A History of the French Language Through Texts

A History of the French Language Through Texts PDF

Author: Wendy Ayres-Bennett

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-06-27

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1134856628

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This new history of the French language allows the reader to see how the language has evolved for themselves. It combines texts and extracts with a readable and detailed commentary allowing the language to be viewed both synchronically and diachronically. Core texts range from the ninth century to the present day highlight central features of the language, whilst a range of shorter texts illustrate particular points. The inclusion of non-literary, as well as literary texts serves to illustrate some of the many varieties of French whether in legal, scientific, epistolatory, administrative or liturgical or in more popular domains, including attempts to represent spoken usage. This is essential reading for the undergraduate student of French.

A History of the French Language

A History of the French Language PDF

Author: Peter Rickard

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-10-04

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1134838786

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Incorporating a description of the Vulgar Latin spoken in Gaul, and the earliest recorded forms of French, the development of the French language through the later Middle Ages and Renaissance period is documented, to show the extent of standardization of form in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Story of French

The Story of French PDF

Author: Jean-Benoit Nadeau

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2008-01-08

Total Pages: 496

ISBN-13: 1429932406

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Why does everything sound better if it's said in French? That fascination is at the heart of The Story of French, the first history of one of the most beautiful languages in the world that was, at one time, the pre-eminent language of literature, science and diplomacy. In a captivating narrative that spans the ages, from Charlemagne to Cirque du Soleil, Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow unravel the mysteries of a language that has maintained its global influence despite the rise of English. As in any good story, The Story of French has spectacular failures, unexpected successes and bears traces of some of history's greatest figures: the tenacity of William the Conqueror, the staunchness of Cardinal Richelieu, and the endurance of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Through this colorful history, Nadeau and Barlow illustrate how French acquired its own peculiar culture, revealing how the culture of the language spread among francophones the world over and yet remains curiously centered in Paris. In fact, French is not only thriving—it still has a surprisingly strong influence on other languages. As lively as it is fascinating, The Story of French challenges long held assumptions about French and shows why it is still the world's other global language.

The French Language Today

The French Language Today PDF

Author: Adrian Battye

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-01

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 1136903356

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the French language from the perspective of modern linguistics. Placing French within its social and historical context, the authors highlight the complex, diverse aspects of the language in a lively and accessible way. A variety of topics is covered, including the distribution of French in the world, the historical development of standard French, the sound system of French, its sentence patterns, and its stylistic and geographical variations. Fully updated and revised, this new edition places a greater emphasis on sociolinguistics. To make the book more user-friendly, the following new features have been added: * a further reading guide at the end of each chapter * a glossary of linguistic terms * an expanded bibliography and index.

French Inside Out

French Inside Out PDF

Author: Henriette Walter

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-02

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1134902050

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In this comprehensive introduction, Henriette Walter provides the reader with a panoramic view of the development of the French language in the past, present and future. She takes the reader on a rapid and lively journey through the historical development of the language from its Latin origins to the present day. She goes on to set the language in its linguistic context by surveying its surviving and vanished dialects and regional variations of the language within France. Widening her focus, Walter examines French throughout the world, giving examples of the pronunciation and vocabulary of each region or nation. Finally she looks at French today: its structure, the effects of social change on the language, and its future in an increasingly English dominated world. This stimulating and entertaining account offers students of French a clear and accessible introduction to the language. The wealth of information it provides is reflected in the extensive bibliography, four indices and numerous world lists, maps and diagrams.

The French Language in Russia

The French Language in Russia PDF

Author: Derek Offord

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789462982727

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

-- With support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council of the UK and the Deutsches Historisches Institut Moskau --The French Language in Russia provides the fullest examination and discussion to date of the adoption of the French language by the elites of imperial Russia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is interdisciplinary, approaching its subject from the angles of various kinds of history and historical sociolinguistics. Beyond its bearing on some of the grand narratives of Russian thought and literature, this book may afford more general insight into the social, political, cultural, and literary implications and effects of bilingualism in a speech community over a long period. It should also enlarge understanding of francophonie as a pan-European phenomenon. On the broadest plane, it has significance in an age of unprecedented global connectivity, for it invites us to look beyond the experience of a single nation and the social groups and individuals within it in order to discover how languages and the cultures and narratives associated with them have been shared across national boundaries.

The French Language and British Literature, 1756-1830

The French Language and British Literature, 1756-1830 PDF

Author: Marcus Tomalin

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-31

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 131703130X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

From the 1750s to the 1830s, numerous British intellectuals, novelists, essayists, poets, playwrights, translators, educationalists, politicians, businessmen, travel writers, and philosophers brooded about the merits and demerits of the French language. The decades under consideration encompass a particularly tumultuous period in Anglo-French relations that witnessed the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), the American War of Independence (1775-1783), the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792-1802 and 1803-1815, respectively), the Bourbon Restoration (1814-1830), and the July Revolution (1830) - not to mention the gradual expansion of the British Empire, and the complex cultural shifts that led from Neoclassicism to Romanticism. In this book, Marcus Tomalin reassesses the ways in which writers such as Tobias Smollett, Maria Edgeworth, William Wordsworth, John Keats, William Cobbett, and William Hazlitt acquired and deployed French. This intricate topic is examined from a range of critical perspectives, which draw upon recent research into European Romanticism, linguistic historiography, comparative literature, social and cultural history, education theory, and translation studies. This interdisciplinary approach helps to illuminate the deep ambivalences that characterised British appraisals of the French language in the literature of the Romantic period.

French Language Policies and the Revitalisation of Regional Languages in the 21st Century

French Language Policies and the Revitalisation of Regional Languages in the 21st Century PDF

Author: Michelle A. Harrison

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-11-11

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 3319959395

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This edited volume presents an analysis of the evolution of French language policies and their impact on French regional languages and their communities. It gathers studies on language revitalisation from several territorial minority languages (Breton, Alsatian, Catalan, Occitan, Basque, Corsican, Francoprovençal, Picard, Reunionese) and evaluates the challenges and opportunities that they face in the 21st century. The chapters tackle different aspects of language endangerment and language planning and adopt varied theoretical and methodological approaches. The first section of the book reconsiders the difficulties in establishing linguistic boundaries and classification for some regional languages. The second section examines the important theme of the new generation of speakers with issues of transmission and identity formation and the changes they can bring to traditional communities. The third section highlights new developments in the context of new technologies and the heightened visibility of regional languages. Finally, the last section presents an overview of the contemporary situation of minority language revitalisation in France and synthesises the key trends identified in this volume: from the educational domain to the European Charter for Minority and Regional languages. This book will appeal to students and scholars of the sociology of language, sociolinguistics, language policy, minority languages and language endangerment.

Lanterna Rally - Theme by Grace Themes