French language starting to change to gender neutral

Sounds like the type of book that is right up my street.

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No - language is organic, and changes all the time. Both grammar and dictionaries are snapshots of how language is actually working - but in 10 or 100 years time language - and the grammars and dictionaries - will be different.

The confusion comes I think from teachers who for obvious reasons explain the ā€˜rulesā€™ of grammar to children as if they are to be obeyed - rather than as just descriptive of how most people are using language (and will expect them to use it when they grow up). And of course there are special cases like Scrabble, where you have to treat a dictionary as an authority (although having said that in my wifeā€™s family the mere presence of a word in the dictionary is enough to allow it - enabling people to ā€˜cheatā€™ by putting down any combination of letters then finding it in the dictionary after the event - my family tradition was that you had to know both the spelling and the meaning to get away with a word).

Itā€™s also true, of course, that grammars and dictionaries have slowed down language change - but not stopped it.
And itā€™s interesting also that language change itself seems to follow some rules - some changes are indeed predictable, and linguistics is akin to science in this respect. The greatest linguist of all - Frenchman Ferdinand de Saussure - originally made his reputation by predicting an evolution of language that was later discovered.

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And mine!

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I imagine we will agree that a dictionary cannot really show contemporary usage: itā€™s always ā€œone edition behindā€ what is being said and, in any case, will only show larger-scale usage.

Donā€™t you think thatā€™s a very modern (postmodern, perhaps?) way of looking at grammar: a sort of ā€œThis is my grammar, tell me yoursā€ approach which the lads from Blackwood would have approved of?

There is a place for descriptive grammar, at least for grammarians and those interested in language, but you have benefited from being taught ā€œthe rulesā€ of a prescriptive grammar because you can communicate clearly.

Tongue in cheek - Iā€™m pretty sure the writer knew what she was doing when she threw in the word ā€˜viral-lingā€™.

I was invited for coffee by my neighbour Jean-Luc and his Chinese wife. The wife speaks FR with a heavy Chinese accent which I have great difficulty understanding. My understanding of French FR is middling/moderate - good enough for coffee and chat. Her understanding of my FR was patchy.

J-L was in the position of translating Chinese-inflected FR into FR FR and my FR into FR which his wife understood.

I was recounting my problem getting the blood sample which my M.T. had asked me to submit. The word ā€˜infirmiĆØreā€™ was part of my narrative. However, with a combination of my pronunciation and her understanding, Mme Deneux didnā€™t understand how farmers - ā€˜fermiersā€™ came into the blood sample biz. J-L straightened it all out.

One of the events of this RdV was a call to Australia, to Mme Deneuxā€™s sister. The sister speaks perfect Strine but no FR. It seemed to be my job to translate Strine into Eng and then into FR.

The Aussie b.i.l. and I had a rather bewlidered conversation, being entirely unclear why we were talking together, then the sisters had a conversation in Chinese.

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The American hijack of English ā€¦

I have long-time had a modest ambition to rock up for an RdV with an American office or somesuch and on being told by the receptionist, " XYZ will see you momentarily" replying, ā€œI think our meeting will take more than a momentā€

US business speak is certainly mind numbing, but the language of most US sports commentaries remains far richer and inventive than that of the UK. Also the likes of Cardus and Arlott are long gone.

Listening to live baseball commentaries in the US or Canada can be more exciting and interesting than watching it!

I fall about laughing listening to the Gendarme in Allo Allo with his mispronunciation of English

IF you have a good VPN you can watch them on Watch Allo Allo Series & Episodes Online