Linguistic Characteristics of the French Language

Teachers

Included in study programs

Teaching results

Knowledge:
- Acquistion of knowledge of the typical features of the Sfrench language (e.g., from a diachronic, diatopic, diastratic perspective) that distinguish it from other languages.
- Acquisition of knowledge of the current developmental tendencies in the French language and its characteristics from a genealogical perspective.
- Acquisition of theoretical knowledge of the different linguistic levels of contemporary French from a systems linguistics perspective and a basic knowledge of traditional linguistic disciplines.
- Acquisition of knowledge of the rules of orthography of the French language.
- Acquisition of a thorough knowledge of morphology and syntax in particular: the student can list, define and identify morphological categories; student knows the morphological rules and the specifics related to the different inflectional verbal types in the French language; knows the principles of the basic word-formation practices of the French language; can list, define and identify sentence articles; knows the categorization of sentence types and the rules of sentence construction in the French language.
Competencies:
- Acquisition of the competence to characterize the French language from a linguistic perspective, with emphasis on the morphological and syntactic levels of the language.
- Acquisition of the competence to identify symptomatic linguistic expression in the French language with respect to selected aspects of the diachronic, diatopic and diastral planes.
- Acquisition of competence to assess the orthographic correctness of linguistic expression in the French language.
Skills:
- Acquisition of the ability to apply the above knowledge and competencies in a comprehensive way to the production of one's own linguistic expression in the French language.

Indicative content

- Characteristic features of the French language (diachronic, diatopic, diastratic perspective)
- Typology of languages: French within Romance languages
- Regional variants of the French language – European variants and Canadian variant
- Characteristics of the French language: phonetic-phonological and orthographic perspective
- Characteristics of the French language: morphological perspective
- Characteristics of the French language: syntactic perspective

Support literature

Required:
1. DIDIER, Jean-J. – SERON, M.: Manuel d’orthographe. Mise à niveau. Louvain-la-Neuve;
Paris: De Boeck Supérieur. 2014. 168 p.
2. GREVISSE, Maurice. – GOOSSE, A.: Le bon usage. 16e édition. Louvain-la-Neuve; Paris:
De Boeck Supérieur. 2016. 1760 p.
3. HARUTYUNYAN, Vardush: Manuel de phonétique du français moderne. Sarrebruck:
Éditions Universitaires Européennes. 2018. 212 p.
4. HUOT, Hélene: La morphologie. Forme et sens des mots du français. Paris: Armand Colin. 2006
5. KALINOWSKA, Irène. M. – GREVISSE, M.: La phrase. Règles, exercices et corrigés. 2015.336 p.
Louvain-la-Neuve; Paris: De Boeck Supérieur.
6. NARJOUX, Cécile.: Le Grevisse de l’étudiant. Grammaire graduelle du français. Louvainla-Neuve; Paris: De Boeck Supérieur.2021. 784 p.
Optional
1. CHOLLET, Isabelle. – ROBERT, J.-M.: Les verbes et leurs prépositions. Paris: CLE
International. 2007. 224p.
2. CHOLLET, Isabelle. – ROBERT, J.-M. : Orthographe progressive du français. Niveau
intermédiaire. Paris: CLE International. 2020.
3. CHOLLET, Isabelle – ROBERT, J.-M.: Orthographe progressive du français. Niveau avancé.
Paris: CLE International. 2020.
4. GOOSSE, André: La force de l’orthographe. 300 dictées progressives commentées.
Louvain-la-Neuve; Paris: De Boeck Supérieur. 2004. 384 p.
5. GREVISSE, Maurice: Le petit Grevisse. Grammaire française. Louvain-la-Neuve: Duculot. 2009. 383 p.
6. HÉLIX, Laurence: Histoire de la langue française. Paris: Ellipses. 2011. 304 p.
7. WALTER, Henriette: Le français dans tous les sens. Paris: Points. 2016. 456 p.

Requirements to complete the course

Interim evaluation: 30%
Final evaluation: 70%

Student workload

Full-time study: 104 hours. Of which:
26 hours – attendance at seminars
23 hours – preparation for seminars and for the interim evaluation
55 hours – preparation for the final exam

Language whose command is required to complete the course

French

Date of approval: 09.02.2023

Date of the latest change: 06.05.2022