Negation and Dialect Variation in French

Ways in which negation varies in two dialects of French, called "standard " anti "colloquial " are investigated. The two dialects under consideration are representative of an extensive scale of styles, often overlapping and varying according to social status, education, contextual situation, age, and geographical area. Although the great majority of speakers control both dialect, which they use in different contextual situations, there are some speakers who control only one dialect. Through an analysis of examples, it is concluded that with respect to negation, the colloquial dialect is simpler because it lacks three processes present in the standard dialect: 1) nnen-insertion, 2) negative-deletion, and 3) "ne "- deletion. The general tendency of the colloquial dialect to omit rules referring to deletion under identity is also shown. A list of references completes the paper. (Author/PP