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Article published In: Language, Interaction and Acquisition
Vol. 12:2 (2021) ► pp.251–283

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Second language acquisition of evidentiality in French and English in a narrative task

 | University of Montpellier 3
 | University of Montpellier 3
Published online: 31 January 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.20025.lec
Abstract
Evidentiality, i.e. the linguistic encoding of the mode of access to information (direct perception, inference, hearsay), despite not being fully grammaticalized in English and French, is expressed through a variety of means. This paper seeks to determine how a relatively non-salient concept in the source and target languages can be acquired by L2 learners. Using an oral elicited narrative task, we determine what markers of direct perception and inference are commonly used by native speakers of French (n = 10) and English (n = 10) and L2 learners of those two languages (at three levels of proficiency, n = 10 per group), and at which level they emerge. Our results point to a much more frequent use of inferential markers than direct perception markers, to slightly different patterns of evidential marking in French and in English, and to a late emergence of evidential markers in the speech of learners, who display sensitivity to their discursive functions, with types and tokens increasing as a function of proficiency level.
Résumé
Bien que l’évidentialité, c’est-à-dire l’encodage du mode d’accès à l’information (par perception directe, inférence ou ouï -dire), ne soit une notion grammaticalisée ni en français ni en anglais, ce concept est exprimé à travers une grande diversité de moyens linguistiques. Dans ce travail, nous tentons de déterminer si un concept non saillant dans les langues source et cible peut être acquis par des apprenants L2. A l’aide d’une tâche de narration orale semi-guidée, nous déterminons quels marqueurs de perception directe et d’inférence sont communément utilisés par des locuteurs francophones (n = 10) et anglophones (n = 10) natifs ainsi que par des apprenants adultes de ces deux langues (à trois niveaux, n = 10 pour chaque groupe), et à quel niveau ces marqueurs émergent. Nos résultats indiquent un marquage plus fréquent de l’inférence que de la perception directe, de légères différences dans la manière d’exprimer l’évidentialité en français et en anglais, et l’émergence tardive de ces marqueurs dans les productions des apprenants (la diversité de types et tokens augmentant avec le niveau de langue). Finalement les apprenants semblent sensibles aux fonctions discursives des marqueurs étudiés.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1What is evidentiality?
    • 2.2Discursive approaches
      • 2.2.1Discursive functions of direct perception evidentials in English and French
      • 2.2.2Inferential evidentials in English and French
  • 3.Second language acquisition of evidentiality
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Film retelling task eliciting narrative discourse
    • 4.2Participants
    • 4.3Coding scheme
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Quantitative analysis
      • 5.1.1Database description
      • 5.1.2Speakers’ choice of evidential category
    • 5.2Qualitative analysis
      • 5.2.1Direct perception
      • 5.2.2Inferential markers
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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