Preposition Stranding - Preposition Stranding in French

Preposition Stranding in French

A few non-standard dialects of French seem to have developed preposition stranding as a result of linguistic contact with English. Preposition stranding is found in areas where the Francophone population is under intense contact with English, including certain parts of Alberta, Northern Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Louisiana. It is found (but heavily decried) in very informal Quebec French. For example, Prince Edward Island French permits all three types of preposition stranding:

• Wh-movement: Qui est-ce que tu as fait le gâteau pour?

Whom did you bake the cake for?

Standard French: Pour qui est-ce que tu as fait le gâteau?

• Pseudopassives: Robert a été parlé beaucoup de au meeting.

Robert was much talked about at the meeting.

Standard French: On a beaucoup parlé de Robert au meeting.

• Relative clauses: Tu connais pas la fille que je te parle de.

You don't know the girl that I'm talking to you about.

Standard French: Tu ne connais pas la fille dont je te parle.

Another, more widespread non-standard variant: Tu ne connais pas la fille que je te parle.

To standard French ears, these constructs all sound quite alien, and are thus considered as barbarisms or "anglicismes". However, not all dialects of French allow preposition stranding to the same extent. For instance, Ontario French restricts preposition stranding to relative clauses with certain prepositions; in most dialects, stranding is impossible with the prepositions à (to) and de (of).

A superficially similar construction is possible in standard French in cases where the object is not moved, but implied, such as Je suis pour ("I'm all for it") or Il faudra agir selon ("We'll have to act accordingly").