A Diachronic Analysis of Schwa in French

Since the beginning of the formal study of language, linguists have struggled with the phonological problems posed by the mid-central vowel sound schwa. Schwa poses a series of challenges for linguists who study many languages, and this is particularly true for phonologists and phoneticians who specialize in French. Most of the challenges that come from analyzing the articulations of schwa in French arise from the overlap it has with mid- and open-mid-front-rounded vowels in French such as in the second vowel in the word “atelier” (workshop) and the second vowel in the word “appeler” (to call.) In this study a diachronic (historic) analysis of schwa in the French language is performed in order to more easily explain the problems that schwa poses for Franco-linguists today. First of all, the nature of schwa is described and how schwa’s behavior plays into its role in Modern French. Problems proposed by reduced schwa vowels and the phonological processes that cause these reductions in Modern French are described. Vowel reduction is a phonetic process that occurs when changes in the articulation of the vowel such as stress, sonority, and loudness cause the vowel to be “weaker.” Finally, a diachronic analysis of the historical environments of schwa from Old French to Modern French is conducted in order to attempt to explain the challenges posed by schwa in modern French. The methodology for this paper involves finding the phonetic environments in which schwa has traditionally appeared from Old French to Modern French. Changes in the environments between each time period of French are finally examined to see how those changes have influenced modern phonological processes that influence the articulation of schwa. This study has shown that the disappearance and appearance of sounds in the phonemic inventory of French has greatly impacted how schwa is articulated in Modern French. Other linguistic processes such as labialization that were realized on schwa in the past are no longer realized, but they have proven to be essential in shaping the current vowel inventory of French

Book Review: Hocus bogus, Gary, Romain.

A review of Romain Gary\u27s Hocus Bogus

Text in the Natural World: Topics of Evolutionary Theory of Literature

The study of literature has expanded to include an evolutionary perspective. Its premise is that the literary text and literature as an overarching institution came into existence as a product of the same evolutionary process that gave rise to the human species. In this view, literature is an evolutionary adaptation that functions as any other adaptation does, as a means of enhancing survivability and also promoting benefits for the individual and society. Text in the Natural World is an introduction to the theory and a survey of topics pertinent to the evolutionary view of literature. After a polemical, prefatory chapter and an overview of the pertinent aspects of evolutionary theory itself, the book examines integral building blocks of literature and literary expression as effects of evolutionary development. This includes chapters on moral sense, symbolic thought, literary aesthetics in general, literary ontology, the broad topic of form, function and device in literature, a last theoretical chapter on narrative, and a chapter on literary themes. The concluding chapter builds on the preceding one as an illustration of evolutionary thematic study in practice, in a study of the fauna in the fiction of Maupassant. This text is designed to be of interest to those who read and think about things literary, as well as to those who have interest in the extension of Darwin’s great idea across the horizon of human culture. It tries to bridge the gulf that has separated the humanities from the sciences, and would be a helpful text for courses taught in both literary theory and interdisciplinary approaches to literature and philosophy.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/books/1125/thumbnail.jp

French Language and Cultures for the Professions: A Case Study for the Twenty-First Century

Taking up the May 2013 special issue theme concerning the future of French Programs in the United States, their “orientation” and “survival,” the author sets out to maintain a positive tone and productive perspective on this polemic via a working case study of her home institution’s “French Language and Cultures for Professions” program. The author first reviews existing scholarship concerning the teaching and learning of “Business French” and then presents a course “blueprint” for a twenty-first century update to this traditional curricular and programmatic model, re-titled “French for Business and Professions.

Unsettling Stereotypes: Approaches to the French Culture and Society Course

Beginning with popular commentary on the 2013 Taubira Affair, this article aims to unsettle some common assumptions about “French identity.” More generally, it asks how best to approach the notion of culture in upperdivision culture and society courses. Drawing on recent debates in anthropology, it suggests an approach that moves away from an understanding of culture as a bound entity that promotes a common sense of orientation and purpose toward one where culture is viewed as a reservoir of references, whose meanings and values are continuously interpreted, negotiated, and contested

Collation Model for Ms. Codex 986: [Distribution of property].

Records of property distributed by Jean Bayard between 1586 and 1592, with Bayard\u27s signature at beginning and end. The first entry was written and signed in the house of Claude de Gaudet in St. Geoyre, near Grenoble.https://repository.upenn.edu/sims_models/1134/thumbnail.jp

Which Original Works? Tracking Sophocles\u27 Narrative in Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources

Pagnol\u27s two-part novel, L\u27Eau des collines ( 1962), was inspired by his own films, Manon des sources and Ugolin, released ten years before (1952). Much better known are Berri\u27s 1986 films bearing the novel\u27s titles Jean de Florette and Manon des sources. In this essay I want to examine the architectural and thematic transformations between the three types of texts:\u27 I will show that each piece is referring to a different diegetic universe. Pagnol\u27s film is a celebration of provencal verbal activity, ` joie de vivre, and of the Christian notions of redemption and forgiveness. The musical motif of L\u27Arlesienne by Bizet is a direct reference to the Christian Epiphany. The overwhelming, pervasive theme in Pagnol\u27s novel is the unalterable life of the seamless feminine goddess whose multiple body flows in all women, in the earth, and in the water. Her special dwelling is in the hills where the priestess Manon operates. In Berri\u27s films, the emphasis is clearly on fate and on the blindness of the tragic hero(es), and the soundtrack includes Verdi\u27s Forza Del Destino as a haunting motif. [excerpt