English to French Other Linguistics

However, as many sociolinguistics would argue, natural languages such as French and English are not monolithic entities but a shifting amalgam of varieties . As Milroy and Milroy point out, ‘…’. Indeed by grouping language varieties as separate entities and labelling them so, we risk implying that these varieties are neatly circumscribed. As we delve closer into the literature concerning the history of the French language it becomes evident that standard languages acquire what Lodge calls a ‘retrospective historicity’, with an emphasis on legitimising the distribution of the Parisian standard. Several attempts have been made to track down the beginnings of the process whereby the spoken norm of Paris was chosen and subsequently diffused throughout the rest of the country . There is even a case for Paris being an importer rather than an exporter of high status cultural forms however as is often the case when establishing the roots of spoken language, no strong evidence exists to support this claim.