I am more immersed now, et vous? The effect of perspective and pronouns of address on a reader's immersion in French short stories.

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2023-02-01

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en

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Perspective, modulated through pronouns, affects the immersion of a reader. This study investigates the influence of pronoun on immersion in French short stories. Second-person pronouns, used to address someone, also influence the receiver in French. This study also examines the influence of T/V-use on participant’s story immersion and if this differs per perspective in the story. Participants read two French stories (one first-person perspective and one third-person perspective) using self-paced reading, followed by a question about the story that addressed the reader with vous or tu. Participants then answered questions about their immersion in the story, while being addressed with vous or tu. No significant effect was found for perspective on the reading times. However, the results of the questionnaire show that first-person scores higher on immersion than third-person. We also found an effect for the T/V-perspective interaction: the effect of perspective on immersion only occurred with vous.

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