Analyse du verbe être: support d’adjectivation en français langue seconde dans quelques lycées du Cameroun

Abstract

Our reflection is justified in part by the hyperfrequency of the verb to be in French as the second language (FL2). Its insistent co-occurrence with the qualifying adjective (adj.) has prompted us to re-examine its grammatical status. Indeed, to be is not always copulated in the statements of Cameroonian college students -it is sometimes the verb support (Vsup). For Abeillé et al. (2007: 3) the Vsups are complex predicates. However, they are specific to Romance languages. It therefore seemed necessary to us to study these verbs in the Cameroonian context. In addition to identifying or describing them, we wanted to define their contribution to an unstable linguistic system influenced by multilingualism. It is in this sense that the oral corpus was collected and processed automatically. As a result, we discovered that the Vsup to be compensates for the difficulty in uttering synthetic and precise verbs. Moreover, it remains copula verb and full verb in FL2. On the other hand, despite its frequency, its syntax is idiosyncratic. Such conclusions were obtained due to the lexicon-grammar and to Rigiel et al. (Grammaire méthodique du français).