Written in highly readable French, this book is designed to serve as a textbook for a course in the history of the French language. It is written for American students who are upper division French majors, and also for first-year graduate students. The text traces the evolution of the French language from Latin to the end of the 13th century, yet introduces the student to the basic concepts of linguistics, and in particular to historical linguistics. All technical terms, even elementary terms, such as syntax, phonology, morphology, etc. are fully explained with examples.

Written in highly readable French, this book is designed to serve as a textbook for a course in the history of the French language. It is written for American students who are upper division French majors, and also for first-year graduate students. The text traces the evolution of the French language from Latin to the end of the 13th century, yet introduces the student to the basic concepts of linguistics, and in particular to historical linguistics. All technical terms, even elementary terms, such as syntax, phonology, morphology, etc. are fully explained with examples.