Language variation and linguistic description in 16th-century France
Douglas A. Kibbee | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The first French grammarians to consider the French language condemned variation – historical variation, geographical variation, and sociolinguistic variation. For the French language to be first among vernacular languages, it had to have fixity, to be governed by absolute rules. How can one determine if a lexical item, pronunciation feature, or morphological feature should be accepted? Some would study the best authors, but the list of such authors is a matter of debate. Others would define the ‘true French’ geographically, but they tend to choose their own regions. Ultimately, the choice depends on a sense of ‘usage’ which is in harmony with the ‘naïve puissance ’ of the language, the pursuit of which may ultimately lead to a reunification of word and object, a unity lost at the Tower of Babel. The grammarians’ attacks on variation serve biblical as well as political destiny.
Published online: 01 January 1990
https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.17.1-2.06kib
https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.17.1-2.06kib
References
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Cited by
Cited by 4 other publications
Batista, Ronaldo de Oliveira
Liddle, Michel H. W.
Riemer, Nick
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.