Certains problèmes linguistiques des Franco-ontariens (Certain Linguistic Problems of Franco-Ontarians). Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 9

This study examines the usage of the auxiliaries "avoir" and "être" in the passé composé and pluperfect. The study is primarily based on a sample of French written by a group of grade 9 Franco-Ontarian pupils from the Sudbury region. The students' written French is shown to include a high proportion of cases where intransitive verbs of motion and state (conjugated with "être" in standard French) are conjugated with the auxiliary avoir. Examination of data on spoken Ontarian and Quebec French reveals that there exists a similar trend in these varieties of French. Given the fact that formal written Ontarian French seems to conform to standard French, it is recommended that the teachers sensitize their students to the notion of language levels. (Author)