Because many of the forms participating in inherent variability are not attested in the standard language, they are often construed as evidence of change. We test this assumption by confronting the standard, as instantiated by a unique corpus covering five centuries of French grammatical injunctions, with data on the evolution of spontaneous…

Discussion of the languages" that comprise living French, including sociolects, technolects, regional dialects, literary vocabulary, and argot. (RS)

Surveys conducted among secondary school students in Toulon, France in choice of personal pronouns indicate more prevalent use of tu''. Students consider widespread use of tu'' to be more democratic and thought employment of vous'' on certain occasions is a hypocritical and bourgeois habit. (DS)

Presents a conversation between representatives of various generations to illustrate the social changes influencing usage of pronouns of address in France. (DS)

Discusses problems of terminology in modern-day French-English translation, and means by which translator skills can keep up with linguistic evolution. (Text is in French.) (AM)

Special issue devoted to the topic of standard spoken usage. (VM)

Analyzes the strategies employed in terminating conversational exchanges, with particular attention to argumentative sequences. Examines the features that distinguish these sequences from those that have a transactional character, and discusses the patterns of verbal interaction attendant to negative responses. Societe Nouvelle Didier Erudition,…

Discusses dislocation, a construction in which one element, usually a noun, is isolated either at the beginning or at the end of a sentence while being represented in the body of the sentence by a pronoun. Discusses the place of dislocation in linguistic studies and its pedagogical implications. (SED)

Comments on the usage of the second person pronouns of address ( tu" and vous") in French, and traces the usage from the fifteenth century to present day, reflecting social, religious, and political attitudes. (DS)

Analyzes a type of conversational exchange where the participants focus on a given subject or theme contributing personal views to the discussion. Characterizes the relationship among the participants as a "cooperative conflict," examining the internal structure of speech acts and their illocutory functions, particularly the initiatory…

Discusses the pros and cons of exceptional grammar rules in French and some of the main differences in spoken and written usage. (DS)

Students must be familiar with current abbreviations, especially their appropriateness at varying levels of language. This paper discusses their formation and use, and includes a list of the abbreviations, initials, and acronyms most common in contemporary French. (Text is in French.) (DB)

A brief study of terms of address and reference in three examples of regional French of the departments of Sarthe and Mayenne. The questions raised in the study deal with ethnology, ethnolinguistics, popular or familiar French and traits of spoken French. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

This article discusses the differences in vocabulary referring to statements of accounts between colloquial language and technical language, and between French and English. (Text is in French.) (CLK)