During my family
visit, I read an interesting book by Guy Deutscher The Unfolding of Language,
published in 2005. It discusses the
development of language structure and vocabulary.
Among its
premises, it states that languages are in a constant state of destruction and
reformation. He uses examples from
countless languages, including English, French, and Hebrew.
The French
examples were very interesting. I
learned that the double negative, ne … pas, is actually the banalization
of an attempt to emphasize the negative.
Previously, the participle ne by itself signified the
negative. To add emphasize, people added
terms like step or point, i.e. ne pas and ne point. Overtime, people, the exception became the
norm such that nobody remembers the single negative in French.
Another
fascinating point was the evolution of the latin term illo, meaning
there yonder. It is a basic marking word
representing the third degree to this and that. Over generations, it evolved into two important
words: the (le and il in French and Italian) and he
(il in French). If a speaker used
in as a subject like in “There is a large tiger”, il represented the
third degree of distance after I and you.
On the other hand, in the sentence, I kllled that tiger, the one
over there, the could be used, dropping the unused sounds.
Finally, the
origin of the French future endings was illuminated. They copy the forms of the verb to have
in French and not accidentilly. The verb
“to have” has the sense of causing something to happen. So, if you make occur, it implies something
will happen in the future.
This is only a
small sample of enlightening tidbits and explanations provided by this book. I now view the classic Parisian slang, “Je'en sais pas” not as poor French but natural development. I recommend this book all those who love
speaking and understanding languages.
