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French is changing thesis | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| DanHalen Triglot Newbie Korea, South Joined 5852 days ago 8 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English*, Korean, French | Message 1 of 7 08 April 2010 at 12:40am | IP Logged |
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Hi! I am getting started on my senior thesis (Linguistics major) this upcoming semeseter. I already have a professor to help me and I have a few options for my topic. Because this professor is teaching a "French in the 21st Century" class that I will be taking, she has suggested that I do something along the lines of how French is changing. She has cited as examples the tendency of modern French to drop the 'ne' in negation, leaving things like, "je sais pas". Another example is the prevalence of Aller + Infinitive instead of the simple future.
What I am asking is, do any of you have any insights as to which is might make for more interesting research? Are there any other ways which you feel French is changing? Thank you in advance^^ 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7376 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes  12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 7 08 April 2010 at 8:31am | IP Logged |
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I changed the title and moved it to the relevant room.
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| Blunderstein Triglot Pro Member Sweden schackhandeln.se Joined 5418 days ago 60 posts - 82 votes Speaks: Swedish*, EnglishC2, FrenchB2 Studies: German, Esperanto Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 7 08 April 2010 at 11:11am | IP Logged |
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Perhaps it would be a good idea to examine how French usage is changing outside France?
From what I've read, some authors from the West Indies do really interesting things with French. I can't remember which book mentioned that, but it related to the subject of "Francophonie". 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 4 of 7 08 April 2010 at 1:28pm | IP Logged |
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ne is indeed dropped in spoken French, but the hardest part will be to demonstrate that
this is actually a change, since your only access to older French will be written. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| minus273 Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5765 days ago 288 posts - 346 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Ancient Greek, Tibetan | Message 5 of 7 08 April 2010 at 4:42pm | IP Logged |
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The use of ne is inconsistent in French from the Middle Ages, so maybe it doesn't count as a linguistic change. Change in attitude from 19th century normative French, of course.
On the syntax, there's something really interesting which is happening. In Written French, it's not possible to say "Jean, Marie, il l'aime." or "Non, je ne sais pas, moi". Google for "dislocation". Edited by minus273 on 08 April 2010 at 4:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5430 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 6 of 7 08 April 2010 at 7:51pm | IP Logged |
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There are lots of interesting things happening in modern French. In addition to what has already mentioned, you can look at change in usage of the subjunctive mood, the disappearance of the simple past in spoken speech or the relative pronoun "dont".
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| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 7 of 7 08 April 2010 at 8:03pm | IP Logged |
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Regardless of the types of changes you look at, it's demonstrating the change over time that's going to be the problem.
I moved out of Québec about 12 years ago. Since then, I've been constantly noticing new expressions popping up on tv which have only recently made their way into the language from European French. But I have no idea how I'd go about documenting that. Unless you get your hands on recordings from a radio or tv show that has lasted decades with the same format... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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