ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the interactional resources speakers at elementary and upper-intermediate/advanced levels of L2 French deploy for constructing ‘complaint-worthiness’ and for participating in complaint sequences. The chapter zooms in on two central resources for complaining: (1) negative assessments and (2) direct-reported speech/reenactments. The chapter demonstrates qualitative and quantitative changes over time in speakers’ use of linguistic resources for assessing and introducing direct-reported speech and illustrates a high reliance on non-verbal resources for expressing a negative stance, especially among elementary speakers. It documents a more diverse set of lexico-syntactic resources for negatively assessing used by upper-intermediate/advanced speakers than by elementary speakers and shows that speakers, over time, routinize particular linguistic resources for introducing direct-reported speech.
