Living in Ontario French

This article presents a variationist analysis of verbs meaning "reside" in Ontario French. Four lexical variants are examined: "demeurer," "habiter," "rester" and "vivre." Results reveal that "rester" is used most often by unrestricted speakers and least often by those whose use of French is restricted. "Vivre" is found frequently in the speech of restricted speakers. This result is attributed to intersystemic transfer from English, due to the similarities between "vivre" and the English verb "live." "Demeurer" is used most often in the minority community of Pembroke. Finally, "habiter" is almost never used in Ontario French. In addition, variation is shown to be conditioned by lexical priming. (Contains 7 tables and 5 notes.)