Pausing Preceding and Following "Que" in the Production of Native Speakers of French

Pausing strategies in read and spontaneous speech have been of significant interest for researchers since in literature it was observed that read speech and spontaneous speech pausing patterns do display some considerable differences. This, at least, is the case in the English language as it was pro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of applied linguistics 2011-01, Vol.14 (1), p.144-154
Main Authors: Genc, Bilal, Mavasoglu, Mustafa, Bada, Erdogan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Audio Equipment
Cartoons
Discourse Analysis
Form Classes (Languages)
French
Language Patterns
Native Speakers
Pausing
Teaching speaking/reading
Second language acquisition
French
Speech
Story Reading
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Summary:Pausing strategies in read and spontaneous speech have been of significant interest for researchers since in literature it was observed that read speech and spontaneous speech pausing patterns do display some considerable differences. This, at least, is the case in the English language as it was produced by native speakers. As to what may be the case in French, this study was conducted with a specific focus on the "que" particle. The study reports on the audio recordings produced by native speakers of French (NSF), and aims to identify different silent pausing strategies as they were employed by these speakers. The audio recordings were provided in a twofold procedure: while 17 NSF watched the French version of the animated cartoon, "Scrooge", and then commented on its various themes, 10 of these participants read a short story, "Les Jumeaux" aloud to a digital audio recorder. Considerable attention was given to pausing preceding (PP) and following (PF) the "que" particle in "que" phrases as well as to the duration of this particle. Obtained results display significant differences between pausing preceding and following "que" both in spontaneous and read speech. Pausing preceding "que" was observed to be significantly longer than the following position in read speech, in spontaneous speech, however, it was just the opposite. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)
ISSN:1481-868X
1920-1818