Regard sur quelques facteurs de sélection des subordonnants relatifs du français par des apprenants norvégiens

Abstract

Acquisition of relative is subject to the Accessibility Hierarchy developed by Keenan and Comrie (1977), and should not be subject to mother tongue transfer effects, even if these are documented. The tension between transfer and hierarchy is therefore explored on the basis of the acquisition of French relatives by Norwegian learners. These are interesting because Norwegian has a different relative system from French, and Norwegian speakers are generally multilingual, multiplying the sources of transfer. The guided and free productions of beginner and intermediate Norwegian learners make it possible to establish not only the error rate, but also the position of the erroneous relative on the accessibility hierarchy. However, the relatives used incorrectly are not necessarily more accessible in the hierarchy than the relative which should be used. There are nonetheless potential interfering effects from the animacy value of the antecedent.