Waters, Sophia (2007). “Ben, voilà, quoi”: les significations et les emplois des particules énonciatives en français parlé [“Ben, voilà, quoi”: The meanings and uses of discourse particles in spoken French]. BA(Hons) thesis, University of New England, Armidale.

Written in French.

The aim of this thesis is to extract the meanings of three French utterance particles, used in the spoken language, viz. quoi, voilà and ben. The author relies on authentic examples to describe the use of each. The tool used to this end is the Natural Semantic Metalanguage, which allows us to make explications accessible both to speakers of French and to those for whom French is a second language.

The author also emphasizes the importance of a thorough understanding of the particles of a language.


Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners