The Oxford Handbook of the French Language

This volume provides the first comprehensive reference work in English on the French language in all its facets. It offers a wide-ranging approach to the rich, varied, and exciting research across multiple subfields, with seven broad thematic sections covering the structures of French; the history of French; axes of variation; French around the world; French in contact with other languages; second language acquisition; and French in literature, culture, arts, and the media. Each chapter presents the state of the art and directs readers to canonical studies and essential works, while also exploring cutting-edge research and outlining future directions. The Oxford Handbook of the French Language serves both as a reference work for people who are curious to know more about the French language and as a starting point for those carrying out new research on the language and its many varieties. It will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students as well as established scholars, whether they are specialists in French linguistics or researchers in a related field looking to learn more about the language. The diversity of frameworks, approaches, and scholars in the volume demonstrates above all the variety, vitality, and vibrancy of work on the French language today.

Wendy Ayres-Bennett, Emerita Professor of French Philology and Linguistics, University of Cambridge,Mairi McLaughlin, Professor, Department of French, University of California, Berkeley

Wendy Ayres-Bennett is Emerita Professor of French Philology and Linguistics at the University of Cambridge. She has published widely on the history of French, sociohistorical linguistics, and the history of linguistic thought, and, more recently, on language standardization and language policy and planning. She was Principal Investigator (2016-2021) on the AHRC-funded multi-disciplinary research project, Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies, which promoted the value of languages for key issues of our time and explored the benefits of language learning for individuals and societies. An AHRC-funded follow-on project Promoting Language Policy provided research-based evidence for moving languages higher up the political agenda.


Mairi McLaughlin is Professor in the Department of French and an Affiliated Member of the Departments of Linguistics and Italian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She specializes in French/Romance Linguistics and in Translation Studies. She has published extensively on language contact in French and Romance, on the language of the media, and on journalistic and literary translation. She has held visiting positions at Balliol College, Oxford and at Paris VIII. Her research has been funded by the UC Humanities Research Institute, the France Berkeley Fund, the Hellman Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation.

French and its varieties: Disciplinary perspectives and new horizons, Wendy Ayres-Bennett and Mairi McLaughlinPart I. Structures of French1. Phonetics, phonology, and orthography, Elisabeth Delais-Roussarie2. Morphology and syntax, Mairi McLaughlin3. Semantics and pragmatics, Richard Huyghe and Dominique LegalloisPart II. History of French4. External history of French, Philippe Caron5. Language policy and planning, Wendy Ayres-Bennett6. Metalinguistic texts, Olivia Walsh and Douglas Kibbee7. Historical phonetics, phonology, and orthography, Thomas Rainsford8. Historical morphology and syntax, Sophie Prévost9. Historical semantics and pragmatics, Sabine LehmannPart III. Axes of variation10. Age, gender, and social class, Nigel Armstrong11. Register, genre, text type, Jenelle Thomas12. Spoken French, Janice Carruthers13. French digital discourse, Rachel Panckhurst, Louise-Amélie Cougnon, and Cédrick FaironPart IV. French around the world14. Regional variation in the French of France, Mathieu Avanzi15. Francophonie, André Thibault16. French in Europe, Isabelle Racine17. French in North America, Barbara E. Bullock and Randall Gess18. French in Africa, Béatrice Akissi Boutin and Augustin Emmanuel EbonguePart V. French in contact with other languages19. Multilingualism, Maya Angela Eipe Smith20. French and the languages of France, Georg Kremnitz and Fañch Broudic21. Translation and interpreting, Rudy Loock and Nicolas Froeliger22. Creoles, Thomas A. KlinglerPart VI. Second language acquisition23. Where, when, and how French is learned, Richard Kern24. Acquiring phonetics and phonology, Sylvain Detey25. Acquiring morphology and syntax, Dalila Ayoun26. Acquiring lexical, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic competence, Henry Tyne and Martin HowardPart VII. French in literature, culture, arts, and the media27. French language and literature in the Middle Ages, Sophie Marnette28. Early Modern French language and literature, Gilles Siouffi29. Contemporary French language and literature, Laurence Rosier30. French language and cinema, Michaël Abecassis31. French language and vocal music, Claire Lesacher32. French and the media, Marcel Burger