Varieties of French

Abstract

The intention of Chapter 1 was to demonstrate that standard French is the most important variety of French, a variety which has been codified and given official sanction, and that to many people it is the only variety meriting attention. The intention was also to show that, although it is the most widespread written variety of French, it is a variety which is habitually spoken by only a limited number of French people, in particular by those who are well-educated and cultured and are concerned about the quality of the language which they use. So what about the rest? What about those who are not so well educated: what about the educated in their off-guard moments; what about those people living far away from Paris, the base of standard French? What about the speakers of non-standard French? How is their language to be characterised? What factors determine whether a speaker uses standard French or not? Why is it that at times one and the same speaker will use standard French and at others he or she will not?