Language variation and linguistic description in 16th-century France

Douglas A. Kibbee
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Summary

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.

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