Variation, identity and language attitudes: Polish migrants in France

This chapter examines migrants’ use of French L2, analysing the speech of ten L1 Polish speakers, thirty to sixty years, in a naturalistic setting. Using informal conversations, this study focuses on L1 variation patterns; specifically ne deletion, a sensitive and powerful indicator of social issues, using Rbrul. The data permit comparison of use of the same sociolinguistic variable by L2 speakers from two different L1 typological groups: Polish and English. The analysis showed the migrants broadly adopt L1 speech patterns, constraint ordering, and frequently even rates (as had the more formal L1 English learners) with universalistic implications for sociolinguistic variation acquisition. However, two couples are ‘outliers.’ Qualitative analysis indicates that differences in the speech of these two couples relate to language attitudes and ideology and suggests language ideology plays an important role in L2 acquisition and use. Complementary quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal aspects of L2 acquisition, which, separately, might not have been captured.