Franglais
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Franglais (French: [fʁɑ̃ɡlɛ]) or Frenglish (/ˈfrɛŋɡlɪʃ/ FRENG-glish) is a French blend that referred first to the overuse of English words by French speakers[1] and later to diglossia or the macaronic mixture of French (français) and English (anglais).[2]
Etymology
The word Franglais was first attested in French in 1959,[3] but it was popularised by the academic, novelist, and critic René Étiemble in his denunciation of the overuse of English words in French, Parlez-vous franglais? published in 1964.[4] Earlier than the French term was the English label Frenglish, first recorded in 1937.[5] Other colloquial blends for French-influenced English include Franglish (recorded from 1967), Frenchlish (1974), and Fringlish (1982).[6]
English sense
In English, Franglais means a combination of English and French. It evokes the linguistic concepts of mixed language and barbarism. Reasons for this blend could be caused by lexical gaps, native bilingualism, populations trying to imitate a language where they have no fluency (sometimes known as creoles/pidgins), or humorous intent. Franglais usually consists of either filling in gaps in one's knowledge of French with English words, using false friends, or speaking French which (although ostensibly "French") would not be understood by a French speaker who does not also have a knowledge of English (for example, by using a literal translation of English idiomatic phrases).
Franglais may also mean a diplomatic compromise, such as the abbreviation UTC for Coordinated Universal Time.
In English humour
Another example in English literature is found in Henry V by William Shakespeare. In Act 3, Scene 4,[8] a French princess is trying to learn English, but unfortunately, foot as pronounced by her maid sounds too much like foutre (vulgar French for 'semen', or 'to have sexual intercourse' when used as a verb) and gown like con (French for 'cunt', also used to mean 'idiot'). She decides that English is too obscene.
A literary example of the delight in
You shall manger cinq fois every day," said she; "cinq fois," she repeated.—"Humph!" said Mr. Jorrocks to himself, "what can that mean?—cank four—four times five's twenty—eat twenty times a day—not possible!" "Oui, Monsieur, cinq fois," repeated the Countess, telling the number off on her fingers—"Café at nine of the matin, déjeuner à la fourchette at onze o'clock, dîner at cinq heure, café at six hour, and souper at neuf hour.
The 19th-century American writer
PARIS, le 7 Juillet. Monsieur le Landlord—Sir: Pourquoi don't you mettez some savon in your bed-chambers? Est-ce que vous pensez I will steal it? La nuit passée you charged me pour deux chandelles when I only had one; hier vous avez charged me avec glace when I had none at all; tout les jours you are coming some fresh game or other on me, mais vous ne pouvez pas play this savon dodge on me twice. Savon is a necessary de la vie to any body but a Frenchman, et je l'aurai hors de cet hotel or make trouble. You hear me. Allons. BLUCHER.
The humourist Miles Kington wrote a regular column "Let's Parler Franglais" which was published in the British magazine Punch in the late 1970s. These columns were collected into a series of books: Let's Parler Franglais, Let's Parler Franglais Again!, Parlez-vous Franglais?, Let's Parler Franglais One More Temps, The Franglais Lieutenant's Woman and Other Literary Masterpieces.
A somewhat different tack was taken in
Another classic is Jean Loup Chiflet's Sky My Husband! Ciel Mon Mari! which is a literal translation of French into English. However, in this context, the correct translation of ciel...! is 'heavens...!'
In Monty Python's 1975 movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the French castle guard (John Cleese) orders, when King Arthur (Graham Chapman) does not want to go away, his fellow guards to "Fetchez la vache." The other French guards respond with "Quoi?" and he repeats "Fetchez la vache!" The guards finally get it: fetch la vache ('the cow'), which they then catapult at the Britons.[11]
French sense
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In French, franglais refers to the use of English words sometimes deemed unwelcome borrowings or bad slang. An example would be le week-end (also weekend), which is used in many French dialects which have no synonym; however,
Some examples of Franglais are in fact imagined or examples of words being adopted from one language into another in the opposite direction of what many people believe. People who have no linguistic training or do not bother to consult dictionaries tend to create and perpetuate such urban legends about Franglais. For example, many numismatists think that the French spelling piéfort of the English term piedfort results from an imagined reintroduction of an English misspelling. In fact, the spelling piéfort is found in French dictionaries as an alternative of pied-fort and even as the only spelling given in the 1932–1935 edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française[12] and the etymology derived by professional linguists and shown in these dictionaries shows the change in spelling happened within French.[13][14]
Owing to the worldwide popularity of the Internet, relatively new English words have been introduced into French (e.g. e-mail and mail, referring to either e-mail or an e-mail address). An equivalent for the English word e-mail derived from French roots was coined in
In France
After
In recent years, English expressions are increasingly present in French mass media:
- TV reality shows often use English titles such as Loft Story, Star Academy, Popstars, and Secret Story.
- A leading national newspaper, Le Monde, publishes a weekly article selection of The New York Times entirely in English and uses anglicisms such as newsletter, chat, and e-mail instead of French substitutions (bavardage/clavardage for 'chat' or courriel for 'e-mail').
- Note that saying bavardage to a French person instead of Internet 'chat' may confuse them, since bavardage refers in France to real-life conversation and is rarely used in an Internet context. The word clavardage (a blend of clavier 'keyboard' and bavarder 'chat') is hardly known outside of Canada. The word chat in writing can be confusing as well since it natively means 'cat' in French; thus, the unique respelling tchat is occasionally seen.
- In James Huth's blockbuster movie Brice de Nice (to be pronounced as if it were in English), Franglais is used in a satirical way to make fun of teens and other trendy people who use English words to sound cool.
Most telecommunication and Internet service providers use English and Franglais expressions in product names and advertising campaigns. The leading operator,
Public authorities such as the
Alternative words proposed by the Académie française are sometimes poorly received by a technologically aware audience and unclear to a non-technologically aware audience. The proposed terms may be ambiguous (often because they are coined based on phonetics, thus hiding their etymology) which results in nonsense (e.g. cédéroms réinscriptibles for CD-RW (literally 'rewritable CD-ROMs', despite ROM meaning 'read-only memory'). Some words are considered uncool, for example, tchat (formed by adding t- to chat) or dévédé (formed by writing DVD phonetically).
The use of English expressions is very common in the
In Canada
Quebec
When a speaker uses
These expressions have mainly become part of a common tongue/register born out of mutual concession to each other. In fact, the substantial bilingual community in and around Montreal will occasionally refer to Franglais, usually after it is pointed out by an observer that someone has used various French and English words, expressions or prepositions in the same sentence, a surprisingly common occurrence in various spoken registers.
Other areas in Canada
Canadian French is French as it is spoken in Canada. Scholars debate to what extent language mixture can be distinguished from other mechanisms, such as code-switching, substrata, or lexical borrowing. A mixed language arises in a population which is fluent in both languages.
The word Franglais refers to the long-standing and stable mixes of English and French spoken in some towns, cities, and rural areas of other Canadian provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, and Newfoundland. Such mixing is used in the northern regions of Maine (U.S.) (see Chiac and Acadian French). It has been asserted[who?] that this mix uses approximately equal proportions of each language (except in Newfoundland), although it is more likely to be understood by a French-speaker, since it usually uses English words in French pronunciation and grammar.
Franglais is commonly spoken in French-language schools in Ontario and Alberta, as well as in DSFM (
Because of bilingual product packaging, speakers and readers may form new pronunciations that become terms. For example, someone may pronounce the words on a package of strong cheddar and call it "old fort".
Mistaken and unstable usages
Franglais, in the sense of mistaken usage by second-language speakers, occurs across Canada. An example of an anglicism turned Franglais is the mistranslation of English phrases into French by students who are unaware of the Canadian French word. For example, a hot dog is sometimes called un chien chaud when the French word is simply un hot dog. (However, the Quebec government has itself promoted expressions such as chien chaud for 'hot dog', and hambourgeois for 'hamburger', neither of which has gained widespread acceptance.) In some ways, confusion over which expression is more correct, and the emphasis that many immersion schools place on eliminating anglicisms from students' vocabulary, has promoted the use of Franglais.[citation needed] Franglais can also slowly creep into use from mispronunciation and misspelling by many bilingual Canadians. Common mistakes that immersion or bilingual students propagate include incorrect inflection and stresses on syllables, incorrect doubling of consonants, strange vowel combinations in their spelling and using combinations of prefixes and suffixes from English.
Recently[when?], Canadian youth culture (especially in British Columbia and southeastern Ontario) purposely uses Franglais for its comical or euphemistic characteristics, for example, in replacing English swear words with French ones. Some English-speaking Canadians, especially Anglo-Quebecers and those in southeastern Ontario, euphemistically use the Québécois sacres (i.e., religious words such as sacrament as expletives) rather than swearing in English.
Pseudo-anglicisms
There is a particular form of Franglish which consists of the adoption of English words with alternative meanings to their usage in English.
These are words like forcing ('a scramble', 'a rush', 'a strong effort'), or bronzing ('a tan', 'the act of sunbathing'), made by adding the English ending -ing to a verb from French (e.g. forcer 'to force' or bronzer 'to tan') to form a new noun. These are slang or informal at best, and not widely accepted.
Another type of false anglicism comes from the shortening of an English name, keeping only the first word (while the important word is the last). For example, a dress suit is designated by the word smoking, borrowed ultimately from '
They are either French constructions which mimic English rules, or shifts of meaning which affect borrowings.
In Cameroon
Elsewhere in the world
Franglais is spoken in London, due to its large French-speaking population.
Franglais also thrives in communities where imperfect English–French bilingualism is common. The United Nations Office at Geneva is so named in an imitation of the French à Genève, rather than the expected "in Geneva".
Another example is provided by the civil servants in
Songs
- A notable song with substantial Franglais lyrics was "(Si Si) Je Suis un Rock Star", written and recorded by Bill Wyman. The record reached #14 in the UK Singles Chart in 1981.
- The song "Je Suis Une Dolly" by Dolly Rockers references French culture whilst singing to a Frenchman.
- The song "For Me, for Me, Formidable" by Charles Aznavour relates the struggle of a French singer trying to sing a love song to an English girl.
- The song "I Want to Pogne" by Rock et Belles Oreilles.
- "It is not because you are" by Renaud.
- "I went to the market, mon p'tit panier sous mon bras", a popular Acadian song made famous by Gilles Vigneault.
- "Beatles('Michelle, ma belle, these are words that go together well: ma Michelle' and more).
- "L'amour à la française", French entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
- Québécois musician Daniel Lanois has written many songs in Franglais, including "O Marie" and "Under a Stormy Sky" from his 1989 album Acadie and "The Collection of Marie Claire" from his 1993 album For the Beauty of Wynona.
See also
- Post-creole continuum
- Cultural identity and Cultural imperialism
- Creole language
- Code-switching
- Loanword
- Dunglish
- Spanglish
- Béarlachas
References
- ^ Le petit Robert
- ISBN 9780080877754
- ^ "franglais, n.", OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2021, retrieved 9 February 2022
- ^ Le petit Robert
- ^ Legal Language, Peter Tiersma, p. 33
- ^ "Henry V (Modern, Folio) :: Internet Shakespeare Editions". For best viewing of hypertext annotations, disable browser autotranslation.
- ^ Twain, Mark (2004-06-22). The Innocents Abroad – via Project Gutenberg.
- ISBN 0-670-49064-4
- ^ The French Castle scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
- ^ "PIEFORT : Définition de PIEFORT". Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales (in French). Retrieved 2022-11-05.
- ^ Trésor de la langue française informatisé, 1971-1994
- ^ 8th edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 1932-1935
- ^ "Langue française-Questions courantes". Archived from the original on 2001-02-15. "Langue française-Questions de langue". Archived from the original on 2011-05-14. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
- ^ "Frenglish: Montreal's Word of Mouth - Montreal Gazette". Archived from the original on 2012-11-16.
- ^ "Montreal from A to Z: I is for identity". Montreal Gazette. 2014-06-17. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
- ^ "New language for divided Cameroon". 2007-02-20. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
External links
- La petite lesson en Franglais
- Au revoir Mister Franglais BBC reporting on the death of Miles Kington
- Le Grande Thanksgiving by Art Buchwald