Social and Linguistic Change in European French: A Trans-National Perspective

"Looking at language variation in French using linguistic data that has emerged in recent years from France, Belgium and Switzerland, and comparing it to other European countries, this comparative study sets out to track how language changes have followed social and attitudinal developments, giving it a particular sociolinguistic slant"-- Provided by publisher Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 List of Tables......Page 11 List of Maps......Page 18 1.1 The research themes studied in this book......Page 20 1.2 Levelling......Page 23 1.3 Structure of the book......Page 26 2.2 The sociolinguistic situations of western Europe......Page 27 2.3 The dominance of a hypercephalic capital......Page 31 2.4 Describing the centre......Page 34 2.5 Language and nation......Page 39 2.6 Belgium......Page 45 2.7 Switzerland......Page 50 2.8 The francophone area in a western European perspective......Page 54 2.9 Shift and maintenance of minority autochtonous varieties......Page 55 2.10 The post-industrial and post-diaglossic era......Page 58 2.11 Historical situations and social changes in the second half of the 20th century......Page 59 3.1 Introduction......Page 63 3.2 The emergence of the post-industrial economy......Page 65 3.3 Changes in occupational structure......Page 69 3.4 Urbanisation......Page 78 3.5 Changing gender roles......Page 89 3.6 Migration......Page 93 3.7 Internationalisation......Page 97 3.8 Media and popular culture......Page 99 3.9 (i) Symbolic changes and the late 20th-century zeitgeist: evolving social and national identities......Page 103 3.9 (ii) Symbolic changes and the late 20th-century zeitgeist: evolving social practices and representations in the everyday......Page 107 3.10 Concluding remarks......Page 115 4.1 Linguistic levelling in the light of social levelling......Page 119 4.2 The reference pronunciation of France and the ideology of the standard......Page 120 4.3 Attempting to define Reference French......Page 124 4.4 Stylistic variation: omission or insertion phenomena?......Page 130 4.5 The education system and the acquisition of Standard French in France......Page 139 4.6 Is there a southern (Provençal) regional standard?......Page 142 4.7 The emergence of alternative prestigious pronunciations in Francophonie Nord: the example of Quebec......Page 144 4.8 Prestigious pronunciations in Belgium......Page 145 4.9 Prestigious pronunciations in Suisse romande......Page 157 5.1 The problematic nature of identifying regional accents in France......Page 169 5.2 The relation between regional, social and stylistic variation......Page 172 5.3 Regional variation in middle-class Oïl usage in the early to mid-20th century......Page 177 5.4 Marked regional varieties in the early to mid-20th century......Page 180 5.5 Vernacular Parisian as a regional variety......Page 184 5.6 Lille and the Nord–Pas-de-Calais......Page 188 5.7 Brittany and Normandy......Page 194 5.8 Eastern regions of France......Page 199 5.9 The northern Oc region and southward spread of supralocal French......Page 202 5.10 Overview of non-southern French......Page 204 5.11 Southern France (i): the traditional situation......Page 205 5.12 Southern France (ii) the results of more recent studies......Page 212 5.13 Summary of the situation in southern France......Page 221 6.2 Brussels vernacular......Page 224 6.3 Regional varieties in Wallonia – substrate and perceptions......Page 230 6.4 Descriptions in the 1970s and 1980s......Page 233 6.5 Variationist studies......Page 236 6.6 The Borinage (Thiam, 1995)......Page 237 6.7 Mons (Moreau and Bauvois, 1998; Bauvois, 2001, 2002a, 2002b)......Page 241 6.8 Brussels, Gembloux, Liège and Tournai (Hambye, 2005)......Page 246 6.9 The findings of perceptual studies and summary of the Belgian situation......Page 254 6.10 The Francoprovençal substrate in Suisse romande......Page 255 6.11 Regional varieties (Geneva, Neuchâtel, Valais)......Page 256 6.12 The Vaud: behaviour and perceptions......Page 259 6.13 More recent perceptions of marked varieties in the Vaud (Singy, 1996)......Page 262 6.14 Conclusion......Page 265 7.2 Social class......Page 268 7.3 Gender......Page 272 7.4 Historical perspectives on the sociolinguistic consequences of migration......Page 279 7.5 Urban youth vernaculars......Page 282 7.6 Concluding remarks......Page 292 References......Page 296 Index......Page 316 Machine generated contents note: Introduction Sociolinguistic Variation and Change Social Levelling Linguistic Variation and Change in French Resistance to Homognisation in French-speaking Europe Caste Studies showing counter-examples to levelling in French Variation and Social Factors Synthetic Overview of Variation and Change in French in a Trans-national Perspective Index. An in depth examination of linguistic variation and change as a reflection of social convergence in the major French-speaking countries of Europe - France, Belgium and Switzerland. Considered in the context of linguistic levelling the book provides a detailed account of recent social and linguistic change in European French.