Development of the French Language

Évolution de la langue française

French is a Romance language , but it has a number of characteristics that set it apart from the other members of its linguistic family. Here is an extremely simplified synopsis of its development:
There has always been an important linguistic difference between the north and south of France. In 120 B.C. in the southeast of France (known as Gaul at the time), the Romans founded a province and all but replaced the extant Ligurians’ language with Vulgar Latin.* In contrast, the Gaulish (essentially several Celtic dialects) spoken in the north didn’t take a backseat to Latin until 58 B.C., when Julius Caesar conquered the north of Gaul. Thus Latin had some 60 years more influence on the south than the north. A further distinction between north and south was caused by the German Frankish invasion in the 400s A.D., which contributed some grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary (including the terms “France” and “French”), as these influences were concentrated in the north.
*It is essential to understand that it was Vulgar Latin (common or spoken Latin), rather than classical Latin, from which the French language evolved. 
This linguistic and cultural split eventually led to the emergence of three dialectal regions:
  1. Langue d’oïl (north)
  2. Langue d’oc (south)
  3. Franco-provençal (east)
The first two dialectal regions are named for the way “yes” was said: oïl in the north and oc in the south. Franco-provençal was a sort of intermediary, with various linguistic traits from the north and others from the south. Eventually, these three regions broke down into dozens of regional dialects, such as Parisian French, Picard, and Limousin. The political importance of the Parisian region eventually led to langue d’oïl in general and the French spoken in and around Paris in particular becoming the dominant dialect. However, there are still some 70 spoken dialects spoken in France today. (In addition, several distinct languages are spoken in certain regions, particularly along the border: Basque, Breton, Alsatian, Provençal, etc.)
In the 9th century, Charlemagne attempted to revive interest in and knowledge of Latin with a series of efforts known as la renaissance carolingienne. What he found was that the average person wasn’t even speaking Latin – the common language at this time had already evolved into what we call today Old French. In 842, the first French text, les Serments de Strasbourg, was written.
Old French gave way to Middle French in the 14th century, and in 1539 François I proclaimed the Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts, which replaced Latin with French as the official administrative and judiciary language of France.
By the 17th century, French, although still evolving, had matured into a language as dignified as Latin. Writers and grammarians worked to make the language consistent and comprehensible. 1606 saw the publication of the first French dictionary, Thresor de la langue francoyse, tant ancienne que moderne by Aimar de Ranconnet and Jean Nicot. Cardinal Richelieu founded l’Académie française in 1635, and the first Dictionnaire de l’Académie was published 59 years later.
Since then, French has continued to grow and evolve. Immigrants from North Africa have contributed numerous words to French, and of course extensive borrowings from English have led to a mix of French and English, particularly among teenagers, known as franglais.

*IL FAUT* que tu apprennes le Français (You *Must* Learn French)!

French flagLearning French is not optional anymore; it is now mandatory!
Well, just kidding, bien sûr
One thing you must do, however, if you already speak French, is to watch out for the good use of le subjonctif.
Just pay a bit of attention to when French people speak, or to French books, articles, etc., you will often come across the expressions “il faut…” (“it is necessary…”) and “il faut que…” (“it is necessary to…”)
One of the reasons why some new learners of French language are confused about the use of these expressions is because “faut” comes from the rather unusual verb “falloir“, which always comes in une forme impersonnelle (an impersonal form.)
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If “il faut” is followed by a verb, then we normally apply the well-known grammatical rule according to which “when two verbs follow each other, the second one is always in mode infinitif“:
For example, “il faut partir” (“It’s necessary/it’s time to leave.”)
  • The Spanish homme de lettres Cervantes, of Don Quixote fame, is known to have inspired one of the most popular expressions used by ex-French President François Mitterrand: “il faut donner du temps au temps” (“One must give some time to time.”)
Notice that the verb donner is in mode infinitif because it followed another verb, falloir.
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With the expression “il faut que“, you should keep in mind that it must always be followed by the mode subjonctif (subjunctive mode):
  • Il faut que nous soyons à la hauteur des exigences du public (“We must live up to the public’s expectations.”)
  • Il faut qu’elle soit plus attentive à l’école” (“She must pay more attention in school.”)
  • Il faut que je sois à la gare de train avant midi!” (“I must be at the train station before noon!”)
Notice that “sois“, “soit“, “soyons“, are all subjunctive forms of the verb “être” (“to be.”)
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 Notice also that the verb “falloir” can itself be conjugated in the mode subjonctif, as in this example:
  • Cette règle est facile à comprendre, bien qu’il faille faire attention à ses exceptions” (“This rule is easy to understand, although one should be careful with its exceptions.”)
Or in the negative form (using the particle “ne“):
  • Je trouve cette peinture assez impressionnantebien qu’il ne faille pas confondre beauté et esthétique.” (“I find this painting rather impressive, although one should not confuse beauty and aesthetics.”)