Recherches en Dialectologie Franco-Ontarienne. (Research in Franco-Ontarian Dialectology.) Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 14

This study examines the use of the auxiliaries "avoir" and "etre" and of the prefix "re-" in the speech of Franco-Ontarian students. It is found that the tendency to use non-standard constructions such as "j'ai arrive en retard" and "je vais remettre la roue 'back'" has its origins in historical dialects of French. It would appear, then, that contact with English plays a smaller role than the relative isolation of Ontarian French from Standard French of the continent. Many researchers and educators seem not to be aware of the capacity for change that exists in the spoken French of Ontario. (Author/CLK)