Report on the Perception of Prepositions 'sur' and 'à' in Relation to Social and Semantic Contexts

Thèmes abordés

Preposition, semantic context, preposition sur, preposition à, method, results, discussion, demographic background, speaker, language proficiency, French, grammar, rural, semi-urban, neutral usage, judgement, suburb, city centre, social hypothesis

Résumé du document

The problematic at hand delves into the linguistic nuances of preposition usage in French, specifically the terms 'sur' and 'à', which often interchange in various contexts. Understanding the factors that influence their usage can reveal insights into language patterns and social linguistics. This study explores whether the preposition choice is influenced by the speaker's social profile or the semantic context of the utterance, which could further elucidate the intricacies of language processing and sociolinguistic variation.
Hypothesis 1 (Social): The grammaticality judgment of the preposition 'sur' is influenced by the demographic background of the speaker, with a particular focus on the semi-urban population, who are hypothesized to find 'sur' more grammatically correct than their rural and urban counterparts.
Hypothesis 2 (Semantic): The appropriateness of 'sur' and 'à' is contingent upon the semantic size and centrality of the city being described, with 'sur' being preferred for larger, central urban areas and 'à' for smaller or peripheral areas.
The focus will be on native French speakers to isolate the impact of social and semantic factors from language proficiency.

Extraits

[...] This finding prompts a reconsideration of the social factors involved or a reflection on the study's design and data comprehensiveness. Conversely, the semantic hypothesis showed significant results for city suburbs, supporting the notion that semantic context influences preposition choice. This aligns with theoretical expectations that language usage adapts to convey nuances in meaning, particularly concerning geographic specificity. The implications of this study resonate with broader linguistic theories, indicating that while social factors might not always delineate language usage, semantic contexts hold substantial sway in grammatical preferences, which could inform future sociolinguistic research and educational approaches to language teaching. [...]

[...] Report on the Perception of Prepositions 'sur' and 'à' in Relation to Social and Semantic Contexts Section Introduction The problematic at hand delves into the linguistic nuances of preposition usage in French, specifically the terms 'sur' and 'à', which often interchange in various contexts. Understanding the factors that influence their usage can reveal insights into language patterns and social linguistics. This study explores whether the preposition choice is influenced by the speaker's social profile or the semantic context of the utterance, which could further elucidate the intricacies of language processing and sociolinguistic variation. [...]

[...] DEMOGRAPHIC AGRAMMATICAL GRAMMATICAL UNCERTAIN MIXED RURAL SEMI-URBAIN URBAIN Table Grammaticality Judgments by Demographic Background in Neutral Contexts Figure Demographic Influence on Neutral Usage of 'Sur' This figure corresponds to Table displaying the distribution of grammaticality judgments (agrammatical, grammatical, uncertain) by demographic area for phrases using 'sur' in a neutral context Significance for Social Hypothesis: The Chi-Squared test for the data presented in Table 1 yielded a p-value of 0.405, suggesting there is no statistically significant difference in the grammaticality judgments of 'sur' across different demographic areas, with regard to the social hypothesis. Table 2 & Cross-Tabulation of Grammaticality Judgments for City Centres vs. [...]

[...] Suburbs These tables contrast the grammaticality judgments of 'sur' when referring to city centers versus suburbs, thus exploring the semantic hypothesis. For "SUR + CITY CENTRE (COARSE)": Demographic Agrammatical Grammatical Uncertain Mixed Rural Semi-Urban Urban Table Grammaticality Judgments by Demographic Background for City Centres This table contrasts the grammaticality judgments of 'sur' in the context of city centers, focusing on the semantic differences based on the urban significance of the location mentioned Figure Grammaticality Judgments for 'Sur' in City Centre Contexts Related to Table this figure illustrates the demographic breakdown of grammaticality judgments for the usage of 'sur' specifically in the context of city centers. [...]