From: Trehinp@aol.com
Date: Wed 27 Apr 2005 - 12:44:20 GMT
Cher Jean-Olivier,
I'm sorry that you interpreted my message as an attack on the French
language as spoken in "La belle Province", there was absolutely nothing of that
nature in my message.
I certainly don't deny the fact that we all speak French and I'd even agree
that the French language as spoken in France tends to be infiltrated by
English words more so than in the province of Quebec.
With regard to the use of word which are closer to the English language, I
wasn't speaking of "Slang". The examples I quoted are using perfectly usual
core French language terms, it is just that the choice of words for a same
concept/object was different and closer to the word used in English for the
equivalent concept/object.
I agree that there are some nuances between French as spoken in Provence and
French spoken in Alsace (I'm not speaking here of local dialects). I don't
think however that there are such language differences between regions in
France as there are differences between Spoken French in France, in Belgium, in
Switzerland and Quebec. A simple example is the way 70 through 99 are says in
those differents countries:
74 in metropolitan French "soixante-quatorze" (actually pretty akward)
74 in Belgian and Swiss French "septante-quatre"
These memes resist quite strongly the influence of European based TV
programs.
I do travel rather frequently in Belgium and in Quebec, and without
attributing any value judgement there are some occasions when we have significant
variations in some basic terms that can cause misunderstandings.
I find these differences quite productive and source of mutual enrichment.
Some words in Belgian French and / or Canadian French sound more expressive
than in the Metropolitan French. Some are coming this side of the Atlantic and
become a "dominant meme".
Note that is also the case between some US English terms and UK English
terms too.
I'll always remember the stare that I got from my US secretary when I ask
her "Could I have a rubber please?" I learned then that in US English a rubber
was what UK English calls a condom and what I should have asked for was "an
erasure"...
I won't impose examples of the same nature between Canadian French, Belgian
French and France French... This just shows that languages evolve. Each with
their own environmental constraints. That includes the socio-economical and
political pressures that you mentioned in your message, which I don't deny.
Memetics must take into account the environmental parameters in the same way as
genetic evolution does. The strongest memes survive on the basis of the
environmental conditions. Can a law change the environment sufficiently to
influence the language memes ? I'm sure it does.
I like the example of "e-mail" that you give. Like you, I think that
"Courriel" is a very nice French neologism that should be used more instead of
"e-mail". But aren't we here seeing memetics at work ? The language meme "e-mail"
seems to be evolutionarily stronger than "Courriel". l wish it were not the
case, but can we influence memetic evolution in an environment that is so
dynamic as the internet space? (This is a genuine question, not a facetious
argument.)
Let me say that I like listening and reading French language, whatever its
country of origin. I also love spending time in long discussions with all my
French speaking friends, here in France, In Belgium, in Switzerland and in
Quebec.
I'm also glad that circumstances have lead me to learn enough English
language to also appreciate that language, be it the American version, the
Australian or the UK version (or any other country).
Yours sincerely.
Paul
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