Re: Oooooo! I hates that varmint! Attn: Dutch speakers

Christophe Grandsire scripsit:

> LOL. Is there *anyone* in Ill Bethisad except Parisians (or are they Lutetians
> in Ill Bethisad? ;))) ) that find Francien a nice language? ;)))))
Well, what's "nice"?  It's not a language of belles lettres, by custom, until
the 20th century when attempts to use it as such begin, rather haltingly.
It is the language of administration and public life.  Great speeches
have been made in it, the kind that are studied in school, but not
great poetry (or at least not since Villon's day).  In essence, it has
part but not all of the typical H position in diglossic countries.
The language that you write in, or speak formally, in IB-France is
determined primarily by your purpose, and only secondarily by where you
are or what your native dialect is.

--
John Cowan  jcowan@reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan  www.reutershealth.com
"If I have seen farther than others, it is because I am surrounded by dwarves."
        --Murray Gell-Mann