Module Identifier

FR33020

Module Title

THE INVENTION OF FRENCH

Academic Year

2008/2009

Co-ordinator

Professor David A Trotter

Semester

Intended for use in future years

Course Delivery

Delivery Type	Delivery length / details
Lecture	10 Hours.
Seminars / Tutorials	10 Hours.

Assessment

Assessment Type	Assessment length / details	Proportion
Semester Assessment	Course Work: 2 x 2,500 word assignments	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

Cerquiglini, Bernard (1993) La naissance du francais Paris: PUF Primo search Green, John and Ayres-Bennett,Wendy (eds) (1990) Variation and change in French: essays presented to R. Posner on the occasion of her 60th birthday London: Routledge Primo search Lodge,R A (1993) French: From Dialect to Standard London: Routledge Primo search Parry, MM, Davies, W V & Temple, RAM (eds) (1994) The changing voices of Europe Cardiff: University of Wales Press/MHRA Primo search Posner, Rebecca (1997) Linguistic Change in French Oxford: OUP Primo search

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6