Article published In: Language, Interaction and Acquisition
Vol. 10:2 (2019) ► pp.229–254
Le développement de l’expression du genre grammatical en français L2
Les cas de chose, famille, maison, nourriture et vie
Article language: French
Published online: 4 November 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.18010.edm
https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.18010.edm
Résumé
Les recherches portant sur l’acquisition de l’expression du genre grammatical en français langue seconde (L2) nous
montrent, entre autres, que les apprenants réussissent plus souvent à marquer le genre avec un nom masculin (vs. un nom féminin)
et sur les déterminants plutôt que sur les adjectifs. En revanche, il n’est pas clair si ces tendances générales s’appliquent de
la même manière à l’ensemble des noms, adjectifs et déterminants concernés. En d’autres termes, nous pouvons nous demander à quel
point l’expression du genre grammatical est déterminée par des spécificités lexicales. Est analysée, dans cette étude, l’évolution
du marquage en genre produit par un groupe de 20 apprenants britanniques du français L2 sur une période de 21 mois. Des
productions orales et écrites recueillies à trois périodes différentes ont été analysées, et le marquage en genre avec cinq noms
féminins fréquents – chose, famille, maison, nourriture, vie – a fait l’objet d’une étude approfondie. Les
résultats montrent que l’expression du genre grammatical se développe différemment avec ces cinq noms, résultat qui est interprété
à l’aide des approches basées sur l’usage.
Abstract
Research on the acquisition of gender marking in second language French has shown, among other things, that
learners succeed more often in marking gender in a target-like manner on masculine (vs. feminine) nouns and on determiners as
opposed to on adjectives. However, it remains unclear as to whether these general tendencies apply in similar fashion to all
nouns, adjectives, and determiners. In other words, it is fair to question to what extent gender marking may be determined by
lexical specificities. In the current study, the evolution of gender marking as produced by a group of 20 British learners of
French is analyzed, using data collected over 21 months. Oral and written productions collected at three points in time were
analyzed, and gender marking with five frequent feminine nouns (chose, famille, maison, nourriture, vie) was examined. Results
show that the expression of gender marking develops differently with these five nouns, and these findings are interpreted with the
help of insights from usage-based approaches to language learning.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Le cadre théorique et les recherches précédentes
- 2.1Les approches basées sur l’usage
- 2.2Le genre grammatical en français
- 2.3L’expression du genre grammatical en français L2
- 3.La présente étude
- 3.1Le corpus LANGSNAP
- 3.2Les participants
- 3.3L’analyse des données
- 3.4L’analyse : résultats et discussion
- 3.4.1L’expression du genre : Taux de réussite
- 3.4.2Une caractérisation des cinq noms dans un corpus de référence
- 3.4.3 Une caractérisation des usage events
- 3.4.4Bilan
- 4.Conclusion
- Remarques
Références
References (42)
Ågren, M. (2016). Apprendre l’orthographe profonde du français comme langue seconde/étrangère. Revue Française de Linguistique Appliquée,
21
(2). 95–108.
Ayoun, D. (2007). The second language acquisition of grammatical gender and agreement. In D. Ayoun (Ed.), French applied linguistics (pp. 130–170). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
(2010). Corpus data. Shedding the light on grammatical gender… or not. EUROSLA Yearbook,
10
1, 119–141.
(2018). Grammatical gender assignment in French: Dispelling the native speaker myth. Journal of French Language Studies,
28
(1), 113–148.
Bartning, I. (2000). Gender agreement in L2 French: Pre-advanced vs. advanced learners. Studia Linguistica,
54
1, 225–237.
Carroll, S. (1989). Second-language acquisition and the computational paradigm. Language Learning,
39
(4), 535–594.
Dewaele, J.-M., & Véronique, D. (2001). Gender assignment and gender agreement in advanced French interlanguage: A cross-sectional study. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition,
4
1, 275–297.
Diessel, H. (2016). Frequency and lexical specificity in grammar: A critical review. In H. Behrens & S. Pfänder (Eds.), Experience counts: Frequency effects in language (pp. 209–238). Berlin: De Gruyter.
Edmonds, A., & Gudmestad, A. (2018). Gender marking in written L2 French: Before, during, and after residence abroad. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education,
3
(1), 59–82.
Ellis, N. C. (2002). Frequency effects in language processing: A review with implications for theories of implicit and explicit language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition,
24
1, 143–188.
(2015). Cognitive and social aspects of learning from usage. In T. Cadierno & S. W. Eskildsen (Eds.), Usage-based perspectives on second language learning (pp. 49–73). Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton.
Ellis, N. C., Römer, U., & O’Donnell, M. B. (2016). Usage-based approaches to language acquisition and processing: Cognitive and corpus investigations of construction grammar. Malden, MA: Wiley.
Ellis, N. C., & Wulff, S. (2015). Usage-based approaches to SLA. In T. Cadierno & S. W. Eskildsen (Eds.), Usage-based perspectives on second language learning (pp. 75–93). Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton.
Eskildsen, S. W., & Cadierno, T. (2007). Are recurring multi-word expressions really syntactic freezes? Second language acquisition from the perspective of usage-based linguistics. In M. Nenonen & S. Niemi (Eds.), Collocations and idioms 1: Papers from the first Nordic conference on syntactic freezes, 2006 (pp. 86–99). Joensuu, Finland: Joensuu University Press.
Eskildsen, S., & Cadierno, T. (2015). Advancing usage-based approaches to L2 studies. In T. Cadierno & S. W. Eskildsen (Eds.), Usage-based perspectives on second language learning (pp. 1–16). Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton.
Finnemann, M. D. (1992). Learning agreement in the noun phrase: The strategies of three first-year Spanish students. International review of Applied Linguistics in Teaching,
30
(2), 121–136.
Foucart, A., & Frenck-Mestre, C. (2012). Can late L2 learners acquire new grammatical features? Evidence from ERPs and eye-tracking. Journal of Memory and Language,
66
1, 226–248.
Gaucher, D. (2015). Sémantique temporelle et accord du participe passé en français parlé : une analyse variationniste. Journal of French Language Studies,
25
1, 65–83.
Granfeldt, J. (2005). The development of gender attribution and gender concord in French: A comparison of bilingual first and second language learners. In J.-M. Dewaele (Ed.), Focus on French as a foreign language: Multidisciplinary approaches (pp. 164–190). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Hardison, D. M. (1992). Acquisition of grammatical gender in French: L2 learner accuracy and strategies. The Canadian Modern Language Review,
48
1, 292–306.
Harley, B. (1979). French gender ‘rules’ in the speech of English-dominant, French-dominant, and monolingual French speaking children. Working Papers in Bilingualism,
19
1, 129–156.
Holmes, V. M., & Dejean de la Bâtie, B. (1999). Assignment of grammatical gender by native speakers and foreign learners of French. Applied Psycholinguistics,
20
1, 479–506.
Hopp, H. (2016). Learning (not) to predict: Grammatical gender processing in second language acquisition. Second Language Research,
32
(2), 277–307.
Jach, D. (2018). A usage-based approach to preposition placement in English as a second language. Language Learning,
68
(1), 271–304.
Kupisch, T., Akpinar, D., & Stöhr, A. (2013). Gender assignment and gender agreement in adult bilinguals and second language learners of French. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism,
3
1, 150–179.
Linford, B., Long, A., Solon, M., & Geeslin, K. L. (2016). Measuring lexical frequency: Comparison groups and subject expression in L2 Spanish. In L. Ortega, A. E. Tyler, H. I. Park, & M. Uno (Eds.), The usage-based study of language learning and multilingualism (pp. 137–154). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Lyster, R. (2006). Predictability in French gender attribution: A corpus analysis. Journal of French Language Studies,
16
1, 69–92.
Mitchell, R., Myles, F., & Marsden, E. (2013). Second language learning theories. London: Routledge.
Mitchell, R., Tracy-Ventura, N., & McManus, K. (2017). Anglophone students abroad: Identity, social relationships, and language learning. London: Routledge.
Montrul, S., Foote, R., & Perpiñán, S. (2008). Gender agreement in adult second language learners and Spanish heritage speakers: The effects of age and context of acquisition. Language Learning,
58
(3), 503–553.
New, B., Brysbaert, M., Veronis, J., & Pallier, C. (2007). The use of film subtitles to estimate word frequencies. Applied Psycholinguistics,
28
1, 661–677.
Prodeau, M., & Carlo, C. (2002). Le genre et le nombre dans des tâches verbales complexes en français L2 : grammaire et discours. Marges linguistiques,
4
1, 165–174.
Surridge, M. E., & Lessard, G. (1984). Pour une prise de conscience du genre grammatical. La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,
41
1, 44–52.
Tracy-Ventura, N., McManus, K., Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2014). ‘Repeat as much as you can’: Elicited imitation as a measure of oral proficiency in L2 French. In P. Leclercq, A. Edmonds, & H. Hilton (Eds.), Measuring L2 proficiency: Perspectives from SLA (pp. 143–166). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Tucker, R., Lambert, W. E., & Rigault, A. (1977). The French speaker’s skill with grammatical gender: an example of rule-governed behavior. Paris: Mouton.
Tummers, J., Heylen, K., & Geeraerts, D. (2005). Usage-based approaches in cognitive linguistics: A technical state of the art. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory,
1–2
1, 225–261.
Tyler, A. E., & Ortega, L. (2018). Usage-inspired L2 instruction: An emergent, researched pedagogy. In A. E. Tyler, L. Ortega, M. Uno, & H. I. Park (Eds.), Usage-inspired L2 instruction: Researched pedagogy (pp. 3–26). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Cohen, Cathy & Erin Quirk
Thomas, Anita
2025. Researching L2 French input and instructed learning. In Approaches and Methods in French Second Language Acquisition Research [Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 9], ► pp. 261 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
