French Linguistics II : Historical Approach [ LROM1222 ]

A course website will be available through Icampus and will allow students to access information and documents related to the course (notably a copy of the powerpoint slideshow used during the course).

Taking as its starting point the study of the phonetic system and morphology of contemporary French (see ROM1421), the course will examine the phenomena at play in the evolution of phonology and morphology from Latin, common Latin and Old French. In this way, the course will present the concepts and methods required for the description and analysis of these processes of evolution and will apply them to specific case studies.

By the end of this course, students should :
- have a good knowledge of the phenomena which have affected the development of the Latin phonetic system and the morphology towards modern French;
- have a sufficiently good knowledge of the phenomena which characterize Old French phonetics and morphology to enable them to work on the ancient texts;
- have a good knowledge of the main historical steps and the sociolinguistic context in which French developed;
- be able to reflect on the main processes of the evolution of French and on linguistic change in general.

The assessment of the course is based on a written exam.

The course will start with a general introduction focusing on the mechanisms of linguistic evolution, on the relation between linguistic variation and change, and one the methods of historical linguistics. The major phonetic changes from Latin to modern French will be studied, in a way to propose a first overview of the phenomena which characterised this evolution and to establish their chronology. Each of these phenomena will thereafter be studied in detail and applied to various examples, so that students will be able to follow a word's phonetic evolution from its Latin etymon to its current pronunciation. Tutorials give to students the opportunity to review central notions and to put into practice the mechanisms of phonetic evolution with precise examples.

Tutorials will be given by Mme Stéphanie Kleinen.