Une micro-analyse idiolectale d'un enseignant de français au Niger: la liaison

In this contribution we propose a description of the main phonological features of the French spoken in Niger with a focus on the community of native Nigerien French teachers. The oral corpus analysed comes from a PFC survey carried out in Niamey in 2016. After an overview of the status of French language and teachers in Niger, we move to the phonological inventory of a prototypical speaker with particular attention on the phenomenon of liaison. The results show that: a restricted number of liaison environments is realised at 100% (det-noun ; clitic-verb ; fixed expressions); liaison is categorically realised after très, dans ; a high degree of non realisation or variability appears in lot of variable contexts (after être, avoir, c’est, quand, pas). The purpose of this pilot study involving Niger is to enhance the description of phonological variation of spoken French in Africa.