A Report on The French Language

The Origin and Evolution of the French Language

The French language is a part of the Indo-European language family. Before the evolution of French, history has shown that French has descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire during the colonization of Gaul. The Celts had been living in Gaul for years until the arrival of the Romans. The Romans brought their language with their arrival. According to Peter Rickard, "In the newly conquered territory, Gauls of any rank who had anything to do with administration and supply soon found that they had an incentive to learn Latin" (Rickard, 1989). With the popularity of Latin, it slowly replaced the original Celtic language. Apart from Roman settlers, the upper class of Gaul sent their children to Roman schools to learn Latin. On the other hand, the middle class and the lower class of Gaul could speak both Latin and Gaulish. Gaulish was spoken for a long period; however, it went extinct after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the late 6th century. Although the colonization of the Romans and the spread of Latin, the existence of Gaulish played a crucial role in shaping the dialects of Latin into the development of French, influencing it through loanwords and sound changes.

The Forms and Development of French

There are three forms of French, including Old French, Middle French, and Modern French, which most people speak nowadays. Old French developed from a language known as langue d'oïl spoken in the north after the invasion of Germanic tribes in Gaul. Peter Rickard stated, "It seems clear that in the north, German peoples settled in greater numbers than in the south" (Rickard, 1989). During the development of Old French, its characteristics were also commonly found in Latin. Wendy Ayres-Bennett showed that "Thus, for example, the fact that words derived from Latin –ente(m) and –ante(m) assonate in the Chanson de Roland has been taken as evidence that [e] had already lowered to [a] by the early twelfth century" (Ayres-Bennett, 1996).

At the beginning of the 14th century, the transition from Old French to Middle French began, marking a stage between the instability of Old French and the stability of Modern French. Middle French's syntax has always been considered complex and unclear. During this period, there was a loss of the case system, and any systematic use of the two-case system was no longer found. Another loss was the use of articles, as noun declensions were lost, and markers of gender and number remained. Modern French gradually appeared during the 17th century, replacing Latin as the language of diplomacy. Modern French once served as a lingua franca before the dominance of English.

The Global Influence and Status of Modern French

Modern French played an important role as a lingua franca before the rise of the United States, with English replacing Modern French as the dominant global language. Despite this shift, Modern French still serves not just for individuals but also as an official language in governmental and educational contexts. Online News reports that there are about 300 million speakers of Modern French worldwide, ranking it as the 5th most spoken language globally (Online News, 2023). Adrian Battye, Marie-Anne Hintze, and Paul Rowlett demonstrated that "The perception that French fulfills a special role as a world language, second only to English" (Battye, Hintze, & Rowlett, 2000).

The largest number of Modern French speakers are in Africa. France has even mandated Modern French as the official language; it is also the second most used language in Canada and the fourth most spoken language in America. In Asia, Modern French is commonly found in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. French is recognized as an official language in Vanuatu, where almost half of the population speaks French.

The Phonetics and Grammar of the French Language

There are two criteria for classifying consonants: the place of articulation and the manner of articulation. According to Adrian Battye, Marie-Anne Hintze, and Paul Rowlett, "the manner of articulation of a consonant relates to how the airstream is impeded or obstructed as it passes through the vocal tract" (Battye, Hintze, & Rowlett, 2000). French consonants are generated through the blocking of the airstream in the oral cavity, recognized as stops. Various stops are found in French, including velar stops, bilabial stops, palatal and dental stops. For instance, the bilabial consonants [p] and [b], as in pas and bas, are vocalized through blocking and releasing using the lips. French vowels are numerous, with a maximum of seventeen vowel units, produced with vocal vibrations. However, the distinction of each vowel depends on the shape of the mouth and throat. Adrian Battye, Marie-Anne Hintze, and Paul Rowlett stated, "They are produced with the velum lowered, thus allowing air to escape through both the nasal and oral cavities" (Battye, Hintze, & Rowlett, 2000). Moreover, there is little change in the rhythm of the syllable in French, which uses rhythmic stress to indicate sense group boundaries.

Word Formation and Syntax in French

French has 130 graphemes that express only 36 phonemes. Adding suffixes and prefixes is also a rule for forming French words. Take the word avocates as an example; this word has three components: root, gender, and number. The components [-e-] and [-s-] in avocates are suffixes. However, morphemes can also be prefixes placed in front of the root. Nouns and some pronouns in French are not inflected for number. Grammatical gender is shown in French as either masculine or feminine. However, the plural will be identified for both females and males in the masculine form. Moreover, agreement is shown in determiners and articles, which can be found in gender and number. There are three articles in French: definite, indefinite, and partitive. French adjectives also exhibit masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural forms. Their functions differ. Adverbs in French share similarities with English, as they function as modifiers of adjectives. Adding a suffix to the adjective forms the adverbs, though not all adverbs are generated from adjectives. The usage of prepositions in French connects two components in a sentence, placed before the noun to emphasize the relationship between the noun and the verb. For example, avec (with), de (of, from, about), and dans (in) are common prepositions found in French. Inflection of pronouns in French is used to demonstrate their role in a clause. The word order in French is SVO, which means subject-verb-object. There is an exception for word order when forming questions, where inversion is often used. When forming negation in French, the particle ne is added to the verb.

French Dialects and Lexicology

Indian French, Quebec French, Cajun French, and Jersey Legal French are also considered French dialects. These dialects demonstrate the adaptability and diversity of the French language as it interacts with different cultures and regions. Last but not least, lexicology in French has been enriched by borrowing words from other languages, such as English, which has significantly impacted French vocabulary. For example, the French word 'opportunité' means exactly 'opportuneness' in English.

References

1. Rickard, P. (1989). A History of the French Language. Routledge.
2. Ayres-Bennett, W. (1996). A History of the French Language Through Texts. Routledge.
3. Battye, A., Hintze, M.-A., & Rowlett, P. (2000). The French Language Today: A Linguistic Introduction. Routledge.
4. Online News. (2023). French Language Statistics. Retrieved from [insert URL here].