English “doesn’t exist”, it’s just the French language pronounced badly, a French linguist has claimed.
As reported in the UK’s Daily Mail, the French scholar believes French has provided the English with an “essential vocabulary” and accuses the use of English words in French culture of being “alarming”.
Bernard Cerquiglinii, a linguistics professor from Lyon, points out that the English language has been using thousands of words from French for about 1,000 years.
Ironically, many of them have been reintroduced into French, but in a maligned English form – such as ‘stew’, ‘people’ and ‘shopping’.
‘Worrying’ use of English words in French culture
Cerquiglinii, adviser to President Emmanuel Macron, has already criticised the continued use of English words in French culture as “worrying”.
His comments bring to mind the desperate spy officer Crabtree from the 1980s sitcom “Allo Allo”, who, although British, believed he could speak fluent French with an impeccable accent.
In the French professor’s new book, entitled: “La langue anglaise n’existe pas.
C’est du français mal prononcé”, which means “the English language does not exist as it is French with a bad pronunciation”, the French expert explains while delivering linguistics lessons.
“French has given essential vocabulary to English in the fields of justice, commerce, spirituality, art and government,” the French professor argues, according to the Times of London.
“If English is a prestigious international language today, it is because of French.”
In the pages of his book, the French linguist argues that French was the “official and common language” of England for several centuries.
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In the Middle Ages, the inhabitants of the British Virgin Islands spoke a variety of languages, from Cornish to English to Norn – an extinct North Germanic language.
But after the conquest of Normandy in 1066, led by William the Duke, French became the official language in England.
Examples of English words with Norman origins
Examples of English words with Norman origins include ‘blame’, ‘bacon’, ‘enemy’, ‘tradition’, ‘people’, ‘chivalry’, ‘majesty’ and fashion.
However, many of the current spellings of these words are different from the original French, not to mention the pronunciation.
For example, “people” is derived from the old French word “purple”, which has since become “man” – referring to a general population, a particular nation or ethnic group.
Serquilini, however, is not the only French scientist who dislikes English terms that have…gutted the French language.
“Lazy” French people who use English
Another language teacher, Jean Meier, has described his compatriots as lazy for allowing an invasion of English into the French vocabulary.
For example, the French use the English word “look” as a noun, instead of French variants such as aspect, apparence, tenue or allure.
For Professor Meier, who taught English at a university in Paris, “there have never been so many English terms in our vocabulary”
“They are estimated at up to 10% and are growing at an astonishing rate.
The reason is partly due to linguistic laziness, because many English words are shorter and easier to use than their French counterparts.
They don’t sound good to the ear, but we use them because they have become habitual,” he adds.
