Les traits prosodiques dans l’enseignement d’une langue étrangère, à l’exemples du français

Abstract

The prosodic features play a prominent part in the communication process; some linguists — like André Martinet — even assign them a higher priority than correct articulation. Next to the delimitative function, they often introduce various grammatical, semantic or subjective information. They also indicate the structuring of an utterance. These various functions ought to be described in theoretical papers on glottodidactics and taught in foreign language. The analysis of some selected papers, handbooks and other language teaching materials shows that prosodic features are handled insufficiently. The author of this paper recommends changes in this field to improve the foreign language teaching.