Problems and Perspectives

Wendy Ayres-Bennett is a Reader in French Philology and Linguistics at the University of Cambridge.Janice Carruthers is a Lecturer in French at the Queen's University of Belfast.Rosalind Temple is a Lecturer in French Language and Linguistics at the University of York.

• PART 1: PRELIMIARIES1. French standards and variation2. Introduction to the description of French: definitions and metalanguage3. Approaches and schools4. Choice of topics and approachesPART 2: ISSUES1. Word-final consonants2. Nasal vowels3. Schwa: a maverick vowel4. Verb morphology: conjugation classes and the definition of regularity5. Aspect in French6. Past tenses: complex and changing relationships7. Mood and modality: the French subjunctive8. Pronominal verbs9. Declarative word order: French as an SVO language10. Relations between clauses: subordination, coordination, parataxis11. Negation12. Neologisms: internal versus external factors13. 'Internal' processes of word creation in FrenchReferencesIndex of conceptsIndex of names