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Norm and Ideology in Spoken French

A Sociolinguistic History of Liaison

  • Book
  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. David Hornsby

    1. School of European Culture and Languages, University of Kent School of European Culture and Languages, Canterbury, UK

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  • Offers an in-depth and wide-ranging examination of liaison, a key variable phenomenon in spoken French
  • Takes into account both contemporary theories of language ideology and language variation and change, as well as corpus data
  • Addresses new and emerging areas such as the current discussion of diglossia in French
  • Tests evidence for French exceptionalism in respect of sociolinguistic theory
  • Considers liaison from both diachronic and synchronic perspectives

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
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  2. Models

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Ideology and Language Change

      • David Hornsby
      Pages 3-19

    3. What Is Liaison?

      • David Hornsby
      Pages 21-42

  3. Diachronic Perspectives on a Prescriptive Norm

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 43-43
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    2. A Brief History of French Final Consonants

      • David Hornsby
      Pages 45-60

    3. An Evolving Norm: Liaison in Prescriptive Grammar

      • David Hornsby
      Pages 61-98

  4. Variation and Change

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 99-99
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    2. Liaison and Geography

      • David Hornsby
      Pages 101-115

    3. Liaison and Social Factors

      • David Hornsby
      Pages 117-146

    4. The Four Cities Project

      • David Hornsby
      Pages 147-166

    5. Professionnels de la Parole Publique

      • David Hornsby
      Pages 167-190

  5. Conclusions and Implications

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 191-191
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    2. An Inverted Sociolinguistic Phenomenon?

      • David Hornsby
      Pages 193-204

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 205-230
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Keywords

About this book

This volume offers a diachronic sociolinguistic perspective on one of the most complex and fascinating variable speech phenomena in contemporary French. Liaison affects a number of word-final consonants which are realized before a vowel but not pre-pausally or before a consonant. Liaisons have traditionally been classified as obligatoire (obligatory), interdite (forbidden) and facultative (optional), the latter category subject to a highly complex prescriptive norm. This volume traces the evolution of this norm in prescriptive works published since the 16th Century, and sets it against actual practice as evidenced from linguists’ descriptions and recorded corpora. The author argues that optional (or variable) liaison in French offers a rich and well-documented example of language change driven by ideology in Kroch’s (1978) terms, in which an elite seeks to maintain a complex conservative norm in the face of generally simplifying changes led by lower socio-economic groups, who tend in this case to restrict liaison to a small set of traditionally obligatory environments.



Authors and Affiliations

  • School of European Culture and Languages, University of Kent School of European Culture and Languages, Canterbury, UK

    David Hornsby

About the author

David Hornsby is a Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Kent, UK.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Norm and Ideology in Spoken French

  • Book Subtitle: A Sociolinguistic History of Liaison

  • Authors: David Hornsby

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49300-4

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-49299-1Published: 20 October 2020

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-49302-8Published: 21 October 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-49300-4Published: 19 October 2020

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVI, 230

  • Number of Illustrations: 79 b/w illustrations, 1 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Sociolinguistics, Language Change, Language History, Corpus Linguistics, Grammar

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