116-021 Varieties of French

116-007 French I: Cultural Perspectives and 116-008 French I: Language in Context II.

This subject is an introduction to the study of language variation in France and Francophone countries. Different factors of variation are considered including geographical location, social class, occupation, age, sex, register and genre. Regional features of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary are examined and compared to those of standard language. Within France, focus is placed on Meridional French. Outside France, special attention is given to Quebec French. French-based creoles are also considered, in particular Indian Ocean creoles and the multilingualism of Mauritius. Through French language variation students are introduced to questions of dialectology, the basics of modern sociolinguistic theory and methodology, language planning issues. The teaching of this subject makes extensive use of multimedia resources. The subject will be taught in French.