France: Language and Culture, ca 1100-ca 1800 (U03112)

? Credit Points : 40 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : LLC-4-U03112

The course will investigate the evolution of the French language in its social and political context from the foundations of French literature to the Revolution through close readings of extracts from appropriate texts presented in the form of a course dossier. It will deal predominantly with the literary language, focusing on grammar, syntax, vocabulary and rhetoric. Phonology and morphology will be dealt with only to the extent needed to make readings of the texts analysed meaningful. It will consider questions of register and linguistic bienséance, medieval notions of courtliness and later notions of le bon usage, the role of Latin and Classicism in the formation of literary French and the theories and practice of discourse about language in France from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century. Finally the course will consider the constant tension between the diversity of dialects and the notion of a national language based on the dialect of the Ile-de-France as it emerged between the end of the fourteenth and the end of the eighteenth century.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Entrance to French 4 Honours

Subject Areas

Home subject area

European Languages and Cultures - French, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Full Year (Blocks 1-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 20 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Wednesday	11:10	13:00	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course students should be able
• to read, analyse and discuss objectively evidence for evolving linguistic usage in texts of varying genres and periods;
• to understand the social, political and cultural forces shaping the development of literary French;
• to appreciate the significance of differing theories of language current in earlier periods;
• to analyse and discuss a corpus of primrary and secondary literature on language in its historical context;
• to discuss in French, orally and in writing, the central concepts presented by the course;
• to undertake independent work and write a dissertation on a topic related to the course.