Connectives in French

Abstract The study of French connectives has undergone significant evolution since the 1970s, with foundational research paving the way for the development of key concepts in discourse and pragmatics. This contribution provides an in‐depth examination of various French connectives, focusing on their linguistic functions, syntactic behaviors, and cross‐linguistic comparisons. It highlights the distinction between objective and subjective discourse relations, particularly in the usage of causal connectives like car, parce que, and puisque, and discusses their impact on language processing and comprehension. The article also explores the semantic differences and processing costs associated with these connectives, particularly in the context of native and non‐native speakers. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of prosodic cues in disambiguating the meanings of polyfunctional connectives and calls for further research into the complex form‐function mappings of connectives across languages. This comprehensive analysis contributes to a deeper understanding of how French connectives function within discourse and how they compare to their counterparts in other languages.