Syntax and Discourse in Near-Native French: Clefts and Focus

This study examines aspects of the syntax-discourse interface in near-native French. Two cleft structurescest clefts and avoir cleftsare examined in experimental and spontaneous conversational data from 10 adult Anglophone learners of French and ten native speakers of French. Cest clefts mark focus, and avoir clefts introduce new discourse referents. Although previous research on the syntax-discourse interface has revealed residual difficulties in near-native speakers, the near-natives in the present study evinced nativelike behavior on a range of measures, a finding that suggests complete acquisition of aspects of the syntax-discourse interface.