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On the role of the present indicative in variable future-time reference in Hexagonal French

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2017

Aarnes Gudmestad ,
Amanda Edmonds ,
Bryan Donaldson  and
Katie Carmichael
Aarnes Gudmestad*
Affiliation:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Amanda Edmonds*
Affiliation:
Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3
Bryan Donaldson*
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Katie Carmichael*
Affiliation:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
*
agudmest@vt.edu
amanda.edmonds@univ-montp3.fr
badonald@ucsc.edu
katcarm@vt.edu
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Abstract

This article investigates variable future-time expression among native speakers of Hexagonal French who participated in informal conversations. The quantitative analysis is the first to examine the inflectional future, periphrastic future, and present indicative as separate forms within a single statistical model of French oral production. Results indicate that temporal distance and presence/absence of a temporal expression predict use of these verb forms. The second phase of the analysis focused on the use of the present indicative in future-time contexts. The examination of each instance of the present indicative shows that an immediate lexical temporal indicator is not necessary for this form to convey futurity and that future-time reference is often established at the discourse level and occasionally through apparent shared knowledge between the interlocutors. This investigation suggests the value of including the present indicative in the analysis of future-time reference in Hexagonal French in order to fully capture variation.

Résumé

Cet article étudie l'expression variable du futur chez des locuteurs natifs du français hexagonal participant à des conversations informelles. Cette analyse quantitative est la première à étudier le futur flexionnel, le futur périphrastique et l'indicatif présent à l'intérieur d'un même modèle statistique de production orale française. Les résultats indiquent que la distance temporelle et la présence ou l'absence d'une expression temporelle prédisent l'utilisation de ces formes verbales. La deuxième phase de l'analyse a porté sur l'utilisation de l'indicatif présent dans les contextes futurs. L'analyse de chaque exemple du présent démontre que la présence d'un indicateur temporel lexical immédiat n'est pas nécessaire pour que cette forme puisse référer au futur, et que la référence au futur s'établit souvent au niveau du discours et parfois par une connaissance partagée apparente entre les interlocuteurs. Cette enquête suggère que pour saisir pleinement la variation, il convient d'inclure l'indicatif présent dans l'analyse de la référence du futur, pour le cas du français hexagonal.

Keywords

future-time referencepresent indicativeHexagonal Frenchvariationtemporalityréférence au futurindicatif présentfrançais hexagonalvariationtemporalité
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 63 , Issue 1 , March 2018 , pp. 42 - 69
Copyright
© Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2017 

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