English to French Other Linguistics

The emergence of Parisian French as a dialect with special status began in the thirteenth century, with the notion of langue maternelle changing from meaning the vernacular learnt at home to the new prestige variety spoken in Paris. Over time as Paris became the epicentre of political and economic power in France, so too did the language of the elite earn more respect and prestige. It is during the period from the thirteenth century to the sixteenth that we see the spread of Parisian norms throughout the rest of France; the King’s French, originating in Paris, becomes the language of government, the language of learning and gradually overthrows not only Latin but regional vernaculars such as Occitan. The birth of France as a ‘nation’ helped to solidify Parisian French as the language of France, and Paris’ status as ’the epitome of power, prosperity and progress’ only furthered belief in the ideology of the standard . Lodge’s table incorporating Trudgill’s processes of language development summarizes the stages of the French language incredibly coherently;