), 470-509. (ordre alphabétique des auteurs)

Martineau, F., King, R. & Mougeon R. 2004. L'usage des pronoms personnels sujet inclusifs de la 4e personne en français populaire hexagonal, québécois, et acadien: recherche sociolinguistique diachronique. Paper given at the international colloquium, Grammaire comparée des variétés de français d'Amérique, Université d'Avignon, 16-20 May.

Martineau, F. & Mougeon, R. 2003. Sociolinguistic research on the origins of ne deletion in European and Quebec French. Language, 79, (1), 118-152. 

Mougeon, R. 1996. Recherche sur les origines de la variation vas, m'as, vais en français québécois. Dans T. Lavoie (dir.), Français du Canada - Français de France, Tübingen: Niemeyer, 60-77.

Mougeon, R. 2000. Le français s'impose en Nouvelle-France. Dans M. Plourde (dir.). Le français au Québec: 400 d'histoire et de vie, Montréal: Fides and les Publications du Québec, 33-38.

Mougeon, R. 2000. Perspective sociolinguistique historique sur les usages morphosyntaxiques variationnels du québécois moderne. Paper given at the international colloquium, Grammaire comparé des variétés de français d'Amérique, Avignon, 14 November.

Mougeon, R. & Beniak, É. 1994. Présentation. Dans R. Mougeon & É. Beniak. (dir.). Les origines du français au Québec. Québec: Les Presses de l'Université Laval, 1-55.