Native French Research Articles

Sentence pitch change detection in the native and unfamiliar language in musicians and non-musicians: Behavioral, electrophysiological and psychoacoustic study

Previous ERP studies have shown that musicians detect a pitch change in spoken sentences better than non-musicians in both native (French, Schön et al., 2004) and unfamiliar (Portuguese, Marques et al., 2007) language. The aim of the present study was to further investigate differences between musicians and non-musicians in processing pitch changes in spoken sentences. To study the effects of familiarity of intonational contour and of the presence of meaningful context, behavioral and electrophysiological data from Italian musicians and non-musicians were compared in a pitch incongruity detection task using sentences in the native (Italian) and foreign (French) language and in jabberwocky (meaningless sentences formed by pseudowords). Moreover, to examine whether these differences depend on enhanced auditory sensitivity to pitch, the frequency discrimination threshold (FDT) for tones was obtained using a psychophysical procedure. Musicians were more accurate than non-musicians in detecting small pitch changes in all languages showing a smaller response bias, as well as much lower FDTs than non-musicians. The ERP data revealed shorter latencies of a late positivity over parietal sites in musicians than in non-musicians for weak and strong incongruities. Overall results confirmed musicians' advantage in detection of subtle pitch changes not only with tones but also with speech sentences in both native and unfamiliar languages. Such effect appears to emerge from more efficient pitch analysis trained by musical experience.

Conversational management and pragmatic discrimination in foreign talk: Overlap in advanced L2 French

This exploratory study focuses on overlapping talk as a feature of conversational management in multi-participant talk in advanced learner (L2) French, in relation to native (L1) French and English. Objectives are twofold: to assess cross-cultural differences in the management of talk from the standpoint of learners, and to assess pragmatic adaptations to L1 French practices in advanced L2 French. Like previous studies of other interactional features in the same data (interruption with or without overlap and the discourse particle mais [but] as a turn-taking device), it points to differences in practice in L1 and L2 French, and highlights the limiting impact of processing demands on pragmatic discrimination in L2 French, resulting in differential adaptations to native French practices and a possible perpetuation of a-priori cultural thinking.

Reading, Writing & Correcting: Marguerite de Navarre’s Feministic Project in L’Heptaméron

Reading, Writing & Correcting: Marguerite de Navarre’s Feministic Project in L’Heptaméron Bendi Benson Schrambach (bio) There is no more apt illustration of the premise that books are unlike other objects for women than the one provided by Marguerite de Navarre. Upon reading a volume that she admired, this Renaissance woman of letters had it translated from Italian to her native French for dissemination to a greater readership. Indeed, the sister of the King of France was so inspired by Boccaccio’s Decameron, a collection of novellas, that she commenced work on her own version of the same. The fictional world inside her L’Heptaméron (1559), so named because unfinished at the time of Marguerite’s death, similarly highlights the special role of books for women. Not only does the author add two female storytellers to the group of ten (changing Boccaccio’s three to five) in order to increase the influence of feminine points of view, but each day, it is a woman of the group at Sarrance who leads the others in devotions through her reading of the Bible--this, despite the fact that the study of Scripture by the unordained was condemned by Church authorities.1 Yet Marguerite de Navarre does not demonstrate the special relationship between women and books simply by reading, encouraging the reading of and writing a book; with L’Heptaméron, the Queen unambiguously imitates the Decameron and its complex structure of framed narratives, thereby re-writing several conclusions implicit in this Italian masterpiece and giving voice to a feminist perspective.2 Following Boccaccio’s example, Marguerite’s storytellers, or devisants, set out to determine a common pastime. According to Parlamente, often cited from among the work’s protagonists as the voice of Marguerite within the collection, it will be necessary for this spontaneous gathering of genteel personages to find a diversion in order to “adoucir l’ennui que nous porterons durant notre longue demeure” (Navarre 45). Hircan’s wife outlines the dual objectives of the consummate communal activity sought: “Si nous n’avons quelque occupation plaisante et vertueuse, nous sommes en danger de demeurer [End Page 18] malades” (45). The depiction of Parlamente’s character as “never lazy nor melancholic” (45) ensures the soundness of her advice. Ennasuite, another of the women of the group, focuses on amusement, and concurs with Parlamente on the need for such a “plaisant exercice pour passer le temps” (45). Declaring, in its absence, the potential for tragedy, Ennasuite warns of the possible pernicious outcome of inaction: “autrement nous serions mortes le lendemain” (45). While her use of the conditional suggests her own confidence in their ability to avoid such a disastrous end, the feminine past participle employed to describe the fatal consequences confirms that it is women who would most suffer--even die--if deprived of such a merry vocation. By both characterizations, it is the dread of boredom resulting in illness or even death (for the women of the group) that inspires the pastime of storytelling in L’Heptaméron.3 Although two full centuries and one border removed, the King’s sister places her collection directly and explicitly in the literary tradition of the Decameron. Her use of the famous Boccaccian structure unmistakably announces its model. As Marguerite’s readers would have undoubtedly heard of her illustrious predecessor, her specific mention of Boccaccio’s work is not especially surprising. What becomes noteworthy, then, is Marguerite’s specified modification. One rule is assigned to the storytellers of the monastery in Sarrance: they must tell “true” stories, of which they were a witness or heard first-hand.4 This stipulation suggests an implicit rejection of the authority of the Boccaccian model. Mihoko Suzuki contends moreover that the rule to tell only “véritables histoires” establishes the “correction” of Boccaccio as Marguerite’s objective from the outset (231). To a far greater degree than her Italian counterpart, the Queen of Navarre desired her tales to be instructive. Luigi Monga suggests that whereas “Boccaccio’s enjoyment in storytelling makes his moral lesson largely parenthetical to his narrative setting. . . Marguerite, instead, is constantly and solely attentive to the educational values of the material that she selects. . .” (131...

Preliminary Data on the Effect of Culture on the Assessment of Alzheimer's Disease-Related Verbal Memory Impairment with the International Shopping List Test

The International Shopping List Test (ISLT) is a measure of verbal learning and memory, developed specifically for use in people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In this report, we describe two studies that examined the ISLT's ability to detect memory impairment and memory decline in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) from a range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In Study 1, the performance of Australian-English-speaking adults with mild AD was compared with that of native Australian-English- and Korean-speaking patients with mild AD. Compared with controls, patients with AD from both language groups showed large but equivalent impairments in total recall, delayed recall, rate of learning, and primacy and retention-weighted recall (RWR) measures on the ISLT. In Study 2, the rate of deterioration in verbal memory over 1 year was examined in groups of native Canadian-English, French, and Korean speakers with mild AD using the total recall, delayed recall, and RWR measures. Rates of change on all three measures were equivalent across the language groups, although the magnitude of deterioration was most pronounced for the total recall and RWR measures. Taken together, these results suggest that the ISLT is valid and reliable for the assessment of verbal learning and memory impairment and decline in patients with mild AD from diverse language groups.

Death in the New World: Cross-Cultural Encounters, 1492-1800 (review)

Reviewed by: Death in the New World: Cross-Cultural Encounters, 1492-1800 Amy Coffman Murray (bio) Death in the New World: Cross-Cultural Encounters, 1492-1800. By Erik R. Seeman. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010. Pp. 384. $45.00 cloth) The question "how do you bury your dead?" is central to Erik R. Seeman's Death in the New World: Cross-Cultural Encounters, 1492-1800. Through an examination (or, perhaps, in this case, a dissection) of deathways, Seeman seeks to explain how New World inhabitants found a common ground through deathways and how shared knowledge of deathways was used both to create alliances and exploit cultural fears within a rival's culture of death. Seeman's work articulates well into a recent resurgence of scholarly interest dedicated to death and deathways. The culture surrounding death gained much scholarly attention in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the seminal publications of David Stannard's Puritan Way of Death in 1979, followed by Phillip Aries's The Hour of Our Death in 1982. These works created a strong interest in historical perspectives [End Page 259] on death and provided an undercurrent throughout many articles and monographs despite the relative dearth of scholarship for nearly two decades. In 2008, Drew Gilpin Faust's This Republic of Suffering resurrected death as a scholarly interest and discussed how the Civil War altered the American views of death and mortality. Faust's Pulitzer-Prize-nominated work returned the scholarly gaze to death. Seeman's work fits well within this resurgence of interest, focusing on the culture that came well before soldiers fell at Fort Sumter and forever changed death in the American mind. Seeman focuses upon first contact between Native Americans and Europeans to roughly the turn of the nineteenth century, ending with the War of 1812. The bulk of his work encompasses the lateseventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. He builds upon Stannard's regional work, filling out the Eastern Seaboard by looking into perspectives on death by each of the settlers of the region—Native American, Spanish, French, African, and English. He discusses how Old World traditions were reformed in the New World and how cultures both melded and clashed in the new territories. Moving roughly chronologically, Seeman discusses each new group of settlers and their deathways in America, and how ideas either migrated with settlers or were left on European shores to be reformed anew in America. To augment his arguments, Seeman mined a variety of sources—from contemporary writings on the subject, to illustrations, archaeology, and material goods. Seeman artfully combined his selection of sources in combination with an interesting narrative to offer an encompassing, engrossing perspective on death and deathways. Of particular note is Seeman's ability to interpret cross-cultural interactions within the New World. Seeman artfully explores different cultures and their similarities and differences, giving the reader a heightened perspective of both cultures. When juxtaposed against completely foreign cultures, European, African, and Native American cultures, religions, and deathways become all the more stark in contrast and allow for an interesting perspective into life and death within these cultures. However, as a result of the massive task he [End Page 260] undertook, Seeman was able to engage only the first few layers of each culture, leaving a wealth underneath to be mined. Seeman was able to articulate many of the finer points for a cross-cultural comparison, while leaving scholars with many questions left unanswered and open to exploration in future works and research. Seeman's holistic glimpse into early American deathways is a welcome addition to the existing literature, and hopefully will spur future scholars to action with further research into the topic. The encompassing nature of his book offers a supreme overview of a vital topic and should act as a starting point for even more in-depth studies from future scholars inspired by his work. Amy Coffman Murray Amy Coffman Murray received her master's degree from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Her thesis, "To the Memory of Sweet Infants: Eighteenth-Century Commemorations of Child Death in Tidewater, Virginia," discussed how parents remembered deceased infants and children, juxtaposed against the evolving concept of childhood across the...

French and Jewish: Culture and the Politics of Identity in Early Twentieth Century France (review)

Reviewed by: French and Jewish: Culture and the Politics of Identity in Early Twentieth Century France Sanford Gutman French and Jewish: Culture and the Politics of Identity in Early Twentieth Century France, by Nadia Malinovich. Portland: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2008. 280 pp. $49.50. Nadia Malinovich takes on some big questions that have interested French Jewish historians for at least a generation. Did Jewish particularism become as important to Franco-Judaism in the 1920s as was the universalist ethic that had dominated French Jewish identity since the nineteenth century? And was this new particularist identity shared by native French Jewish intellectuals as well as immigrant writers and artists? Was French-Jewish identity substantively different than German-Jewish identity by the late 1920s? Malinovich answers affirmatively to all these questions. I am more skeptical. Malinovich's French and Jewish focuses on Jewish literary and artistic "ideology" from the Dreyfus Affair to 1932. She restricts herself to this time period because she argues that the ideology of French Jewish intellectuals shifted significantly after World War I when antisemitism in France decreased. She stops her analysis in 1932, presumably, when antisemitism began to rage again in France. Malinovich distinguishes herself from other historians of French Jews who, she maintains, find a continuing synthesis between French and Jewish values from the French Revolution to 1940. Malinovich sees an "awakening" or "renaissance" of Jewish life and identity in the 1920s that amounts to a "unique period" that recognizes a Jewish ethno-cultural self definition alongside a belief in French universalism. Malinovich sets the stage for her argument by discussing the origins of "Franco-Judaism" in the nineteenth century. In the first part of the century, French Jews saw themselves primarily as loyal Frenchmen who practiced Judaism as their private faith. Judaism was portrayed as a prophetic, rational religion that offered "light upon the nations." Most Jews saw the Third Republic as a final victory for universal principles and legal equality, perfectly in consonance with Judaism even if the actual life of French Jews reflected a more particularist ethnic solidarity. The Dreyfus Affair brought a tension in Jewish identity, but even while many Jewish writers and intellectuals awakened to their Jewish roots, their pro-Dreyfus arguments were still couched in humanitarian, universalist terms. [End Page 191] The period stretching from just after the Dreyfus Affair through World War I was one of transition for Malinovich. Although very different from one another, the rise of French Zionism, Reform Judaism, and a revived traditionalism "all agreed on wanting to create a vibrant, modern Jewish culture." Malinovich argues that in part because of East European immigration into France and in part because of racial antisemitism, the Jewish ideologies that arose in the pre-war period increasingly portrayed Jews in ethnic terms, while not abandoning the universalist, integrationist arguments. For Zionism, the nationalist or ethnic perspective of Jewish peoplehood is obvious, but even the new Reform movement and a renewed orthodoxy argued that the French Republic was particularly equipped to understand and appreciate minorities. This near multicultural perspective might be wishful thinking, but, according to Malinovich, it was propagated by these new Jewish movements. During the first World War these movements were consolidated as new youth groups, magazines, and educational and literary societies increasingly challenged the relegation of Jewish identity to the private sphere. The concluding four chapters deal with the main argument of the book. Here, Malinovich traces the definitive shift to a distinctive Jewish cultural identity in the 1920s made possible by the decrease in antisemitism. These chapters, among the most original in terms of research, demonstrate that Jewish writers and intellectuals felt comfortable in writing about Jews and exploring Jewish identity. Still, as Malinovich observes, this emphasis of Jewish themes was a source of both optimism and anxiety, reflecting the continued tension and anxiety of Jews in France. Malinovich concludes her book with a chapter summarizing the "reshaping of Franco-Judaism, 1920–1932." She argues that during this period French Jewish identity had completed its shift from an identity based primarily on the private practice of religion to one that gave equal weight to Jewish particularism and integration into the larger French society. As Malinovich...

Perception and production of French close and close-mid rounded vowels by Japanese-speaking learners

A series of three experiments were conducted to examine the behaviour of Japanese-speaking learners of French (JSL) concerning the perception and production of French /u/, /y/ and /o/, compared with English-speaking learners of French, in order to examine how L2 (second language) vowels which do not have phonemic and/or phonetic equivalents in L1 (native language) are acquired by learners.The results indicate that JSL tend to produce French /u/ with a high F2 (> 1000 Hz), which is heard as /o/ by native French (NF) listeners. They suggest that French /u/ is considered by JSL as phonemically similar to Japanese /u/ (as a high back vowel) and produced as such, while the phonetic realisation of French /u/ is new and different; and that /y/ is considered as both phonemically and phonetically new, and /o/ as phonemically new but phonetically (acoustically) similar. Phonemically similar but phonetically new vowels seem to be most difficult to learn to produce accurately for foreign/second language learners.

Interview with Jacques Bwira Hope Primary School Kampala, Uganda

Jacques Bwira arrived in Uganda in 2000, having fled the violent conflict in his native country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Though he had trained and worked as a teacher in Congo, he feared that speaking only French would prevent him from making a living in his new home. The police officer who interrogated Jacques on arrival in the capital city of Kampala took him to a flat rented by a Catholic priest who often hosted refugees. Jacques agreed to begin teaching the children of other refugees in his native French in exchange for a place to live. Emerging from a small operation serving a handful of neighbors, the Hope Primary School, of which Jacques is the founding director, now serves 217 refugee and Ugandan national children. Through hard work, advocacy, and community support, Jacques and the staff of Hope Primary School have been able to purchase land and build a permanent school—the only Ugandan school for refugees located outside a refugee camp. In this interview,editors from the Harvard Educational Review spoke with Jacques about the school's development, the community it serves, and its struggles and accomplishments.

The Scratch of a Pen, 1763, and the Transformation of North America (review)

Reviewed by: The Scratch of a Pen, 1763, and the Transformation of North America Robert Englebert Calloway, Colin G. —The Scratch of a Pen, 1763, and the Transformation of North America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Pp. 219. For a book focused almost exclusively on the events of one year, 1763, Colin G. Calloway's latest work leaves the reader with an in-depth look at a far larger piece of North American colonial history. In fact, few books attempt so much by taking on so little. Calloway begins with the seemingly simple task of examining the events surrounding the peace of 1763. In doing so, he opens a methodological Pandora's box, tackling a myriad of contradictions surrounding the theme of [End Page 621] change. Stopping short of calling 1763 a complete fissure, he effectively navigates a sea of complexities, discussing the profound changes that resulted from the Treaty of Paris, while reminding us of the limits of change, bound by the intersecting lines of social continuity. After all, empires could be exchanged and the maps of North America redrawn with the scratch of a pen, but life on the ground was not nearly as quick to bend to the whims of imperial grand designs. As Calloway reminds us, "Family was more important than empire, prayer more important than political power, weather more important than world news" (p. 42). Calloway's book begins by depicting the diversity of North America in 1763. Native peoples, British and French settlers, African and Creole slaves, and Spanish administrators are presented in an opening chapter that emphasizes inter-connectivity and mobility over isolation and a sedentary lifestyle. Calloway argues that North America was a world of villages and towns connected to both the back country and the Atlantic. This interconnection between both sides of the Appalachians is highlighted by Philadelphia, which, Calloway explains, owed its growth to its ability to look both East and West. Chapters 2 through 4 focus on the repercussions of the Treaty of Paris on the Native peoples of North America and, more specifically, of the Ohio Valley. This is perhaps the strongest section of the book. The author poignantly reminds the reader that, despite concessions of the French, the Native peoples were as yet undefeated. The contest for Native lands only increased as the peace brought British soldiers and settlers into more regular contact with Native peoples. Calloway effectively details how increased pressures along the Appalachian frontier and British policy changes regarding gift-giving led to the general degeneration of relations. Moreover, his treatment of Pontiac's War as the "First War of Independence" grants power and agency to the Native peoples, escaping the trap that has ensnared so many historians, in which knowledge of the final outcome camouflages the unknown. Calloway reminds us that nothing was certain in 1763, least of all European victory over a formidable enemy. Chapters 5 through 7 focus on French North America after the fall of New France, including the maintenance of French social continuity in Canada and the Illinois Country, the political adjustments in Louisiana, and the dispersal and exile of the Acadians and Jesuits. Though these chapters deal with politics, religion, social norms, native relations, change, and continuity, Calloway manages to create a coherent narrative. In fact, one of the remarkable achievements of this book is its ability to weave together disparate primary and secondary sources to create a bridge between historiographies. As David Hackett Fischer so aptly describes in the editor's note, "It links the events and contingencies of political and diplomatic history to the processes and structures of social and cultural history" (p. xi). The author ostensibly seeks to reincorporate the narratives of neglected peoples into the grand narrative, and the primary beneficiaries of this interpretation are the Native peoples and the French inhabitants of North America. If there is one major critique, it is that the contents sometimes fall short of the lofty ambitions set out in the introduction. For example, the salience of mobility [End Page 622] and social continuity on the ground is never fully delivered in chapter 5 on French North America. Both the introduction and the first page of chapter 5 create...

Kinesiophobia and symptomatology in chronic fatigue syndrome: A psychometric study of two questionnaires

The aims of the study were to examine the reliability of the Dutch and French versions of the Tampa scale kinesiophobia (TSK) version chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and to examine the reliability and validity of the Dutch and French versions of the CFS symptom list. Repeated-measures design. Native Dutch speakers (N=100) and native French (N=48) speakers fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for CFS were asked to list the five most important symptoms and to complete the TSK-CFS, the CFS symptom list, and the Short Form 36 Health Status Survey or SF-36. A modified version of the TSK-CFS and the CFS symptom list was filled in within 24 hours of the first assessment. The French and Dutch version of the TSK-CFS and CFS symptom lists displayed good reliability (ICC>or=.83). The CFS symptom list was internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha>or=.93) and concurrently valid with the SF-36. For the native Dutch and French speakers, respectively, 82 and 78% of the self-reported symptoms matched the content of CFS symptom list. The results are in support of the psychometric properties of the French and Dutch versions of both the TSK-CFS and the CFS symptom list for assessing kinesiophobia and symptom severity, respectively.

A Comparison of the Attitudes of Learners, Instructors, and Native French Speakers About the Pronunciation of French: An Exploratory Study

The stereotype has it that native French Speakers are annoyed by foreign Speakers' errors in pronunciation. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess beliefs about the importance of accurate pronunciation in French held by three afferent groups: (1) 73 second‐ and third‐semester students of French at a large midwestern research university in the United States, (2) 16 nonnative‐speaker instructors of French at the same institution, and (3) 24 native Speakers of French living in France. In a fall Semester, each of the three groups received near mirror‐image versions of a questionnaire, ranging from 33 items (for the learners) to 29 items (for the instructors) to 26 items (for the native French Speakers) in true/false format. Acknowledging that attitudes toward foreign accents might be language‐ and nationality‐specific, all questions pertained to Americans speaking French. Percentages were calculated, and corresponding questions on all three questionnaires were grouped according to theme, then compared and cross‐referenced with participants' backgrounds. Generally, this study revealed a gap between the attitudes of hypothetical native Speakers, promoted in teaching on the one hand, and the attitudes professed by real native Speakers on the other hand. The results of this study discredit the myth that native French Speakers have a low tolerance for an American accent in French. Instructors, and nonnative Speaker instructors specifically, need to project more realistic goals and refrain from misinforming their students that a perfect native‐like pronunciation is vital to successful communication with native Speakers.

Diet Quality of North African Migrants in France Partly Explains Their Lower Prevalence of Diet-Related Chronic Conditions Relative to Their Native French Peers , ,3

Mediterranean migrant men living in France have lower mortality and morbidity than local-born populations for nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases (NR-NCD). We studied diet quality and its influence on NR-NCD in Tunisian migrants compared with 2 nonmigrant male groups: local-born French and nonmigrant Tunisians, using a retrospective cohort study. We performed quota sampling (n = 147) based on age and place of residence. Using logistic regression models, components of the Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I) were tested as potential mediators for the effect of migration on overweight, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, type-2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The total DQI-I score revealed good overall diet quality (∼60/100) for all groups. Migrants scored higher than the French in variety, adequacy, and moderation and lower than Tunisians in overall balance. Migrants displayed a lower prevalence of overweight than French, lower prevalence of diabetes and CVD than Tunisians, and lower prevalence of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia than the 2 nonmigrant groups. No mediator was found for overweight. Diet adequacy, fruits, and vitamin C were mediators of the difference in hypercholesterolemia between migrants and French and the effect on hypertension was mediated by diet adequacy and fiber. Compared with Tunisians, the effect of migration on hypercholesterolemia was mediated by saturated fat. No mediator was found for hypertension, diabetes, or CVD. Despite increasing NR-NCD levels in both France and Tunisia, migrants appear to have conserved some healthy dietary characteristics that partly explain their difference in NR-NCD with local-born French, but other lifestyle factors may contribute to the favorable effect of migration.

God and Man in the French Riots

Abstract During the French riots in October–November 2005, the cry of Allah Akbar (“God Is Great”) resonated in some neighborhoods. Was the Republic being defied by militant Islam? Most French specialists on urban problems assert that Islam had nothing whatever to do with the riots. The chant was launched by conservative clerics, they point out, who were brushed aside subsequently. The fault lies with the native French, they continue, who have failed to welcome Muslims and other emigrants from the third world. However, other French observers have suggested that Muslims share at least some of the blame for the relative failure of the integration process compared to success with previous waves of immigration. They believe that there have emerged in France two nationalisms, or separate senses of communal identity (native French and Muslim). French Muslims are both integrating and rebelling, in what proportion is not yet clear. Developments in France mirror global relations between the West and Islam. The overriding conflict of the postcold-war world is being played out and can be studied to good effect in the country that hosts the largest Arab-Muslim population of the Western world.

Dental-to-velar perceptual assimilation: A cross-linguistic study of the perception of dental stop+/l/ clusters

French listeners perceive illegal /tl/ and /dl/ clusters as legal /kl/ and /gl/, suggesting that /dl, tl/ undergo "phonotactic perceptual assimilation" to the phonetically most similar permissible clusters [Hallé et al., J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. (1998)]. However, without a comparison to native speakers of a language allowing initial /tl, dl/, other explanations remain open (e.g., universal phonetic biases). Experiment 1 compared native French and Hebrew listeners on perception of Hebrew /tl/-/kl/ and /dl/-/gl/. On a language-specific phonotactics account, these contrasts should be difficult for listeners whose language disallows initial /tl, dl/ while allowing /kl, gl/ (French), but not for listeners whose language permits all four clusters (Hebrew). Indeed, French but not Hebrew listeners showed difficulty discriminating /tl/-/kl/, and tended to categorize the initial consonant of /tl/ as /k/; analogous effects for /dl/-/gl/ were weaker. Experiment 2 tested speakers of American English, which also disallows initial /tl, dl/ but realizes stop-voicing differently than French or Hebrew, to examine possible contributions of language-specific phonetic settings. Their performance was similar to that of French listeners, though they had significantly greater difficulty with /dl-/gl/. The results support the proposal of language-specific phonotactic perceptual assimilation, with modest contributions from language-specific phonetic settings.

Segmented assimilation in France? Discrimination in the labour market against the second generation

We test ideas about segmented assimilation that have developed in the U.S. context on the second generation in France. Using data from the Génération 98 survey of school leavers, we are able to investigate ethnic differences in the processes of labour-market entry. We find that groups who come from former French colonies and/or are dominated by Muslims are substantially, if not severely, disadvantaged. By and large, they enter the labour market with educational credentials that are on average below those of the native French, but their much higher levels of unemployment cannot be explained by educational differences. They believe that they have suffered from discrimination in the hiring process, and their reports have a strong plausibility. Yet the mechanisms driving segmented assimilation that have been adduced in the U.S. context are of problematic relevance to France. For instance, many respondents believe that ethnic markers such as names are more responsible than skin color for the discrimination they face. The analysis suggests that the discussion of incorporation concepts in the U.S. would benefit from the inclusion of other immigration societies.

Writing as a form of 'survival' in Franco-America Translingualism, memory and identity in Robert B. Perreault and Normand Beaupré

An issue lying at the core of analyses of ethnic writing is the way that the question of identity often generates a dialogue between writing and being. American literature in languages other than English engages with this dialogue, though the nature of this engagement is rarely given appropriate recognition in American Studies. As a step towards redressing this neglect, this article focuses on two contemporary Franco-American writers, both third-generation immigrants, Normand Beaupré and Robert B. Perreault, who choose to write in the language of their ancestors, French. In doing so, they not only cope with a pride rooted in la survivance, the ideology that used to define their community, but also attempt to link their narrative to a Québec storytelling tradition. In choosing to express themselves in their native French, they try to demarginalize it and to bring their native voice back to the center. Their works also aim at tackling the issue of code-switching, of working with a mixed and impure language – an issue which has forced many Franco-American novelists to write in English rather than in French.

Unadapted behaviour of native, dominant ant species during the colonization of an aggressive, invasive ant

AbstractAmong the factors driving the invasive success of non‐indigenous species, the “escape opportunity” or “enemy release” hypothesis argues that an invader's success may result partly from less resistance from the new competitors found in its introduced range. In this study, we examined competitive interactions between the little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata (Roger) and ant species of the genus Pheidole in places where both are native (French Guiana) and in places where only species of Pheidole are native (New Caledonia). The experimental introduction of W. auropunctata at food resources monopolized by the Pheidole species induced the recruitment of major workers only for the Guianian Pheidole species, which were very effective at killing Wasmannia competitors. In contrast, an overall decrease in the number of Pheidole workers and no recruitment of major workers were observed for the New Caledonian species, although the latter were the only ones able to kill the Wasmannia workers. These results emphasize the inappropriate response of native dominant New Caledonian species to W. auropunctata and, thus, the importance of enemy recognition and specification in the organization of ant communities. This factor could explain how invasive animal species, particularly ants, may be able to successfully invade species‐rich communities.

Perception of French stops by French and American English speakers

This study examined how native French and native American English speakers perceive edited and unedited word-initial stops produced by two monolingual Parisian speakers. Most words used in this study exist in both languages, yet are produced differently. Listeners were asked to identify the initial stops of French monosyllabic words recorded in isolation. The words were unedited (condition A), edited (condition B), and whispered (condition C). In condition A, words were produced in isolation at modal vocal intensity. In condition B, voicing lead was removed from words beginning with /b, d, g/, and in condition C, words were naturally whispered. Participants were asked to listen to each stimulus and then identify the initial consonant (b, d, g, p, t, k). Statistical analyses show that native French speakers performed significantly better than native American English speakers on identification of the word initial consonant in condition A (unedited words spoken at modal vocal intensity). In condition B (voicing lead removed from words produced at modal vocal intensity), native American English speakers performed significantly better than the native French speakers. Finally, both language groups were equally impaired in condition C (whispered speech). Errors were analyzed as a function of the listener’s language phonetic inventory.

On the second language acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by French- and English-speaking adults

This study, a partial replication of Bruhn de Garavito (1999a; 1999b), investigates the second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by French- and English-speaking adults at an advanced level of proficiency. The L2 acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by native French and English speakers instantiates a potential learnability problem, because (1) the constructions are superficially very similar ( se V DP) but display distinct idiosyncratic morphological and syntactic behaviour; (2) neither exists in English, and the reflexive impersonal does not exist in French; and (3) differences between the two are typically not subject to explicit instruction. Participants - 13 English, 16 French and 27 Spanish speakers (controls) - completed a 64-item grammaticality-judgement task. Results show that L2 learners could in general differentiate grammatical from ungrammatical items, but they performed significantly differently from the control group on most sentence types. A look at the participants’ accuracy rates indicates that few L2 learners performed accurately on most sentence types. Grammatical and ungrammatical test items involving [+animate] DPs preceded or not by the object-marking preposition a were particularly problematic, as L2 learners judged them both as grammatical. These results confirm that the L2 acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by French- and English-speaking adults instantiates a learnability problem, not yet overcome at an advanced level of proficiency.

Native language and Internet usage

This article explores the relationship between native language and use of the Internet. I study this issue empirically using a unique data set on Internet use at the individual level in Quebec. The results suggest that most Quebecois are using the web intensively in English. Furthermore, the difference between native French and native English speakers in the use of the Internet in English is relatively small for the younger generation. To the extent that the younger generation drives the dynamics of the Internet, the results provide support for the hypothesis that English will retain its first mover advantage of a large installed base of English language websites.