The French-Speaking World: A Practical Introduction to Sociolinguistic Issues

Summary

The French-Speaking World is an accessible textbook that offers students the opportunity to explore for themselves a wide range of sociolinguistic issues relating to the French language and its role in the world.

This new edition has been fully revised to reflect the many political and social changes of the last 15 years, including the impact of technology on language change. It continues to combine text with practical exercises and discussion questions to stimulate readers to think for themselves and to tackle specific problems.

Key features of this book:

• Informative and comprehensive: covers a wide range of current issues
• Practical: contains a variety of graded exercises and tasks plus an index of terms
• Topical and contemporary: deals with current situations and provides up-to-date illustrative material
• Thought-provoking: encourages students to reflect and research for themselves

The French-Speaking World is the ideal textbook for undergraduate students who have a sound practical knowledge of French but who have little or no knowledge of linguistics or sociolinguistics.

Table of Contents

Part one: 1. Le monde francophone 2. French as a first language: Europe and North America 3. French as a second language: The colonial heritage Part two: 4. Languages, dialects and patois 5. Local varieties of French in France 6. Local varieties of French outside France 7. French and Creole 8. Immigration and the French language Part three: 9. French in the global age 10. Language policy and defence of the language

Author(s) Bio

Dawn Marley is Senior Teaching Fellow in French at the University of Surrey

Rodney Ball was previously Senior Lecturer at Southampton University.