French Linguistics Tutorial

Author: Wang Xuli
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-11-01
Features: In the history of linguistics, French linguists hold an important position. French linguistic thought has directly given rise to many linguistic schools, enriched the analysis of French and other languages, and advanced the development of linguistic science. We are all familiar with figures such as Hjelmslev, Meillet, Bally, Bonville, Guiraud, and Duco. French linguistics is also a required component of the French teaching syllabus. According to the "Senior French Teaching Syllabus for Higher Education Institutions (Trial)" formulated by the French Group of the National Advisory Committee on Foreign Language Teaching in Higher Education, after students have mastered listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation skills, a foundation course in French linguistics should be offered to further strengthen their linguistic. This course aims to help students grasp the basic concepts and theories of linguistics. However, there are currently no such textbooks available domestically, and existing foreign textbooks are difficult to import, often lack comprehensiveness, are overly specialized, and lack exercises and supplementary readings. Therefore, the author has compiled the "Introduction to French Linguistics" based on the requirements of the teaching syllabus and the actual teaching situation. The manuscript was completed in 1996 and was printed and used internally by Beijing Language and Culture University that same year. A second internal printing was conducted in 2000. Over the nearly ten years of use, the book has been revised and improved multiple times, with its content becoming increasingly refined. During her doctoral studies in Linguistic Science at the University of Paris III, the author specialized in discourse analysis, and as a result, her recent research findings have been incorporated into the revised edition of this textbook. The book consists of 14 chapters, divided into two main sections: theoretical and practical. The theoretical section elaborates on the basic concepts of general linguistics and the analysis of various levels of French, covering historical linguistics, phonetics, semantics, syntax, discourse analysis, semantics, pragmatics, cognitive linguistics, stylistics, linguistics and translation, psycholinguistics, comparative linguistics, and sociolinguistics. It analyzes different linguistic units, from phonemes and morphemes to semantic features, words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and discourse. The practical section provides exercises at the end of each chapter or selected readings from classic works in linguistics, serving as a supplement to the theoretical section and optional for use. The selected readings from classic works can also help students gain a deeper understanding of specific topics. However, due to copyright issues, some selected works could not be included in the book, and only the names of the references are listed. For further information, readers may contact the author at fayu＠blcu.edu.cn.