Scribd
Upload
5 views6 pages

(English) Where Did French Come From - (DownSub - Com)

French, with nearly 275 million speakers as of 2014, evolved from Latin over 2000 years, influenced by the Gaulish language and Germanic tribes after the fall of the Roman Empire. The distinction between Latin and Gallo-Romance dialects grew, leading to the emergence of French as a separate language, particularly with the prestige of the Parisian dialect in the 14th century. The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539 further established French as the official language of France, diminishing the use of Latin and regional dialects.

Uploaded by

Rãndøm StüFf
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
5 views6 pages

(English) Where Did French Come From - (DownSub - Com)

French, with nearly 275 million speakers as of 2014, evolved from Latin over 2000 years, influenced by the Gaulish language and Germanic tribes after the fall of the Roman Empire. The distinction between Latin and Gallo-Romance dialects grew, leading to the emergence of French as a separate language, particularly with the prestige of the Parisian dialect in the 14th century. The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539 further established French as the official language of France, diminishing the use of Latin and regional dialects.

Uploaded by

Rãndøm StüFf
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

You can hear French spoken in the cafés of

Montréal, the markets of Morocco, the beaches

of Tahiti, and even the foothills of the Italian


Alps.

With almost 275 million speakers in 2014,


according to the Organization of La Francophonie,

French is one of the most widely spoken languages


in the world, making it a popular language

for people to learn.

But where did it come from?

French developed as a dialect from Latin over


the past 2000 years, and in this video we’re

going to look at how and why Latin evolved


into French as we know it.

There are many languages in Europe which are


actually descendants from Latin.

Well known languages like Portuguese, Spanish,


Galician, Catalan, Occitan, Italian, Romansh,

and Romanian all descended from Latin.

Several brother and sister languages exist


which are closely related to these languages

as well.

But what do we really know about their origins?

To understand where French came from we need


to travel back in time.

It’s around 100 BCE in Northern Europe,


in regions now found in modern day Germany

and France.

This part of the world during this time is


ruled primarily by groups of tribes which

collectively are known as the Gauls.

The Gauls speak a language closely related


to the modern-day Scottish and Irish Gaelic

and had been living in the area for at least


400 years.

At the decline of their rule, Julius Caesar,


from the flourishing Roman Republic led the
Roman army into the territory of the Gauls
a few decades after 100BCE.

Towards 50 BCE, Julius Caesar wins his campaign


and annexes Gaul as a province of the Roman

Republic.

Over the decades, Latin-speaking civilians


and officials from the Roman Empire begin

to settle in the newly annexed province of


Gaul.

Since Latin was the official language of government,


the Gaul natives who belonged to the elite

parts of society started to learn to speak


Latin.

Latin also became across Europe a lingua franca,


or a language to facilitate trade between

speakers of two different languages.

Over time, more and more people began to speak


Latin to such an extent that the Gaulish language

was eventually not spoken, ultimately dying


out in the 6th century.

Since Latin and Gaulish existed side by side


for a few centuries, they began to influence

each other.

When the Roman Empire fell, it fragmented


the Latin language across the empire; and

even eliminated it in some regions.

Some of the German tribes, primarily the Franks


and the Alemanni, invaded Gaul at the fall

of the Roman Empire; but they did not force


the inhabitants to speak their language.

Instead, the Franks and the Alemanni eventually


began to learn to speak this Gaulish-Latin.

The combination of the language of the Germanic


tribes and the Gaulish language with Latin

eventually led to the emergence of new dialects


of Latin, collectively known as Gallo-Romance.

Did you know that in some parts of the world,


it is common for one language to be spoken
in one domain of social life and another language
is spoken in another domain of social life?

For example, in many parts of Jamaica, people


will switch between speaking Standard English

and Jamaican patois, which is a creole of


English a few centuries old.

English is spoken with government interactions


or in the media,

while patois is spoken in more familiar situations


like with friends or family.

This switching between two or more different


languages is an example of diglossia, where

two dialects or languages are used within


a single language community.

A similar situation eventually developed in


Gaul, where Latin was used for high functions

in society, like writing, religion, and education;


while the Gallo-Romance dialects were used

for low functions in society like family,


agriculture, and everyday life.

It was around this time, in the 7th century,


the former region of Gaul began to be known

as the region of the Franks, hence the origin


of the name France, despite the fact that

the majority of people living in this new


Francia were actually descendants from the

Gauls and the Romans.

As time went on, the difference between Latin


and the Gallo-Romance dialects became so different,

especially in the North, that in the 8th century


it was getting harder for people to understand

Latin without specifically learning to speak


it.

Gallo-Romance had become so different from


Latin that the Catholic priests, who historically

had been preaching only in Latin, began to


preach in Gallo-Romance in many parts of Northern

France so that more people could understand


them.
In 842 CE, the Strasbourg Oaths, which were
a pledge of allegiance between the ruler of

East Francia and West Francia, were written


in Latin, German, and Gallo-Romance.

This document is the first written proof that


we have of a language distinct from Latin.

In Southern France, by the 11th century, Gallo-Romance


speakers were still able to understand Latin

fairly well, as they were grammatically pretty


similar.

Nonetheless, they were still regarded as two


separate languages.

During this time period, the southern dialects


began to collectively be referred to as "les

langues d'oc" or the OC languages, OC being


the word for YES in these dialects; while

the northern dialects were collectively referred


to as "les langues d'oïl" or the OÏL languages,

OÏL (eventually becoming oui) being the word


for YES in the northern dialects.

Across all of Europe, this time period brought


about lots of societal change, brought about

by a number of reasons, such as the fact that


external threats of invasion by vikings or

other groups were no longer present, technological


innovations like watermills increasing agricultural

production, along with demographic changes


and economic prosperity.

This societal change led to an increase in


literacy and the usage of writing systems

specific to the different gallo-romance dialects.

This time period also gave rise to a new class


of people, the bourgeoisie.

The bourgeoisie contributed greatly to the


literature and art of the courts of the aristocracy.

New literature, particularly in Southern France,


began to appear in the langues d'oc dialects

instead of in Latin.

By the end of the 13th century, documents


written in les langues d'oc and les langues

d'oïl far outnumbered the documents written


in Latin.

Now that we've established how Latin sprouted


off into different languages; let's take a

look at how the Parisian dialect of Gallo-Romance


was selected as the national standard of French.

In the 14th century, the economy in many of


the Northern towns began to worsen, except

for Paris, which was the largest city at the


time.

Because of this, the Parisian dialect, eventually


known as French or françois, at the time,

gained high prestige.

Normally, when a dialect or linguistic variety


is considered to be prestigious by a group

of speakers, that variety sets the norms and


the standards of the language.

Look at British English, for example.

For a long time, Britain set the norms of


English spelling and grammar, up until recently.

Because of the high prestige of the Parisian


dialect of French at the time, it was regarded

as the best language in which to write different


forms of literature.

As a result, the Parisian pronunciation and


spelling became the majority language of the

langue d'oïl region in Northern France around


the 14th and 15th centuries.

The success of the French language in literature


overshadowed the early success of the literature

produced in the langues d'oc dialects of the


South of France.

Towards the 15th century, French earned more


prestige across Europe, as it became considered

to be a language of learning; after Latin,


of course.

In 1539, François I, the King of France released


the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts which
outlined "in order that there may be no cause
for doubt over the meaning of the said decrees.

We will and order that they be composed and


written so clearly that there be not nor can

be any ambiguity or uncertainty, nor grounds


for requiring interpretation thereof.

And because so many things often hinge on


the meaning of Latin words contained in the

said documents.

We will that from henceforth all decrees together


with all other proceedings, whether of our

royal courts or other subordinate or inferior,


whether records, surveys, contracts, commissions,

awards, wills, and all other acts and deeds


of justice or dependent thereon be spoken,

written and given to the parties in the French


mother tongue and not otherwise."

This decree essentially intended to eliminate


Latin and centralize French as the main language

of the kingdom.

Unintentionally, this decree pushed the French


language on those who spoke Occitan or

other

langues d'oc varieties.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy