Text Box: Dr Sophie Marnette, Balliol College
Sophie.marnette@balliol.ox.ac.uk 
 

 

Linguistic Commentary French 4

 

In a linguistic commentary, you write about the linguistic features used in a specific text.

Obviously, not all the points mentioned above will be relevant for any specific text but you should try to detect which ones are and try to structure your essay accordingly. For this 'exercise', you will have to set out the differences existing between Modern written French and the stage of French found in the text under scrutiny. If relevant, it will also be important to underline the links that a specific text has maintained with Latin (e.g. word order in Old French texts).

Note that for the examination, you will not be provided with a translation, nor with the date and title of the text. However, since you should be familiar with the texts set for each period, these pieces of information should not be too difficult to retrieve. Ideally, your answer should begin with a short introduction presenting the text (period, type, content) and highlighting features that will be relevant to your analysis. The essay should obviously end with a short general conclusion about the stage of French you are looking at and its place within the evolution of the French language.

To prepare for commentaries, you should revise your lecture notes, your essays and do the recommended readings (see my website). Wendy Ayres-Bennett's book History of French through texts is particularly useful since it is a collection of commentaries.

 

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