Regan’s study (1995) of the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence
focuses on the use of native sociolinguistic speech norms. This study
takes a variationist approach. This variationist perspective pays attention
to areas of acquisition which are unavailable to many other research
approaches in second language acquisition. Where other approaches can
tell us about general directions, variation work has access to the detail of
the learner’s grammar. In this instance, for this study, the learner’s grammar
can be compared to the native speaker’s grammar and the relationship
between the two can be explored. The use of language during the stay
abroad was addressed here. The subjects were six advanced Irish learners
of French L2. The study focused on one sociolinguistic variable: deletion
of ne, the first particle of the negative in French. It was felt that a quantitative
study would best arrive at a precise and detailed description of the
changes which take place as a result of the stay in France.