Sociolinguistic Variation in Seventeenth-Century France
Methodology and Case Studies

A systematic study of sociolinguistic variation in seventeenth-century France.

Wendy Ayres-Bennett (Author)

9780521129039, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 4 February 2010

280 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.42 kg

Review of the hardback: '… a truly unique, rich and precise encyclopaedic work …' Estudios de Sociolinguistica

This book provides a systematic study of sociolinguistic variation in seventeenth-century France. Drawing on a range of case studies, Wendy Ayres-Bennett makes available data about linguistic variation in this period, showing the wealth and variety of language usage at a time that is considered to be the most 'standardising' in the history of French. Variation is analysed in terms of the speaker's 'pre-verbal constitution' - such as gender, age and socio-economic status - or by the medium, register or genre used. As well as examining linguistic variation itself, the book also considers the fundamental methodological issues that are central to all socio-historical linguistic accounts and, more importantly, addresses the question of what the appropriate sources are for linguists taking a socio-historical approach. In each chapter, the case studies present a range of phonological, morphological, syntactic and lexical issues, which pose different methodological questions for sociolinguists and historical linguists alike.

1. Introduction: methodological issues
2. Spoken and written French
3. Social and stylistic variation
4. Women's language
5. Age, variation and change
6. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]