Department of French and Italian

Prerequisite: FRIT-F 313, FRIT-F 314 or department consent

This course examines various features of the structure of present-day French with a perspective on their historical development, and an overview of some current language-related issues in the French-speaking world. We will first consider the history of the French language from an external perspective, by examining some important historical events in the language’s history, and from an internal perspective, by looking at some of the specific ways the language has changed over time. Then we will talk about variation in French, or how French differs geographically (i.e. dialects and regional varieties in France and in the French-speaking world), how it differs socially (i.e. how social groups such as socioeconomic class or sex are reflected in language use), and how it differs situationally (i.e. how people change the ways they speak depending on who they’re talking to, the formality of the situation, etc.). Along the way we will look at spoken versus written French, slang, and français populaire. Next, we will discuss directions for the future: how French creates new words (les néologismes), copes with English influence (les anglicismes), and adapts to women the names of occupations traditionally practiced only by males (la féminisation).

FRIT-F 401    #28810    (3)    TuTh     12:45P–2:00P     WH 112       Prof. Kevin Rottet

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