French Language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

French Language - Essay Example Although Standard French has in fact undergone centuries of human intervention and language planning, popular opinion, however, contends that Standard French should consist solely of the rulings by the Acadmie franaise in France, or in standardization from terminological work by the Office qubcois de la langue franaise in Quebec. There is further perceived or actual linguistic hegemony in favor of France by virtue of tradition, former imperialism, and a demographic majority. Such notions hinge on linguistic prestige rather than on a linguistic norm. Also, despite the existence of many regional varieties of French in the Francophone world, Standard French is normally chosen as a model for learners of French as a foreign or second language. The standard pronunciation of Metropolitan French is, out of concerns for comprehension or social stigma, sometimes favored over other standard national pronunciations when teaching French to non-native speakers in Francophone nations other than Fra nce. Though the French complain about the incursion of English into their language, they don't fight it nearly as much as French-speaking Canadians do. Whereas stop signs in France say stop, their Qubcois counterparts say arrt. Le week-end in France is known as la fin de semaine in Qubec. And of course, the word chosen to replace "email" in France was the Qubcois term courriel. Thus Canadians feel that their French is actually better than that spoken in France and should be the standard. Therefore, French-Canadians have started a petition to have their French become the standard by which all other variations are measured. Jean Charest, Premier of Qubec, had this to say: Au Qubec, on parle franais. Notre langue n'est pas un petit dialecte franco-canadien et elle n'est pas remplie de franglais comme le franais hexagonal. Nous insistons dsormais que notre franais, c'est la norme. (In Qubec, we speak French. Our language is not some "French-Canadian" dialect, and it's not full of franglais like the French in France. We insist that from now on our French is the standard.) (french.about.com/od/francophonie/a/4_1_05a.htm - 24k - Cached) French (Franais) is a Romance language spoken in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada (principally Quebec), northern New England (especially the state of Vermont), the state of Louisiana and in many other countries and regions formerly or currently governed by France. It is an official language of more than 25 countries. French is spoken as a mother language by 72,000,000 people and as a second language by some other 52,000,000. It is one of the five official languages of the United Nations. Origin and History French dialects developped from the Vulgar Latin which was brought to Northern Gaul with the Roman conquest in the 1st century B.C. (see Rome). The history of French language is divided into 6 main periods: