Module Information
Module Identifier
FR23020
Module Title
THE INVENTION OF FRENCH
Academic Year
2008/2009
Co-ordinator
Semester
Intended for use in future years
Course Delivery
Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
---|---|
Lecture | 10 hours in all. |
Seminars / Tutorials | 10 hours in all. |
Assessment
Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
---|---|---|
Semester Assessment | Two coursework assignments (c.2,500 words each) Course Work: | 100% |
Supplementary Assessment | Resit will be by resubmission of assessed work |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to
- understand how one dialect amongst several becomes a language
- read critically conventional histories of French
- see how and why ideological presuppositions have influenced those histories
- understand the principal tenets of variationist linguistics
Brief description
A history of French from a variationist perspective, deliberately stressing the variety which has always existed in reality, and identifying the ways in which diversity has been stifled in the life of the language, and has been camouflaged in histories of French.
Reading List
Recommended BackgroundCerquiglini, Bernard (1993) La naissance du francais Paris University Press Primo search Green, John, & Ayres-Bennett, Wendy (eds) Variation and change in French: essays presented to Rebecca Posner on the occasion of her sixtieth birthday Primo search Lodge, R (1993) French: From Dialect to Standard Routledge Primo search Parry, M M, Davies, W V, and Temple, R A M (eds) (1994) The changing voices of Europe: social and political change and their linguistic repercussions, past, present and future University of Wales Press/MHRA Primo search Posner, Rebecca (1997) Linguistic Change in French Oxford University Press Primo search
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 5