L’interaction linguistique en français québécois et ses implications pour l’enseignement du FLE : une étude de l’usage des sacres en français québécois avec une comparaison interculturelle de l’usage des jurons en maltais

Abstract

In the French-speaking world, the Canadian province of Quebec distinguishes itself through the use a varied set of swearwords inspired by the Roman Catholic religion (les sacres). In this study, these swearwords are approached from an interactionist viewpoint in order to establish a comparison between their use and the use of Maltese swearwords in linguistic interaction. The first section analyses some foundational works in linguistic interactionist theory before focusing on a group of studies that have already approached swearwords from a pragmatic perspective. The principal aim of this section is to establish a working definition of the term sacre. This section also includes the presentation of the methodology that will be used to analyse a corpus made up of films and television productions produced in Quebec and in Malta. The analysis and the interpretation of the corpus form the second section of this study. A number of scenes are selected from each production and the use of swearwords is analysed in the context of each particular scene and in relation to the overall story arc of the production in question. These observations are then grouped into two models, one for the Quebec section and one for the Maltese section of the corpus. These models facilitate the comparison of the underlying cultural values that inspire the use of swearwords in the two sets of productions. The final section applies the intercultural approach that has been used to analyse the use of swearwords in Quebec and Maltese cultures to the teaching of French as a foreign language in Maltese schools. A brief presentation of this approach is made before a number of activities are proposed in order to equip students with skills that will help them act as mediators between individuals coming from different cultures. The research work disclosed in this publication is partially funded by the Endeavour Scholarship Scheme (Malta). Scholarships are part-financed by the European Union - European Social Fund (ESF) - Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 “Investing in human capital to create more opportunities and promote the well-being of society”.