2025/10/31 by Jarvis Looi, Patricia Nora Riget, Alex Boulton +1 · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Categorization, perception, and language #Linguistic Variation and Morphology #Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
paper · doi:10.1075/ijcl.24085.loo
openalex created_date 2025/10/31 · openalex publication_date 2025/10/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Abstract This paper presents a corpus-based study that evaluates variables identified introspectively by Berthonneau (2002) in relation to the alternation between two French synonymous: prochain (‘next’ or ‘upcoming’) and suivant (‘following’ or ‘next’). Employing a multifactorial and behavioural profiles approach, we explore the asymmetry in their temporal and spatial applications. Our findings highlight distinct uses with temporal nouns, whereas uses with material nouns overlap. Binomial logistic regression and multiple correspondence analysis reveal a general divide between the deictic use of prochain and the anaphoric use of suivant , corroborating Berthonneau’s descriptions. Additionally, event predictability, which Berthonneau addressed only fleetingly, significantly influences form choice, with prochain often associated with general, eventual contexts and suivant with specific, predictable events. This study contributes to the understanding of how corpus-based methods can refine existing linguistic hypotheses by illuminating the intersections and divergences between empirical and introspective research.