The Expansion and Standardization of French Language

THE EXPANSION AND STANDARDIZATION OF FRENCH LANGUAGE AND THE INFLUENCE OF ITALIAN IN THE 16TH CENTURY
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The Expansion and Standardization of French Language and the Influence of Italian in the 16th Century
French is one of the Romance languages and a model for prescription and language standardization. The language’s origins can be traced back to the conclusion of the Gallic War when population centers emerged in territories situated south of the Rhine. French originated from the vernacular Latin spoken in these provinces. Latin was the language of high-prestige functions although the use of the less prestigious oral vernaculars led to the first awareness of French as a distinct language from Latin in 842. The end of the Roman Empire saw the divergence of Gallo-Romance, resulting in two different but related languages in the Middle Ages, the southern langue d’oc and the northern langue d’oil. By the start of the 11th century, speech differed markedly along regional lines although the Parisian variety (the ancestor of modern French) gained more eminence.[Peter Rickard, A History of the French Language (London: Routledge, 2014).]
As the King’s court in Paris increased in influence over the centuries, the rule and language of the Parisian variety expanded. However, it was not until the thirteenth century that this form of French began to be used in the Parisian chancellery. Consequently, it is only at this point that standardization of French as a spoken and written language began. The development of modern French emerged from the northern dialect and was assisted with the rapid rise of Paris as the French capital city and the principal urban center in northern Europe. As the king’s power extended throughout the provinces of France, so did the influence of the Parisian dialect. The monarchy’s struggle for complete power coupled by the need for one national administration and language saw resistant populations in the 13th century adopting the Parisian dialect as the primary language.[Peter Flaherty, “Langue Nationale/Langue Naturelle: The Politics of Linguistic Uniformity during the French Revolution,” Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques 14, no. 2 (1987): 311–28, /stable/41298882.]
The Parisian variety was informally chosen as the standard for French language mostly because of Paris’ prestige as a politically, economically, and socially important city. As the dominion of French kings started to expand in the 13th century, vernacular writing systems together with Latin were gradually abolished in all areas of government (both the administrative and legal spheres). The first edict to this end occurred in 1257 when St. Louis instructed that French was to become the language of official correspondence. Other edicts in later centuries saw the Parisian variety become the language of the country and displace Latin as the formal language in philosophy, medicine, history, and mathematics. Because of the augmented use of French in all areas of government and learning, codification of the same was necessary to ensure correct usage. This “bon usage” was considered to the speech of the dominant class a...