Future or Movement? The L2 Acquisition of Aller + V Forms

Pascale Leclercq

doi:10.3390/languages6010016

Abstract

This study aims to advance the understanding of the impact of the discursive context in the form-function mappings of aller + V forms by native speakers (NSs) and learners of French (NNSs), and to further knowledge about the developmental patterns of use of such forms at three proficiency levels (lower intermediate, upper intermediate, and advanced). While aller + V is often referred to as a periphrastic future form, i.e., a way to express temporal reference, it also takes a range of diverse semantic values (including spatial, aspectual, and modal values), and discursive functions. We therefore set out to examine data from a cross-sectional oral narrative and a longitudinal semi-guided interview task to find out to what extent aller + V forms are used by NSs and NNSs in a study abroad context. Our main results show that at lower intermediate level, spatial values dominate, while temporal and modal values emerge at upper intermediate and advanced levels. As regards the discursive functions of aller + V, learners make context appropriate choices (among others, narrative function in oral narratives, and stance-marking in interviews), but even at advanced level, their range of semantic values and discursive functions is more restricted than native speakers’.

Highlights

According to Athanasopoulos et al (2017), time and space are fundamental and inextricably linked concepts for human cognition
As a clear instance of the spatio-temporal metaphor, we examine the use of aller + V forms in the oral production of native speakers of French and English L2 learners of French
LI productions are much shorter than UI and A productions; surprisingly, UI narratives are slightly longer than advanced learners’ ( A learners were judged by the investigators as more accurate from a lexical, grammatical, and phonological viewpoint)

Summary

Introduction

According to Athanasopoulos et al (2017), time and space are fundamental and inextricably linked concepts for human cognition. As a clear instance of the spatio-temporal metaphor, we examine the use of aller + V forms in the oral production of native speakers of French and English L2 learners of French. 2017) and in an instructed context (Howard 2012) Their use seems to develop with L2 proficiency, especially in an immersion context, as a result of exposure to French native input. While most studies refer to aller + V forms as instances of periphrastic future, it is not always clear to what extent they encode spatial information (il va chercher l’échelle) or temporal information (il va essayer de donner la main à sa maîtresse) Michot and Pierrard (2017) observe that while

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