Linguistics Colloquium Series: Dr. Gerard Beck, Modern and Classical Languages
Je t’aime… moi non plus : the French Exception and Linguistic Otherness
Past Event
Thursday, February 21, 2013 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM EST
The Hub, VIP 2
One of the hottest debates in linguistics and language policy in France is the need to identify and conform to le bon usage. This notion of “good usage”, inherited from 17th century Classicism and State-sponsored language policy and planning, invokes centuries of fighting against the influence of foreign languages and French dialects on standard French. This presentation investigates the place of English in the contemporary linguistic debate over French identity through an analysis of its presence in the Parisian public landscape (ads, posters, graffiti, shop signs, etc.), while shedding light onto the metalinguistic debate over neologisms, word coinage, and “correct” language use. Seven distinct areas of Paris, from the most touristy to the least visited, from the richest to the poorest, have been documented in this geo-linguistic survey of the French capital. An exclusive interview with Patrick Vannier, one of the seven researchers responsible for the Dictionary of the Académie Française, provides some theoretical and practical insights into how Franglish Paris turns out to be.
