English doesn't exist and is badly pronounced French, linguist says
Bernard Cerquiglini, a French linguist from Lyon, has controversially claimed that the English language 'doesn't exist' and is just 'badly pronounced French'.
A French linguist has controversially claimed that the English language 'doesn't exist' and is just 'badly pronounced French'.
Bernard Cerquiglini, a linguistics professor from Lyon, points out that the English language uses thousands of words taken from French about 1,000 years ago.
Ironically, many of these have since reentered the French language but in a bastardised English form – such as 'stew', 'people' and 'shopping'.
Professor Cerquiglini, an adviser to President Macron, has already slammed the continued use of English words in French culture as 'distressing'.
His comments bring to mind the hopeless spy Officer Crabtree from the 80s sitcom 'Allo Allo', who is British but thinks he can speak fluent French in a convincing accent.
Professor Cerquiglini's new book is called 'La langue anglaise n'existe pas. C'est du français mal prononcé'
This translates as 'The English language does not exist. It's badly pronounced French'.
'French gave English essential vocabulary, that of law, trade, spirituality, art and government,' Professor Cerquiglini says, as reported by the Times.
'If English is a prestigious, international language today, it is thanks to French.'
In his book, Professor Cerquiglini argues that French has been the 'official and common language' of England for several centuries.
In the Middle Ages, a variety of languages were spoken by inhabitants of the British Isles, from Cornish to English to Norn – an extinct North Germanic language.
But after the Norman Conquest of 1066, led by William the Duke of Normandy, French became a major language in England.
Examples of English words with their origin in Norman French include 'accuse', 'bacon', 'enemy', 'surrender', 'people', 'chivalry', 'majesty' 'fashion', and 'wicket'.
However, many of the current spellings of these words are different from the original French, not to mention the pronunciation.
For example, 'people' comes from the old French word 'pueple', which has since become 'peuple' – referring to a general population, a specific nation or an ethnic group.
The English version, 'people', has infiltrated the French language and is a word used in France to refer to celebrities.
Butler comes from 'bouteiller', the name for a wine steward, while caterpillar is from the French 'cateplus' – hairy cat.
Vintage comes from 'vendanges', coward is 'couard', tennis is 'tenez', enemy is 'enemi', majesty is 'majeste' and fashion is 'façon'.
Wicket, the cricket term that conjures images of Englishness, actually comes from 'guischet', meaning a counter.
Many French words adapted by the English relate to cooking – for example, the English word 'stew' comes from the old French estuver, which means to steam cook, while pudding comes from 'boudin'.
Mushroom is from the old Norman word 'mousheron', while beef comes from 'buef', toast is from 'tostée' and porridge from 'potage'.
And gin, one of the most loved British tipples, comes from 'genevre', the word for the juniper berry used in the drink's creation.
According to the expert, up to 40 per cent of all English words have a French origin, equating to around 80,000 in all.
Professor Cerquiglini makes the point that many of them have come full circle – they started off as French, were borrowed and adapted by the English, and the English versions have since reentered the French lexicon, albeit in their new, English form.
He argues that it would be appropriate to reappropriate them, at least by pronouncing them in the French way.
Professor Cerquiglini is not the only Frenchman with a dislike for English terms entering the French language.
Another language professor, Jean Maillet, has labelled his countrymen as lazy for allowing an invasion of English words into the French vocabulary.
For example, French people use the English word 'look' as a noun, rather than French variations like 'aspect', 'apparence', 'tenue' or 'allure'.
Professor Maillet, who taught English at a Paris University, said: 'There's never been so many anglicisms in our vocabulary.
'There is as many as ten percent, and it's increasing exponentially.
'The reason is partly due to linguistic laziness, because many English words are shorter and more user-friendly than their French counterparts.
'They don't sound nice on the ear, but we use them because they have become automatic.'
Disco, nicompoop, boogie, and trollop are among the words that could go extinct within a generation as young people haven't heard of them.
As many as 40 per cent of 18-30 year olds have never heard of the word sozzled, meaning drunk, while 37 percent were unfamiliar with referring to a man who behaves dishonourably as a 'cad'.
Researchers from the Perspectus Global research agency, provided a long list of words to a panel of 2,000 respondents and asked them to identify which ones they had never heard of.
Many of the words have origins from the late 19th Century or later, and are more prevalent in the vocabularies of older generations.
