The Story of French
The Story of French

Author: Jean-Benoît Nadeau

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2008-01-08

Total Pages: 597

ISBN-13: 1429932406

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Why does everything sound better if it's said in French? That fascination is at the heart of The Story of French, the first history of one of the most beautiful languages in the world that was, at one time, the pre-eminent language of literature, science and diplomacy. In a captivating narrative that spans the ages, from Charlemagne to Cirque du Soleil, Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow unravel the mysteries of a language that has maintained its global influence despite the rise of English. As in any good story, The Story of French has spectacular failures, unexpected successes and bears traces of some of history's greatest figures: the tenacity of William the Conqueror, the staunchness of Cardinal Richelieu, and the endurance of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Through this colorful history, Nadeau and Barlow illustrate how French acquired its own peculiar culture, revealing how the culture of the language spread among francophones the world over and yet remains curiously centered in Paris. In fact, French is not only thriving—it still has a surprisingly strong influence on other languages. As lively as it is fascinating, The Story of French challenges long held assumptions about French and shows why it is still the world's other global language.

The French-Speaking World
The French-Speaking World

Author: Rodney Ball

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-08-12

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1317624912

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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.

The Rise of English
The Rise of English

Author: Rosemary C. Salomone

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 489

ISBN-13: 0190625619

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A sweeping account of the global rise of English and the high-stakes politics of languageSpoken by a quarter of the world's population, English is today's lingua franca- - its common tongue. The language of business, popular media, and international politics, English has become commodified for its economic value and increasingly detached from any particular nation. This meteoric "riseof English" has many obvious benefits to communication. Tourists can travel abroad with greater ease. Political leaders can directly engage their counterparts. Researchers can collaborate with foreign colleagues. Business interests can flourish in the global economy.But the rise of English has very real downsides as well. In Europe, imperatives of political integration and job mobility compete with pride in national language and heritage. In the United States and England, English isolates us from the cultural and economic benefits of speaking other languages.And in countries like India, South Africa, Morocco, and Rwanda, it has stratified society along lines of English proficiency.In The Rise of English, Rosemary Salomone offers a commanding view of the unprecedented spread of English and the far-reaching effects it has on global and local politics, economics, media, education, and business. From the inner workings of the European Union to linguistic battles over influence inAfrica, Salomone draws on a wealth of research to tell the complex story of English - and, ultimately, to argue for English not as a force for domination but as a core component of multilingualism and the transcendence of linguistic and cultural borders.

French Language Policies and the Revitalisation of Regional Languages in the 21st Century
French Language Policies and the Revitalisation of Regional Languages in the 21st Century

Author: Michelle A. Harrison

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-11-11

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 3319959395

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This edited volume presents an analysis of the evolution of French language policies and their impact on French regional languages and their communities. It gathers studies on language revitalisation from several territorial minority languages (Breton, Alsatian, Catalan, Occitan, Basque, Corsican, Francoprovençal, Picard, Reunionese) and evaluates the challenges and opportunities that they face in the 21st century. The chapters tackle different aspects of language endangerment and language planning and adopt varied theoretical and methodological approaches. The first section of the book reconsiders the difficulties in establishing linguistic boundaries and classification for some regional languages. The second section examines the important theme of the new generation of speakers with issues of transmission and identity formation and the changes they can bring to traditional communities. The third section highlights new developments in the context of new technologies and the heightened visibility of regional languages. Finally, the last section presents an overview of the contemporary situation of minority language revitalisation in France and synthesises the key trends identified in this volume: from the educational domain to the European Charter for Minority and Regional languages. This book will appeal to students and scholars of the sociology of language, sociolinguistics, language policy, minority languages and language endangerment.

Teaching French as a Multicultural Language
Teaching French as a Multicultural Language

Author: John D. Ogden

Publisher:

Published: 1981

Total Pages: 70

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This booklet proposes to approach the teaching of French from a multicultural perspective. The introductory section presents the reasons for recommending this orientation and the pedagogical advantages to be derived from it, emphasizing the fact that French serves as a link between several Francophone nations and their widely different cultures. Accordingly, a multicultural approach is viewed as more realistic than one that focuses solely on France, and more likely to broaden the appeal of the language as a tool for international communication. The second section offers a panorama of the Francophone regions of the world, with brief introductions to the historical and linguistic contexts into which the French language and culture were thrust, and with a list of basic readings on Francophone literature. The third section presents various activities for teaching about the cultures of the French-speaking world, arranged by level of language proficiency. The fourth section suggests ways of making or collecting instructional materials. The fifth section, a selected bibliography and guide to resources, lists sources of print and audiovisual materials for each Francophone region, including addresses of U.S. distributors and of Francophone nations' embassies in Washington. (MES)

The French Exception
The French Exception

Author: Emmanuel Godin

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 9781571816849

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The notion of French exceptionalism is deeply embedded in the nation's self-image and in a range of political and academic discourses. Recently, the debate about whether France really is "exceptional" has acquired a critical edge. Against the background of introspection about the nature of "national identity," some proclaim "normalisation" and the end of French exceptionalism, while others point out to the continuing evidence that France remains distinctive at a number of levels, from popular culture to public policy. This book explores the notion of French exceptionalism, places it in its European context, examines its history and evaluate its continuing relevance in a range of fields from politics and public policy to popular culture and sport.

Language Policy
Language Policy

Author: Elana Shohamy

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-05-02

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 113433351X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Policies concerning language use are increasingly tested in an age of frequent migration and cultural synthesis. With conflicting factors and changing political climates influencing the policy-makers, Elana Shohamy considers the effects that these policies have on the real people involved. Using examples from the US and UK, she shows how language policies are promoted and imposed, overtly and covertly, across different countries and in different contexts. Concluding with arguments for a more democratic and open approach to language policy and planning, the final note is one of optimism, suggesting strategies for resistance to language attrition and ways to protect the linguistic rights of groups and individuals.

The Handbook of International Trends in Environmental Communication
The Handbook of International Trends in Environmental Communication

Author: Bruno Takahashi

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-12-27

Total Pages: 661

ISBN-13: 1000509389

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This handbook provides a comprehensive review of communication around rising global environmental challenges and public action to manage them now and into the future. Bringing together theoretical, methodological, and practical chapters, this book presents a unique opportunity for environmental communication scholars to critically reflect on the past, examine present trends, and start envisioning exciting new methodologies, theories, and areas of research. Chapters feature authors from a wide range of countries to critically review the genesis and evolution of environmental communication research and thus analyze current issues in the field from a truly international perspective, incorporating diverse epistemological perspectives, exciting new methodologies, and interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks. The handbook seeks to challenge existing dominant perspectives of environmental communication from and about populations in the Global South and disenfranchised populations in the Global North. The Handbook of International Trends in Environmental Communication is ideal for scholars and advanced students of communication, sustainability, strategic communication, media, environmental studies, and politics.

The Economics of the Multilingual Workplace
The Economics of the Multilingual Workplace

Author: François Grin

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2011-01-25

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1136978283

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book proposes a path-breaking study of the economics of multilingualism at work, proposing a systematic approach to the identification and measurement of the ways in which language skills and economic performance are related. Using the instruments of economic investigation, but also explicitly relating the analysis to the approaches to multilingualism at work developed in the language sciences, this interdisciplinary book proposes a systematic, step-by-step exploration of the issue. Starting from a general identification of the linkages between multilingualism and processes of value creation, it reviews the contributions of linguistics and economics before developing a new economic model of production in which language is taken into account. Testing of the model using data from two countries provides quantitative estimations of the influence of multilingualism on economic processes, showing that foreign language skills can make a considerable contribution to a country’s GDP. These findings have significant implications for language policy and suggest strategies helping language planners to harness market forces for increased effectiveness. A technical appendix shows how the novel technical and statistical procedures developed in this study can be generalized, and applied wherever researchers or decision makers need to identify and measure the value of multilingualism.

Normative Language Policy
Normative Language Policy

Author: Leigh Oakes

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 1107143160

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book proposes an integrated framework for investigating the ethics of language policy in liberal democracies in a global era.