French second language learners' acquisition of the sequence aller plus infinitive: Movement, aspect and tense

This article reports on the development of a particular TAM (tense, aspect, modality) sequence in L2 French (FL2): aller+infinitive. Studies of the acquisition of FL2 regularly point to the frequency of the structure “aller+ infinitive” in the learners’ interlanguage from a relatively early acquisitional stage onwards. The sequence in question is nonetheless often too readily iden- tified with the futur périphrastique or futur proche, which leads researchers to assume that the futur périphrastique is productive at an early stage of the acquisitional process, even much sooner than the futur simple and approxi- mately at the same developmental stage as the emergence of the passé composé. In this study we analyze the quantitative development of the sequence aller + infinitive in the oral productions of three groups of Dutch-speaking lear- ners of FL2, as well as the semantic value(s) expressed by this sequence. Does it really (only) express the future, from an early acquisitional stage onwards? The FL2 data are also compared to the oral productions of a native speaker bench- mark group.

Jaar van publicatie:2017

Trefwoorden:FL2 acquisition, form-function mapping, movement, TAM

Auteurs:Regional

Toegankelijkheid:Closed