The variable use of on ‘one’ versus tu/vous ‘you’ for indefinite reference in Spoken French

Abstract

The subject clitic on ‘one’ has a surprising range of referential values, both indefinite (e.g., ‘one,’ ‘they-,’ ‘you-’) and definite (e.g., ‘we-’), that can be seen only when one examines the use of the pronoun in natural discourse. This paper proposes a partial typology of on ‘one’ derived from examples found in a socially-diverse corpus of Tourangeau French. The focus of the paper is on the variable use of on ‘one’ versus vous ‘you- (plural/formal)’ or tu ‘you- (informal)’ as indefinite-generic pronouns (‘y-’). The variation is partially constrained by a complex of linguistic, sociolinguistic, and especially discourse pragmatic factors. The saliency the speaker wishes to give to the referent appears to be a key factor determining the probability of occurrence of the variants.