Emma Pavey

Date of Award

8-2001

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Linguistics

First Advisor

Daniel L. Everett

Abstract

This paper examines aspects of information structure in Acadian French, focusing on the use of detached (also referred to as 'moved' or 'dislocated') syntactic structures in the spoken language. The data is from interviews with Acadian French speakers and is analyzed using Role and Reference Grammar as a theoretical framework. One section of this paper also reviews existing literature on the subject. This study is innovative empirically in that it studies a Canadian variety of French which has not been significantly discussed previously in the literature on information structure nor within the RRG model. The detached clauses are subdivided into different types and their use is described and analyzed. This paper not only helps us understand the means of encoding information structure in the grammar of Acadian French speakers of Canada; it also serves as a basis for comparison and historical development in information structure as other researchers compare the results and analysis obtained in my study with those of studies on other varieties of French.

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