What the present can tell us about the future

Overview & Synopsis

This investigation studies the second-language (L2) development of variable future-time expression in French. One hundred and eighteen nonnative speakers at four proficiency levels and 30 native speakers completed a written-contextualized task (WCT), a language-proficiency test and a background questionnaire. The verb form (inflectional future, periphrastic future, and present) selected for each item on the WCT was coded for three independent linguistic factors: presence of a lexical temporal indicator, temporal distance and (un)certainty. Multinomial logistic regression tests and a follow-up analysis of high and low frequency of the present demonstrated that this form plays a complex role in native-speaker variability and is acquired late in contexts of future-time reference for nonnative speakers.