Imagine you were born in the 18th century. Imagine you had no education. And imagine you decided to write your autobiography. Astonishing as it may be, this extraordinary undertaking was brought to fruition by Jacques-Louis Ménétra. With a clumsy hand, this Parisian glazier produced a multitude of writings: a Diary of my life, therefore, but also religious treatises, philosophical texts, political essays and even erotic poetry. A sort of Douanier Rousseau of the French language.
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How did he achieve this, knowing, as has been said, that he had never been initiated into the mysteries of spelling? For the most part, he followed his ear and freed himself from the rules of grammar. “I was born on July 13, 1738, a native of this great city,” he thus declares at the very beginning of his Newspaper, which fascinates historians of the language to the extent that it presents a singular French, free of any constraint. “In his work, ‘je’ is no different from ‘j’ai’ and the agreements are guided by the meaning, as in ‘all the garrison was taken prisoner’. As for punctuation, it is quite simple: it is non-existent”, specifies the very educational History of the French language*, published by Hatier editions.
Under the Ancien Régime, the use of this “non-standard French” was more common than one might think. This is logical: in the 18th century, the level of education reached only 10% among men and was at an even lower level among women. This did not prevent part of the population from writing, whether to keep account books or exchange practical information. Alongside scholars and illiterates, we therefore also find the “poorly literate”, in other words servants, artisans, bourgeois and even nobles who handle writing with difficulty, no doubt, but who handle it nonetheless. Very rare, on the other hand, are those who, like Ménétra, dare to embark on a real literary production.
It was in this context that the very astonishing Cacography Manual, written by a certain Jean-Etienne-Judith Forestier, known as Boinvilliers, whose existence I learned of in the same History of the French language. Cacography? Here is the definition given by this grammarian himself: “Cacography comes from the two Greek words ‘cacos’ (‘penalty’, ‘bad’) and ‘graphê’ (‘scripture’, writing); which means ‘to write badly, to write in a vicious manner or contrary to the laws of spelling’.” His work therefore brings together deliberately incorrect texts for an educational purpose: to force the reader to correct the “errors” that have slipped in.
“The instruction is so valuable”
Let’s take a few examples: “Science is the most beautiful treasure”; “Instruction is so precious! Why neglect it?”; “Young people should seek the means to become learned”… You have now understood the system (or else, get yourself a Bled without delay): it is appropriate to rectify the inaccuracies which abound in these “sentences in which the spelling of words, the rules of participles and the laws of punctuation have been deliberately violated”.
Upon its release, Boinvilliers’ work was very quickly a success, and there is reason for this. At the beginning of the 19th century, when France was beginning to urbanize, writing increasingly determined social success. But not only did the people remain largely illiterate, but the notables themselves were far from mastering the subtleties of the national language. An attitude that also infuriated our grammarian: “Do they believe they are exempt from writing according to the laws of spelling because they own castles?” In a society that aspires to literacy, its Cacography Manual comes opportunely to fill a gap.
This does not spare him from criticism, on the contrary. Very quickly, he is accused of aggravating the evil he claims to be fighting. By disseminating faulty forms, does his cacography not disturb the photographic memory of readers? Also others advocate the opposite method, called “praxigraphy”. In short: the famous dictation! This one, which appeared in the 18th century, very quickly became one of the favorite pastimes of the aristocracy and reached, with that of Mérimée, heights of refinement (or sadism, depending on the point of view). It would become the queen subject at school under the Third Republic and would even turn into a social phenomenon, much later, with those of the late Bernard Pivot.
A triumph that will dephinnitifeman the glat of the kacaugrafi.
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* Chronology. The history of the French languageby Frédéric Duval, Jacques Dürrenmatt, Gilles Siouffi and Agnès Steuckardt, preface by Jean Pruvost (Bescherelle/Hatier). You can also refer to this conference given by Daniel Rochewho studied the Newspaper from Menetra.
READ ELSEWHERE
Breton, Occitan, Wolof… Google Translate adds a hundred languages to its repertoire
Great progress for linguistic diversity. Google has just added a hundred languages to its translation service. In total, these concern more than 600 million speakers, or 8% of the world’s population, estimates the search engine giant. The selection is made according to three criteria: the number of requests received; the number of speakers and the quantity of data available. Among the languages of France are Breton and Occitan. Corsican and Basque had already been included.
Should we remove plant names deemed racist?
Botanists from around the world gathered in a congress to make this historic decision. In their sights, in particular: George Hibbert, a member of the British slave lobby, who gave his name to several plants. Their decision, however, was not unanimous.
Breton toponymy: a “cultural issue”, but not urgent, according to UNESCO
UNESCO has rejected the request to register Breton toponymy as an “extreme emergency” as part of the intangible heritage of humanity. According to the UN agency, this is not “a case of extreme urgency”. On the other hand, UNESCO encourages “France to continue working with the communities concerned to ensure the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage” in Brittany. “UNESCO says that our toponymy is indeed part of the intangible heritage of humanity and calls on the State to safeguard it and measure the impact of its laws”, rejoices Yvon Ollivier, the president of the Koun Breizh association, which had contacted UNESCO.
Guingamp: elimination of the bilingual Breton-French section
Future sixth-grade students have learned that bilingual Breton learning has been suspended at the Jacques-Prévert college in Guingamp (Côtes-d’Armor). An announcement that has provoked the anger of the Breton Democratic Union (UDB): “This decision, which is the responsibility of the rectorate, is a new blow to the teaching of the Breton language, a sine qua non condition for its survival and development.”
When a competition named after a Provençal poet bans… Provençal
Louis Brauquier published many works, some of them in Provençal. In his honor, an international poetry competition bearing his name was created. But, surprise: it now imposes the exclusive use of French. “Our competition is international; only the French language allows us all to be on an equal and fraternal footing,” its organizer, Gilles Bourdy, explains to L’Express. An “equality” and a “fraternity” which, visibly, do not apply to the languages of France…
A conference in homage to Provençal baroque authors
We cannot therefore recommend this conference highly enough, organized in homage to the Baroque writers from Aix who wrote in the Provençal Occitan language. At the initiative of Didier Maurell, it will bring together academics and will be held on September 15 at the Granet Museum in Aix-en-Provence and aims to “highlight the richness and originality of the works produced in the Provençal Occitan language in the 17th and 18th centuries”. You can also visit the exhibition “Aiming Right. Pétanque and Provençal Game Through Hans Silvester’s Lens”, which is being held until September 29 at the Museon Arlaten-musée de Provence in Arles, where a guide written in Provençal has been planned.
Occitan makes its debut at the University of Berkeley…
At the initiative of an American academic, Oliver Whitmore, Occitan is now taught at the prestigious University of California at Berkeley. He explains the reasons for this on the Cheminez website, “the media for languages and cultures here and elsewhere”. The way in which France treats its so-called regional languages is reminiscent of “the policies on homosexuality in the United States before its recent acceptance,” he assures.
… but almost out of France Bleu Occitanie
On the other hand, Radio France continues its policy of marginalizing the languages of France. Its antenna in Occitanie has in fact just cancelled the program World Account, which was dedicated to Occitan. It is supposed to be replaced by a two-minute column from the start of the school year. A petition has been launched to request its reinstatement.
Perfect your platt
The Belgian philologist Léo Wintgens has devoted several books and articles to the languages spoken in the border regions of France, Germany and Luxembourg. We recommend in particular And there is some dish, bilingual French-German grammar summary of Carolingian Franconian; the two volumes of The Linguistic Atlas of Carolingian Frankish And Key 4. The morphology of Carolingian Frankish, synthesis elaborated in French (to order here: [email protected]).
Inclusive writing disappears from official texts in Wallonia and Brussels
The new regional majority of Wallonia and the Wallonia-Brussels federation has decided to ban the midpoint in official texts, considering that it “complicates access to information for the most vulnerable citizens, particularly in their contacts with administrations and complicates learning the French language”.
Say “flexible office” and not “flex office”
This is one of the recommendations of the Commission for the Enrichment of the French Language, which has looked at the vocabulary of urban planning. Other equivalents are proposed, such as “minimaison” (instead of “tiny house”) and “workspace designer” (instead of“office space planner”).
TO LISTEN
The Djé Balèti group, which honors the Occitan trad rock, has just released his new album, entitled PotionIt includes 14 titles alternating between French and Nissart.
TO WATCH
When Quebecers create new words
“Plaisard”, “balentin” and “soiedenter”. Here are three words that have just been invented by Quebec high school students and teachers as part of a competition organized by the Quebec Office of the French Language. A “plaisard”? An individual who wants to please at all costs. A “balentin”? A person who accompanies another to a ball. “Soiedenter”? Cleaning the gaps between your teeth with dental floss! A great illustration of the French language’s capacity for invention, as Linda Giguère points out in her TV Monde column.
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