French Language

FRENCH LANGUAGE. Af ter the period during which Vulgar Latin, as spoken in Gaul, was acquiring a specific char acter (see ROMANCE LANGUAGES), the history of French is divis ible into three periods: (I) Old French (9th to 14th century), (2) Middle French (15th and i6th centuries), (3) Modern French (17th century to the present day). The outstanding features of (A) the External History, (B) the Internal History of French during these three periods are as follows.

The Mediaeval Period.

During the Old French period the name "French" is applied to the Romance language spoken in the north of France in contradistinction to that spoken in the south.

Old French is divided into numerous dialects which may be classi fied: (i) Bourguignon, Franc-comtois, Lorrain, Champetiois. in eastern France, (2) Picard and Wallon in north-eastern France, (3) Normand in north-western France, (4) Poitevin, Angevin, Saintongeais in western France, (5) Francais (or Francien, as it is now usually termed, to distinguish it from French lato sensu) in the Ile-de-France. The French dialects have converted into e the free tonic a of Latin conserved by the Provencal dialects. Thus Latin amare becomes in French amer (later aimer), but in Provencal arnar (later ama). In the Lyons region, Savoy and "romande" Switzerland in an intermediary dialect called Franco provencal, because it blended French and Provencal characteris tics, Latin portare yielded portar as in Provencal, whilst Vulgar Latin taliare gave taillier (mod. tailler) as in French. Despite their common points these dialects differed so widely that (as is still the case with the patois) the Frenchman speaking one of them was often unable to understand those who spoke another. Roger Bacon, who travelled in France in 126o, testifies to this state of affairs in his Opus Majus. Till the beginning of the 13th century the French dialects are known by literary monu ments only, with the single exception of the Strasbourg Oaths, the most ancient documentary evidence of French. The text of the oaths sworn on Feb. 14, 842, is preserved in the Histori arum libri IV. (lib. III., cap. 5) of the historian Nithard (q.v.) (d. 844), who copied them very carefully in their original lan guage. In the course of the i3th century purely literary texts are supplemented by documents from archives, the oldest from northern and eastern France being in Picard, Wallon and Lor rain; for Anjou, Touraine and Berry the earliest documents date from the middle of the i3th century. French was not used for recording acts of the royal chancery till Louis IX. The rati fication of the Treaty of Paris in 1259, the original of which is in London (cf. Rymer, Foedera, Hague ed. tome. i., pt. 2, p. 50) is among the earliest acts of royal chancery in French. Under Philip le Bel, French begins to preponderate and is used for ad ministrative correspondence and for more solemn deeds. From the 14th century French steadily gains in such documents till during the 15th Latin becomes the exception. (See A. Giry, Man uel de diplomatique [ 2nd ed., 1924] .) In literary texts the prog ress of Francien is similar, all other dialects sinking into the shade by the beginning of the 15th century. This triumph of Francien has been attributed to the high level of the literary productions of the Ile-de-France, but a review of the literary output of the various dialects down to the close of the I2th century shows that for quality Francien could as yet claim no superiority over, say, Norman or Picard. Francien owed its preponderance to a series of social factors starting with the accession of Hugh Capet, son of Hugh the Great, to the throne of France. By the creation, extension and consolidation of the royal domain, by the rise of the royal family to the first rank among the great families of the realm, and of France, under Louis IX., to the first rank among the nations of Europe, by the . continuous development of political and administrative institutions, the descendants of the duke of France had become sovereigns of France. The unity of the kingdom created by them between 987 and 1328 resulted in the predominance of the language of Paris, their capital; and as Paris became the king's settled abode, all scientific, artistic and literary movements centred increasingly about the king's court and were intensified by the prestige of the University of Paris. A further consequence of Capetian policy was to weaken the feudal system to which the political and social shocks of the Hundred Years War administered the death-blow. The decadence of the feudal system, which was not, however, utterly abolished till 1789, involved the decadence of the provincial dialects and French entered upon a new period of transformation the close of which coincides with the dawn of absolute monarchy.

The 16th Century.

Since the 15th century the dialects have ceased to be means of literary expression, and survive only as patois. (See PROVENcAL.) In the i6th century the use of French was made compulsory throughout the royal jurisdiction, from which it ousted Latin in virtue of the Ordinance of Lyons (Louis XII., 152o) and the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterets (Francis I., . Charles IX. by the Edict of Paris decreed that all "verifications de nos tours de Parlement sur nos edits, ordon nances ou lettres patentes et les reponses sur requestes seront faites doresenavant en langage f rancois et non en latin, comme ci-devant on avait accoutume faire en nostre tour de Parlement de Paris; ce que voulons et entendons estre pareillement garde par nos procureurs generaux." French invades the theological domain with Calvin's translations (1 S41) of his Institutio christ ianae religions, written by him in Latin in 1536; in 155o it be comes the language of the Protestant Church ; scientists begin to employ it ; the Pleiade issues its manifesto, the Defense et Illustration de la langue f rancoyse, and certain humanists, drawn towards the study of the origin and development of the vernacu lar, expound the results of their research in treatises composed in the vernacular. The efforts of the writers of the i6th century had for result the concoction of a language thick with provincial isms, a hotchpotch of terms raked together from all dialects or coined on Greek and Latin models. Against these excesses reaction was inevitable.

From the 17th Century to the Present Day.

Centres of influence such as the French Academy, founded by Richelieu in 1635, the court of Louis XIV., focusing the whole life of the kingdom, intellectual and artistic as well as political, the "salons" typified by the Hotel de Rambouillet (if men are not strong enough, come women to the rescue!), poets like Malherbe, critics like Chapelain, stylists like Guez de Balzac, grammarians like Vaugelas, united to secure the triumph of "le bon usage," which Vaugelas, prefacing his Remarques, defined as "that way of speaking used by the healthiest portion of the Court, conformably with that way of writing used by the healthiest portion of living authors." Thus was the reign of "Reason" set up and the master pieces of Descartes, Racine, La Fontaine, Pascal, Bossuet, etc., contributed to fix the characters of the classical spirit and con currently of the classical language : naturalness, simplicity, clarity. In the 18th century that language acquired such prestige through great authors like Rousseau, Voltaire and Diderot, that in 1783 the Berlin Academy proposed as subjects for a prize essay: "What has made French the universal tongue? To what does it owe this prerogative? Is it to be surmised that it will retain it?" and awarded the prize to Rivarol for his "De l'universalite de la langue franraise" (1784). Then came the romantic school, with Victor Hugo at its head, by whom lyric poetry was lifted to heights hitherto unattained in France; whilst French prose, en riched in vocabulary and syntactical resources, became a tool of wondrous strength and pliancy. Such indeed was its quality that with but little modification the most diverse branches of literature found in it, ample means of expression, and scientists like Pasteur, H. Poincare, J. H. Fabre; philosophers like Berg son ; poets like Heredia, Verlaine, Mallarme, Rostand, Valery ; novelists like Anatole France, Andre Gide, Marcel Proust ; critics like Jules Lemaitre, Brunetiere, Faguet and Thibaudet had at their disposal an instrument admirably fitted to their most exact ing needs. Such was the metal that, despite the superadded alloy of the last 20 years, it still rings true and its secular repute stands unimpaired. This literary prestige greatly furthered the diffusion of French in France, but this diffusion was yet more potently ac celerated by various social causes, most important amongst which were the French Revolution, increasing political and administra tive centralization, the multiplication of means of communication, more developed commercial and industrial life, the spread of schools, compulsory elementary education, conscription, the power of the press, and the bringing together as soldiers, during the World War, of natives from every part of the republic. The special idioms and patois have been affected by repercussion, the patois being so weakened that they may be now regarded as hav ing abandoned their secular struggle against French, notwithstand ing the transient lustre regained by a few.

The French Language in Foreign Countries.

If parts of the territory of France have been and still are occupied by non French idioms, Corsican, Biscayan, Breton, Flemish, Alsatian, all of which are, moreover, gradually disappearing, French has been and still is spoken beyond the French frontiers. Even before the invasion of William the Conqueror it had won firm foothold in England and from 1066 till the close of the 14th century was spoken and written in England as one of the chief languages.

(See ANGLO-NORMAN LITERATURE.) For many generations it was current in Piedmont, where Italian became the official idiom as late as 1577. There were besides important focuses of French influence in many other parts of western and central Europe and, during the crusades, in the Morea, the Holy Land and especially the island of Cyprus. In the i6th century French crossed the Atlantic to North America. Under Louis XIV. it be came the official language of diplomacy and as such was used up to the Treaty of Versailles. It was carried to numerous parts of Europe and America by the 200,000 French Huguenots whom the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) drove from their native land. It is now spoken by some 48,000,000 persons, about 3,000, 00o in Belgium, 3,00o in the Duchy of Luxembourg, 800,000 in Switzerland (cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchatel and parts of those of Fribourg, Valais and Berne), 140,000 in Italy (in part of the Po Valley and especially in the Val d'Aosta), 90,00o in the Channel Islands, 1,600,000 in Canada, and the rest in the French colonies, particularly Tunisia, Algeria, the island of Reunion, Tonkin, Cochin China or in colonies now lost to France (Mau ritius, Haiti, Louisiana). French is spoken by many educated persons in central and eastern Europe, Egypt and Asia Minor. In the islands of Reunion, Mauritius, Cayenne, Martinique, Trinidad, Haiti and in Louisiana the Creoles speak mixed idioms, known as French Creole, in which the indigenous tongues are fused with the dialects or patois imported by the French settlers.

Vocabulary.

The primitive word stock examined in ROMANCE LANGUAGES was increased by an intense system of derivation and composition and a supply of words coming from (I) foreign languages, (2) French dialects and patois, and idioms special to some classes or professions. The figures between parenthesis indicate the number of words which the Dictionnaire General, the best authority in the matter, states to be still in use in the French language of the loth century.

Latin and Greek. From the 9th to the 14th centuries French borrowed from these languages a few words, chiefly substantives, relating to religion and law, e.g., apostle, diable, page, paradis, prophete, criminel, heritage, justice. Such loans increased in num ber from the 14th century (beginning of the classical revival), multiplied enormously in the 15th and during the i6th century became overwhelming. 'Many of the words which then appeared still live, e.g., anarchie, aristocratie, democratic, ec000mie, poeme, politique, abstrait, caduc, patrie, patriote, but many have perished, e.g., angustie, experiment, extoller, muliebre, pristin. During the I 7th century new coinages from Greek continued : anachronisme, anecdote were introduced by G. de Balzac, anonyme, apologiste by d'Aubigne. Since the 18th century science in its progress has turned increasingly to Greek for terminology as in the terms of the decimal system (established Dec. II, 1799), in physics and chemistry, in medicine neologisms abound, such as euphoric for good health. Most new inventions receive Greek names by a system, not always very sound, which borrows single Greek words, compounds them with other Greek words or welds with them non Greek elements, e.g., cycle, telephone, telegraphe, taximetre, cine matographe, graphophone, phonographe, aeroplane, helicoptere, autobus, automobile, etc.

German. (About 450 words.) Until the loth century French borrowed a large number of words from various Germanic dia lects ; among those still surviving are : the substantives aigrette, bala f re, balle, ban, banniere, be ff roi, bourg, breche, brique, cani f, coi ff e, echarpe, echelle, echine, gant, guerre, hameau, lianche, hareng, hate, honte, marechal, nord, ouest, sud, tache, treve, etc.; the adjectives blafard, blanc, bleu, bran, fauve, franc, gris, laid, riche, etc. ; the verbs avachir, bannir, bdtir, choisir, hair, etc.; one adverb, guere. To these a few were added later, in the 15th century, e.g., blocus, boulevard, lansquenet; in the i6th, e.g., arquebuse, biere, cauchemar, coche, espiegle, huguenot, hutte, rosse, trinquer; in the i 7th, e.g., bivouac, caleche, havresac, obus, sabre, vaguemestre, valse; in the i 8th, e.g., glacure, loustic, now ales, vampire, vermout; in the i 9th, e.g., blague, bock, chou croute, dolman, gamin, kepi, schlague. Two further points may be noticed : (a) a few French words have modified their pro nunciation under the influence of peculiarly German sounds, thus Lat. altus became in French kaut, but owes aspiration to O.G. hoh; Lat. vespa should have yielded French vepe but gave guespe (later guepe) with gu due to German wespe, O.G. wefsa. (b) Many French proper names are of Germanic origin; the very name France is from Francia, i.e., German Franc and Lat. suffix -ia.

Scandinavian. (About 6o words.) As a result of the settle ment of the Vikings in that portion of Neustria which received the name of Normandy (9th century) certain Scandinavian words, chiefly relating to the sea and seafaring, were absorbed into French, e.g., bdbord, bateau, cingler, etrave, guichet, goupillon, hotter, harcban, hisser, rade, tillac, tribord, vague. During the O.F. period Scandinavian contributed to the formation of certain names: of persons, e.g., Anquetil, Burnouf, Toutain, to quote names still in use, or of towns, e.g., Blainville, Sotteville, Trou ville. Of more recent Scandinavian origin are, e.g., edredon, fiord, geyser, nickel, rutabaga, saga, ski.

Netherlandish. (About ioo words.) Netherlandish has con tributed a certain number of words which, like those from Scan dinavian, mostly concern the sea, e.g., amarrer, bac, digue, dock, dune, foc, green, inarsouin, matelot, quille, vase, vrac, or relate to commerce, trade or peculiar customs, e.g., brandevin, brodequin, diver, colza, frelater, houblon, kermesse, vacarme, vilebrequin.

English. (About 30o words.) During the middle ages the in fluence of English was to all intents negligible. From the i6th century onwards and especially during the 19th and loth centuries it became very considerable, owing to the active social intercourse between England, the United States of America and France. The following may be cited as illustrating the wide diversity of mat ters involved, e.g., abolitionniste, albatros, banknote, Ube, bif teck, bol, bouledogue, boulingrin, boxer, cabine, chdle, cheque, clown, comite, confort, contredanse, dandy, dancing, derby, detec tive, dogue, dollar, essayiste, franc-macon, gentleman, gigue, grog, guinee, hourra, humoriste, jockey, jury, lord, lunch, meeting, paquebot, record, snob, tramway, tunnel. Some like budget, hu mour, sport, tunnel are words of French origin borrowed by English and then reborrowed by French with altered form and meaning.

Italian. (About i,000 words.) Italian words begin to appear in French from the 54th century, becoming particularly numerous in the 16th. They stand for ideas pertaining to manifold cate gories, e.g., accaparer, accolade, accort, accoster, adagio, afde, affront, agio, agrouper, alarme, alerte, alpiou, altesse, altier, alto.

Spanish. (About 30o words.) A few Spanish words entered the French vocabulary from the i ith to the i 5th centuries, and be tween the 18th and the loth. The second half of the i6th cen tury and the i 7th are the Hispanizing period par excellence. As examples may be cited : abaca, abricot, accastiller, adjudant, al cade, alcarazas, alcove, alezan, al f ange, algarade, alguazil.

Provencal. (About 35o words.) A few Provencal words found their way into French between the iith and 13th centuries, and again from the 17th century to the present day; the influx was considerable only during the i6th because Henry IV. and a few greater writers, notably Monluc, du Bartas and Montaigne, were natives of the south. Amongst those retained by modern French may be mentioned : amadou, asperge, aubade, badaud, bague, ballade, bastide, bastille, beret, bourrique, brancard, cable, cabri, cadastre, cadeau, cadenas, cadet, cargaison.

Arabic. (About 26o words.) These words were obtained partly during the middle ages from scientific treatises translated from Arabic into Latin, partly from contact with the Arabs inhabiting Spain down to the 15th century, or with the Arabs encountered during the crusades. A few more were introduced during the 19th and loth centuries as a consequence of the French coloniza tion of north Africa. Among those still in use in modern French are : alambic, alcali, alchimie, alcove, al/a, algebre, almee, amiral, arsenal, artichaut, assassin, azur, babouche, café, chi f re, coton, eiinard, fez. In addition, Hebrew. Celtic. Portueuese_ Franco Provencal, Rumanian, Finnish, Hungarian, Slavonic, Turkish, Persian, the languages of India and the Far East, Oceania, and various native African and American tongues have supplied a con tingent totalling about Soo words.

French dialects and patois. (About 25o words.) Francien till the 14th century borrowed only a very limited number of dialect words. The dialect and patois terms found in considerable num ber in the present-day French vocabulary are importations of the modern period. They denote local objects, products, customs, etc. They are still felt to be imperfectly naturalized in the com mon language. Such are : a$utiau, bequebois, catiche, champis, chouquet, ecobuer, escarbille, esquipot, etoquiau, hachotte, mar goulette, triqueballe, varaigne, yole.

Slang. The Dictionnaire General records as still in use in Modern French only 20 words belonging to this category. This element is indeed extremely variable ; at all periods French has contained slang-words in fair number. They are to be found in Jean Bodel's Jeu de Saint Nicolas (about A,D. and in some of Villon's ballads (15th century) . The "argot des coquillars" also of the 15th century is notable. The World War created or revived a number of slang words, some of which are likely to live on for many years, e.g., amocher (to injure), cherer (to over step, overdo), embusque (shirker), marmite (heavy shell), boche (Hun, German), Paname (Paris).

Finally onomatopoeia has enriched French with a certain num ber of words; about ioo belong to this category, says the Dic tionnaire General, e.g., chuchoter, coquerico, craquer, cricri, crin crin, dada, dodo, tictac, toutou, but the advance of etymology may whittle down the number of these terms, some of which per haps figure in this class for want of better knowledge.

Phonetics, Pronunciation and Orthography.

The pho netic system of Vulgar Latin comprised only seven pure vowels, a, é, e, i, o, o, u; one diphthong, au; 15 consonants, b, p, d, t, g, c, f, v, s, j, h, 1, m, r, n; 2 semi-consonants, j (pronounced y) and u (pronounced w). In the loth century French possessed: (a) nine pure vowels a, e, é e, e, i, o, 6, u.

(b) ten diphthongs ai, di, oi, 6i, du, 6u, id, uo.

(c) two triphthongs ieu, uou.

(d) 22

consonants b, p, d, t, v, f, g (as in M.F. gant), c, (as in M.F. camp), u (as in M.F. lui), s (as in M.F. son), in M.F. aise), tch, ts, dj, j (as in M.F. bien), h, 1, r, m, n, n, 1.

From the II th century onwards this was transformed into the modern phonetic system definitely constituted since the 17th cen tury as follows : I I vowels, a, e, e, i, 0, 6, ou, u, eii, eu, e ; four nasal vowels a, e, o, u, and 22 consonants b, p, f, v, t, d, s (as in French son), s (as in French aise) or z, k, g, ch, j, 1, r, m, n, n, 1, aspirate h, i (as in French bien), ou (as in French oui), u (as in French cuivre).

The chief differences between the phonetic system of the I ith century and that of the i 7th are : (I) The genesis of the nasal vowels d, e, and the nasal diphthongs ai, ei (nth th century), 0, of (12th), ie (13th), i, ft (16th). In the 17th century confusion took place between a and 7, both of which came to be pronounced é, as in M.F. faim and fin, and u became oe as in M.F. a jeun and par fum. (2) Vocalization of 1 (12th century), which became u in the groups al, el, 01, 61, eul (altre, autre; bel, beau; mols, moos; dols, dons; aieuls, aieus), and as a sequel the genesis of four new diphthongs au, eu, ou, ou and of two new triphthongs eau, ieu. (3) Reduction of all diphthongs and triphthongs to one diphthong au, which itself disappears at the close of the i6th century, arid to one triphthong eau, which vanishes in the course of the 17th. Modern French contains no diphthongs or triphthongs. (4) Re duction of tch to ch, ts to s, final z to s, dj to j. (5) Loss of inter vocalic d, e.g., armedure becomes armeure, armure, and final t, e.g., vertut becomes vertu, both taking place during the i ith and 12th centuries. (6) Loss of s before j, f, v, b, d, g, 1, m, n, r (first half of nth century), before p, t, c (12th and 13th centuries).

From the reign of Louis XIV. the pronunciation of the aristoc racy evolved with extreme slowness and with the French Revolu tion the pronunciation of the third estate won complete predom inance. The main developments since the i 7th century have been: —(I) Dropping of the "feminine e," e.g., pale, prete, forte, soulever, which in some cases leads to the dropping of the final of a consonantal group, e.g., peup' fort instead of peuple fort, semb'-t-il instead of semble-t-il. (2) Substitution of y for 1, a spe cial character indicating 1 mouille, e.g., faillir pronounced f ayir instead of f alir. (3) Loss of the aspirate h, which has now be come a mere isolating sign, e.g., le haut, la haine, les haies. (4) Substitution of "r grasseye" for "r roule," a feature to be found among the Parisian third estate during the 18th century. (5) Loss of final consonants, which popular pronunciation is now complet ing, replacing it by i, for instance, in it dit, ils disent, dit-il, etc. (pronounced i di, i diz, dit i).

Till the i6th century spelling corresponded more or less ade quately to pronunciation. During that century, through the influ ence of the humanists, learned spelling was introduced and has since prevailed despite attempts such as those of Meygret and Ramus, in the 16th century, Poisson, Menage in the 17th, Du maisais, de Wailly in the 18th, Marle in the 19th century. Some apostles of reformed spelling would have liked to change the very form of the letters and confound the entire alphabet. How little their attempts succeeded may be judged from the successive edi tions of the Dictionnaire de l'Academie Francaise since that of 1740. After adopting the so-called "etymological" spelling in the first and second editions (1694, 1718) of its dictionary, the Acad emy altered the spelling of 5,000 words in the third edition (174o), but since then has made only insignificant modifications (1762, 1795, 1835, 1878). The reaction of spelling upon pronunciation has increased apace with the spread of public education, and in consequence letters come to be pronounced which completely dis tort the phonetic physiognomy of many words, introducing into them sounds that either never had existed or had disappeared for generations, e.g., a p is now frequently heard in dompter; the double consonant is by many distinctly articulated double in as semblee, illustre, innocent.

Morphology.

The essential feature of Old French morphol ogy was its declension of substantives and adjectives, which reached its highest development in the 12th century, and, after successive mutilations in the i3th and 14th, disappeared in the 15th. It was restricted to the two cases, nominative and accusa tive, which had been preserved by Vulgar Latin. In the 12th century all masculine substantives as well as feminine substantives originally of the Latin 3rd, 4th and 5th declensions followed an identical paradigm : sing. nom. mars, prestres, cuens, mains; acc. mur, prestre, Conte, main. Feminine substantives primitively of the Latin 1st declension possessed one form only for each num ber, e.g., sing. nom. acc. rose, plur. nom. acc. roses. Certain proper names (masc. from Germanic -o, -un; fem. from Germanic -a, -an) were declined: nom. Charle, acc. Charlon; nom. Berte, acc. Bertain. A few feminine nouns such as ante, nonne, were declined similarly, and had a single form for the plural, nom. acc. antains, nonnains. This system of declensions (except in Anglo-Norman) still flourished in the i3th century. By the 15th only one case survived for each number respectively, viz., the ac cusative : sing. mar, main, rose, nonne; plur. murs, mains, roses, nonnes, these forms serving both as subject and object.

French preserved, here and there, relics of old declensions and traces of genitives and ablatives. Thus, the nominative forms are preserved in fils, soeur, pretre, pdtre, chantre, vierge, Jules, Jacques, Georges, etc. ; nom. and acc. forms in sire, seigneur; gars, garcon; nonne, nonnain, etc. ; gen. sing. in the names of days: lundi (O.F. lunsdi from lunis diem), mardi (Martis diem), etc. gen. plur. in names such as vavasseur, la Chandeleur, etc.; ablat. in some proper names: Aix (O.F. Ais from Lat. Aquis), Reims, Londres, etc. Ancient feminine adjectival forms (of the grandis type) are still found in grand' mere, grand' route; fort (in the phrase se faire fort), Roche f ort, rai f ort (fem. in O.F., masc. in Mod. F.) ; and in all adverbs in -emment, -amment, e.g., prudem ment, constamment. The personal, relative and demonstrative pronouns of O.F. preserved a few nom., acc. and dat. cases, most of which survive in Mod. F., e.g., je, tu, ils, elle, elles, me, te, le, les, moi, toi, soi, lui, leur; qui, que (O.F. cui has perished) ; celui (O.F. dat.), autrui (formed by analogy with celui).

As to conjugation, until the 14th century the laws of phonetic evolution apply rigorously. Lat. amo, amas, amat, amant, with their free tonic initial, yielded regularly aim, aimes, aimet, aiment; whereas amore, amabam, amavi, amaraio (Vulg. Lat. future), amarea (Vulg. Lat. conditional), protonic a remaining unaltered, gave amer, ameie (later amoie, amois, amais), amai, amerai, ameroie (later amerois, amerais) . In the i6th century force of analogy reduced this duality of the stem-vowels a-, ai- to uni form ai-. As analogy preferred now the tonic stem, now the pro tonic, the final result is that while some verbs generalize the for mer, others generalize the latter, whilst a few entirely escape its levelling effects. Thus verbs like jouer, prouver, courir, etc., have throughout adopted the protonic stem: joue, jouons, prouve, prou vons; tours, courons, etc. ; whereas in verbs like demeurer, pleurer, etc., the tonic stem everywhere prevails: demeure, demeurons; pleure, pleurons, etc. ; finally in verbs like devoir, pouvoir, etc., the stem-system of the mediaeval period is still perpetuated : dois, devons; peux, pouvons, etc. By strange irony of fate the gramma rians style verbs of this last category "irregular," whilst to the philologist they alone are "regular." Although, during the Renais sance, the conjugational forms were fixed, as regards the written language, by the 17th century analogy was actively modifying conjugation on the lips of the masses. Forms like boivons (in stead of buvons), moudons (for moulons), bouera (for bouil lira), sentu (for senti), etc., are of common occurrence.

Syntax.

From the 9th to the 14th century wonderful variety was possible in the order of words. The subject could follow the verb (Dist is rois, said the king); the object could head the sen tence (Lo rei veit, the king he saw) or could intervene between subject and verb (Gist om lo rei veit, this man saw the king), or, in compound tenses, between auxiliary and past participle (Jo ai lo rei veii, I have the king seen), or between verb and dependent infinitive (Il cuida to rei veoir, he thought the king to see), a noun could even figure before a noun dependent upon it (Jo sui de France shies, I am of France the head). All these constructions were perfectly intelligible, thanks to the case-flexions then still accurately applied in most dialects, certainly in Francien. With the decay of these flexions in the course of the 14th century (as early as the middle of the 12th in Anglo-Norman) a new word order gradually established itself after a period of about two centuries, during which the influence of Latin was sufficiently strong to induce all kinds of syntactical anomalies. By the 17th century, however, the normal order had definitely become what it is now: (1) subject, (2) verb, (3) object. Variations from this form are thenceforth (17th century to present day) rare save in poetical diction which is prone to archaism. So, too, with the personal tenses of the verbs. As long as the personal flexions re mained distinct and characteristic in pronunciation no need existed for any further sign indicating person ; thus aim, aimes, aime, aiment were sufficiently explicit as long as the sounds s, feminine e and nt were audible, but when all these forms came to be pro nounced in one and the same way, em, as in Modern French, the use with them of je, tu, ils became an absolute necessity. Such are the two features fundamentally differentiating the Old French sentence, which was naturally variable, from the modern, which, in order to escape the almost inevitable monotony consequent on the rigid order prevailing since the 17th century, has been obliged at times to resort to cumbrous devices. Let one example suffice. Instead of "Veit lo rei" and "Lo rei veit" Modern French has "11 a vu le roi"; to emphasize the object it constructs "Le roi, it l'a vu" or C'est le roi qu'il a vu," thus multiplying words uselessly.

Since the 17th century there have been but slight changes in syntax. Three tendencies should, however, be noted: (1) the sub junctive is more and more declining in use, especially the imperf. subj. of the first conjugation; (2) the past simple is more and more giving place to the past compound, e.g., "Il est venu hier" has supplanted, except in southern France, the form "Il vint hier"; (3) new over-compound tenses are taking over functions of the past and future compound, e.g., it a en vite fait de se taire; it aura eu facilement compris la raison de mon silence. The main characteristic of the French language and its syntax is its "clar ity," which rendered French popular both in the middle ages, when Brunetto Latino and Martino Canale proclaimed it "most delectable of all languages to read and to hear," and in the 18th century, when Rivarol accounted for its universality by stating : "French syntax is incorruptible. From it results that admirable clearness, the eternal basis of our syntax. What is not clear is not French." This instinct for clarity is as lively as ever.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-P. Hazard, Discours sur la langue f rancaise ; Bibliography.-P. Hazard, Discours sur la langue f rancaise ; F. Brunot, Histoire de la langue francaise des origines a 1900 (1905 z 7) and La pensee et la langue (19a a) ; Kr. Nyrop, Grammaire hi st orique de la langue f rancaise (1914-15) , which contains full bibliography. (L. B.)