History of the French language

Teacher(s)

Hambye Philippe;

Language

French

Main themes

This course has the following objectives: 

• To present the main stages in the evolution of the status of French in history, in order to understand the socio-political factors that have guided this evolution and the influence they have exerted on the norms of French; 
• To describe the main linguistic (and especially phonological) changes in the evolution of Latin to French, explain the mechanisms behind them and show how they shed light on certain characteristics of present-day French; 
• Explain and question the methods used to produce knowledge in historical linguistics. 

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	Demonstrate knowledge about the historical evolution of the status of French and explain its importance for the understanding of this language's particularities;
2	Present-day French, and explain the mechanisms behind this evolution;
3	Understand the graphic forms of Old or Middle French texts;
4	Understand and use the concepts and methods of historical linguistics;
5	Situate French in relation to other Romance languages from a genetic and typological point of view.
This learning unit contributes to the development and command of the following skills and learning outcomes of the ELAL programmes: 1.4, 1.6, 2.6.

Content

The course will begin with a general introduction to the issues and methods involved in a historical study of the French language. The course will then propose a historical overview of French, from Latin to modern French, with the aim of describing for each key period in the history of French the factors influencing the status of this language on the one hand, and the evolution of its forms on the other. In order to better grasp the specific features of the sociolinguistic evolution of French, it will be compared with that of other Romance languages. This chronological overview will be supplemented throughout the course by the analysis of specific cases to illustrate the phenomena studied and identify the main phonological and lexical characteristics of French in comparison with other Romance languages.
Exercises linked to the course are designed to systematize the analysis procedures presented in the course and to give students practice in applying them.

Teaching methods

Lectures, students' personal work and exercices.

Evaluation methods

Course assessment is based on an open-book written exam.

Online resources

The various course materials (course slideshows, exercises, etc.) are available on the course website on the Moodle platform.

Faculty or entity

> ELAL