Sociolinguistic Variation in

This book provides the first systematic study of sociolinguistic variation in seventeenth-century France. Drawing on a range of case studies, Wendy Ayres-Bennett makes available new data about linguistic variation in this period, showing the wealth and variety of language usage at a time that is considered to be the most 'standardizing' in the history of French. Variation is analysed in terms of the speaker's 'pre-verbal constitution' - such as gender, age and socio-economic status - or by the medium, register or genre used. As well as examining linguistic variation itself, the book also considers the fundamental methodological issues that are central to all socio-historical linguistic accounts, and more importantly, addresses the question of what the appropriate sources are for linguists taking a socio-historical approach. In each chapter, the case studies present a range of phonological, morphological, syntactic and lexical issues, which pose different methodological questions for sociolinguists and historical linguists alike.

Preface

ix

Acknowledgments

xi

List of abbreviations

xii

1 Introduction: Methodological issues

1

(16)

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 The development of socio-historical linguistics

2

(1)

1.1.2 The scope of this book

3

(2)

1.2 Collecting data

5

(6)

1.2.1 The question of sources and defining a corpus

5

(4)

1.2.2 Deciding upon the variables

9

(1)

1.2.3 Syntactic variation in a socio-historical perspective

10

(1)

1.3 Interpreting the data

11

(4)

1.3.1 Processing the data: the question of statistics

11

(1)

1.3.2 Separating the different parameters of variation and the problem of metalanguage

12

(2)

1.3.3 Avoiding anachronistic judgments

14

(1)

1.4 The value of studying variation in seventeenth-century French

15

(1)

1.5 The structure of this book

16

(1)

2 Spoken and written French

17

(44)

2.1 Introduction

17

(3)

2.2 Terminological difficulties

20

(5)

2.3 The relationship between written and spoken French

25

(2)

2.4 Sources of spoken French

27

(10)

2.5 Case studies

37

(22)

2.5.1 Introduction

37

(2)

2.5.2 Pronoun usage

39

(6)

2.5.3 Verb morphology and usage

45

(5)

2.5.4 Interrogation

50

(9)

2.6 Conclusion

59

(2)

3 Social and stylistic variation

61

(50)

3.1 Introduction

61

(1)

3.2 Seventeenth-century models of social and stylistic variation

62

(11)

3.2.1 Modelling variation

62

(2)

3.2.2 Style labels: dictionaries

64

(4)

3.2.3 Style labels: observations

68

(3)

3.2.4 Style labels: in other metalinguistic texts

71

(2)

3.3 Case studies

73

(35)

3.3.1 Textual sources

73

(12)

3.3.2 Vocabulary

85

(14)

3.3.3 Pronunciation: [we], [e] and [wa]

99

(6)

3.3.4 Syntax: 'Constructions louches'

105

(3)

3.4 Conclusion

108

(3)

4 Women's language

111

(70)

4.1 Introduction

111

(2)

4.2 The position of women in seventeenth-century French society

113

(10)

4.2.1 Introduction

113

(1)

4.2.2 The Querelle des feunes

114

(2)

4.2.3 Education

116

(2)

4.2.4 Salons and la culture mondaine

118

(2)

4.2.5 Women's 'ignorance'

120

(1)

4.2.6 Theories of honnetete and the civilizing role of women

121

(2)

4.3 Women's conversation

123

(3)

4.3.1 Women's conversation and the salons

123

(1)

4.3.2 Theories of conversation

123

(3)

4.4 General features of women's language

126

(7)

4.4.1 Positive attitudes towards women's language: women as authorities

126

(2)

4.4.2 Negative attitudes towards women's language: women making errors

128

(1)

4.4.3 Positive qualities of women's language

129

(4)

4.5 Préciosité and language

133

(10)

4.5.1 Introduction

133

(1)

4.5.2 Difficulties of definition and of sources

133

(5)

4.5.3 The language of Préciosité

138

(3)

4.5.4 Spelling

141

(2)

4.6 Specific features of women's language

143

(33)

4.6.1 Methodology

143

(4)

4.6.2 Case studies

147

(1)

4.6.3 Vocabulary

147

(7)

4.6.4 Gender

154

(6)

4.6.5 Agreement

160

(1)

4.6.6 Other areas

161

(4)

4.6.7 Précieuses' language: evidence from the satirical texts

165

(7)

4.6.8 Précieuses' language: evidence from the metalinguistic texts

172

(2)

4.6.9 The language of Preciosite and women's language

174

(2)

4.7 Conclusion

176

(5)

5 Age, variation and change

181

(44)

5.1 Introduction: attitudes towards change in the seventeenth century

181

(1)

5.2 The analysis of change in seventeenth-century France

182

(3)

5.2.1 The chronology of change

182

(1)

5.2.2 The reduction of the French language

183

(2)

5.2.3 The interaction of change with other parameters of variation

185

(1)

5.3 Stable variation versus change in progress: the case of negation

185

(4)

5.4 Case studies

189

(34)

5.4.1 Introduction

189

(1)

5.4.2 Corpus of texts

190

(1)

5.4.3 Pronunciation

191

(10)

5.4.4 Verb morphology

201

(7)

5.4.5 Word order: the position of clitic pronouns and negatives

208

(15)

5.5 Conclusion

223

(2)

6 Conclusion

225

(5)

Appendix: Corpora of metalinguistic texts

230

(4)

References

234

(20)

Index of concepts

254

(7)

Index of names

261

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Sociolinguistic Variation in Seventeenth-Century France: Methodology and Case Studies

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