French: A Linguistic Introduction

French is used on every continent, spoken not only in France but also in Belgium, Switzerland, North America, the Caribbean, Polynesia and Africa. This is a comprehensive and accessible guide to the structure of French, suitable for those with little prior knowledge of linguistics or of the French Language. It clearly introduces the language's history, phonetics (pronunciation), phonology (sound system), morpho-syntax (how words and sentences are formed), pragmatics (how speakers express meaning), and lexicology (the study of word composition and derivation) - with each chapter showing how these aspects are subject to regional and social variation. English translations are provided for all examples, and the book contains an extensive bilingual glossary of linguistic terms, and numerous exercises and essay questions in every chapter. French: A Linguistic Introduction will be welcomed by advanced language learners, and by linguists studying the structure of this important language.

Zsuzsanna Fagyal is Assistant Professor of French Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Douglas Kibbee is Professor of French Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Fred Jenkins is Associate Professor Emeritus of French Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

List of figures

x

List of tables

xii

Preface

xv

Defining the object of study

1

(16)

French is plural

1

(3)

Prescriptivism and the idea of `standard' French

4

(5)

Francophonie

9

(1)

Variation `omnibus'

10

(5)

Geographical variation

10

(3)

Social variation

13

(2)

Looking ahead

15

(2)

Phonetics and phonology

17

(62)

Preliminaries

17

(6)

Sounds, spelling, and the IPA

17

(2)

Phonetic symbols

19

(3)

Phonetic values of letters and letter sequences

22

(1)

Phonemes, minimal pairs, and allophones

22

(1)

Vowels and glides

23

(16)

Oral vowels

23

(2)

Laxing

25

(1)

Devoicing

26

(1)

Mid vowels

27

(3)

Diphthongs

30

(1)

Open vowels

31

(1)

Nasal vowels

32

(1)

What is nasalization?

32

(1)

Northern Metropolitan French

33

(1)

Southern French and French in North America

34

(1)

On the phonological status of nasal vowels

35

(1)

Glides

36

(1)

What are glides?

36

(1)

The general process of gliding

37

(1)

The front and back rounded glides /h/ and /w/

37

(1)

The palatal glide /j/

38

(1)

Consonants

39

(13)

Phonation types

39

(1)

Places of articulation

40

(2)

Manners of articulation

42

(1)

Stops and fricatives

43

(1)

Affricates

44

(2)

Trills and approximants

46

(1)

Assimilatory processes

47

(1)

Voicing assimilation

47

(2)

Place assimilation

49

(1)

Other assimilatory processes

49

(1)

Lengthening

50

(1)

Geminates

51

(1)

Beyond the segment

52

(18)

From phonemes to syllables

52

(1)

The internal structure of syllables

52

(2)

Distributing segments in syllables

54

(1)

From syllables to phrases

55

(1)

The foot

56

(1)

The phonological word

56

(1)

The clitic group

57

(1)

The phonological phrase

58

(1)

At the top of the hierarchy

58

(1)

The schwa

59

(1)

Why call the schwa a schwa?

59

(1)

Schwa and dialect

60

(1)

Phrase-final schwas

60

(1)

Phrase-medial schwas

61

(1)

Phrase-initial schwas

62

(1)

Schwas and morphological alternations

63

(1)

Liaison and enchainement

63

(1)

From forward syllabification to liaison

63

(2)

Liaison and h-aspire

65

(1)

Liaison and syntax, morphology, and the lexicon

66

(3)

Liaison without enchainement

69

(1)

On stress, accent, and intonation

70

(7)

Stress and accent

70

(1)

A phonological model of French intonation

70

(3)

Notes on stress clash

73

(1)

Intonation

73

(4)

Exercises

77

(2)

Topics in morphology and syntax

79

(60)

Preliminaries: words and morphemes

79

(4)

Topics in inflectional morphology

83

(8)

The morphology of the verb

83

(6)

The morphology of other morpheme classes

89

(2)

Topics in syntax

91

(2)

Definitions

91

(1)

Surface and deep structures

91

(2)

The verb

93

(7)

The arguments of the verb

93

(2)

Verb types and complements

95

(2)

Adverbials as modifiers

97

(1)

Clauses as modifiers and complements

98

(2)

Noun phrases

100

(8)

Expanding the NP

100

(1)

Post-head position in the NP

101

(2)

Pre-head position in the NP

103

(3)

`Determiners'

106

(2)

Pronouns

108

(7)

Subject pronouns of etre

108

(3)

Impersonal il and ce

111

(1)

Clitic pronouns

112

(3)

Adverbs

115

(5)

The intensifies si, tant, and tellement

115

(3)

Sentence and VP adverbs

118

(2)

Negation

120

(6)

Negatives and their positions

120

(2)

Meaning and scope

122

(3)

Negatives and style

125

(1)

Passive `voice'

126

(4)

Types of passive construction

126

(1)

Tense and aspect in passives

127

(1)

Passive verbs and their complements

128

(2)

On interrogatives

130

(6)

Yes-no questions

130

(2)

Partial questions

132

(1)

The atypical pourquoi `why'

132

(1)

Simple inversion and the complements of verbs

132

(1)

Questioning the subject

133

(1)

Questioning the object

134

(1)

Questions, styles, and register

134

(2)

Exercises

136

(3)

Lexicology and derivational morphology

139

(44)

Preliminaries

139

(1)

Analyzing the meaning of words

140

(6)

Semic analysis

141

(3)

Prototypes and stereotypes

144

(2)

Semantic relations

146

(4)

Synonyms and antonyms

146

(1)

Hierarchical relations

147

(3)

Homonymy and polysemy

150

(2)

Change of meaning

152

(3)

Metaphor

153

(1)

Metonymy

153

(1)

Synecdoche

154

(1)

Word formation

155

(10)

Derivation

156

(1)

Derivation by affixation

157

(1)

Deverbal nouns

158

(3)

Deadjectival nouns

161

(1)

Denominal nouns

161

(2)

Derivation by prefixation

163

(1)

Parasynthetic nouns

164

(1)

Truncation

164

(1)

Conversion and reduplication

164

(1)

Compounding

165

(3)

Borrowing

168

(2)

Lexical variation

170

(6)

Regional variation

170

(2)

Social variation and word games

172

(4)

State intervention in French vocabulary

176

(4)

A case study: the feminization of professional titles

179

(1)

Exercises

180

(3)

Pragmatics

183

(37)

Preliminaries

183

(2)

Referring and indexing

185

(5)

Indexical expressions

186

(1)

Deictic reference

187

(1)

Other types of references

188

(2)

Speech acts and models of communication

190

(10)

The Code Model of communication

190

(2)

Inferential models of communication

192

(2)

The Maxims of conversation

194

(2)

Applying the Maxims

196

(3)

Beyond the Model Speaker

199

(1)

Politeness

200

(18)

Bald-on-record

201

(2)

Positive politeness

203

(1)

Informal tu and formal vous

204

(1)

Generic tu, vous, and on

205

(2)

Negative politeness

207

(1)

Indirect speech acts

207

(1)

Hedging and indirectness

208

(4)

Discourse particles

212

(5)

Off-record

217

(1)

Politeness: in the eye of the beholder

217

(1)

Exercises

218

(2)

Historical perspectives

220

(73)

Preliminaries

220

(1)

Latin and the linguistic prehistory of French

221

(26)

Phonology from Latin to Early Old French

222

(1)

Vowels

222

(1)

Consonants

223

(4)

Accentuation

227

(1)

Morphology and syntax from Latin to Early Old French

227

(1)

The morphology of nouns

227

(4)

The morphology of adjectives

231

(1)

Personal, demonstrative, and relative pronouns

232

(1)

The morphology of verbs

233

(2)

Syntax and word order

235

(5)

Vocabulary from Latin to Early Old French

240

(1)

Non-Latin elements in the vocabulary of Latin

241

(1)

Adverb formation

242

(3)

Pragmatic aspects of language use from Latin to Early Old French

245

(1)

Forms of address

245

(1)

Summary

246

(1)

Old and Middle French

247

(22)

Phonology in Old and Middle French

249

(1)

Vowels

249

(3)

Consonants

252

(3)

Morphology and syntax in Old and Middle French

255

(1)

Nouns and adjectives

255

(1)

The syntax of the noun phrase

256

(4)

Word order

260

(1)

Negation

261

(3)

Interrogatives

264

(2)

Vocabulary in Old and Middle French

266

(1)

Pragmatic aspects of language use in Old and Middle French

267

(2)

French in the modern world

269

(20)

Phonology in Classical and Modern French

272

(1)

Vowels

273

(2)

Consonants

275

(2)

Morphology and syntax in Classical and Modern French

277

(1)

Auxiliary selection: etre ou avoir?

277

(2)

Types of interrogative and ne deletion

279

(4)

Vocabulary in Classical and Modern French

283

(4)

Pragmatic aspects of language use in Classical and Modern French

287

(2)

Conclusions

289

(1)

Exercises

290

(3)

Glossary

293

(19)

References

312

(16)

Name index

328

(4)

Subject index

332

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

FREE SHIPPING

Rent More, Save More! Use code: BBRENTAL

5% off 1 book, 7% off 2 books, 10% off 3+ books

French: A Linguistic Introduction

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials