Année universitaire 2023-2024 Linguistique UE 305 Colette Stévanovitch Fascicule d’exercices SYMBOLES PHONÉTIQUES VOYELLES i fr. lit iː angl. seat ɪ angl. sit e fr. été eː même voyelle, longue ɛ fr. mer , angl. set ɛː même voyelle, longue æ angl. cat ə angl. about ʌ angl. cut y fr. lu æː même voyelle, longue yː même voyelle, longue ɜː anglais bird ʊ angl. good u fr. mou uː angl. food o fr. beau oː même voyelle, longue ɔ fr. botte ɔː angl. port ɒ angl. cop a fr. patte aː même voyelle, longue ɑ fr. pâte ɑː angl. father, far CONSONNES p t k b d g m n ŋ θ ð f v fr. paix, angl. peace fr. temps, angl. ten fr. cas, angl. case fr. bain, angl. bin fr. daim, angl. dish fr. gris, angl. grey fr. mer, angl. mare fr. nain, angl. nine angl. thing angl. think angl. that fr. faim, angl. fine fr. vain, angl. van ʃ ʒ ʧ ʤ ɣ x ç h l r j w fr. choix, angl. shine fr. jeu, angl. rouge angl. chin angl. gin all. wagen all. ach, écossais loch all. ic angl. hit fr. lait, angl. lad roulé en VA fr. yack, angl. yard fr. oui, angl. win OED (Oxford English Dictionary) : L'OED est visible dans les ressources en ligne de la BU ou accessible à ce lien : https://www-oed-com.bases-doc.univ-lorraine.fr/ Le changement linguistique Exercice 1. Le jeune homme possédé par le démon (Luc 9, 38-40) Considérez les deux traductions mises en parallèle ci-dessous. La première est extraite des West Saxon Gospels (XIe siècle, vieil-anglais), et la seconde de la New English Bible (1961, anglais contemporain). 1. Relevez dans le texte vieil-anglais les graphies qui ne sont plus employées en anglais contemporain. 2. Recherchez les correspondants vieil-anglais des mots en gras. Même s’ils n’ont pas été utlisés dans la traduction, certains de ces mots vieil-anglais subsistent en anglais contemporain. Lesquels ? WSG NEB þa clypode an wer : Then a man cried out: WSG NEB Lareow ic halsie þe geseoh minne sunu “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, WSG NEB se unclæna gast hine æþrinð: and he færlice hrymð A spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams. WSG NEB and ic bæd þine leorning-cnihtas þæt hig hine ut adrifon and hig ne mihton I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.” Exercice 2. Repérage. Dans la liste de mots vieil-anglais ci-dessous, quels sont ceux qui n’ont pas subsisté en anglais contemporain ? ac ahsian/āscian bæc, es beān, e byċġan butere, an cild, es clǣne cnapa, an ċiriċe, an cweðan cynn, es dæġ, es dōn eald eft æfter flǣsċ,es fisċ, es gān hāliġ Conj. mais Vfb2 demander n. dos f. haricot Vfb1 acheter f. beurre n. enfant Adj., propre, pur m. garçon f. église Vft5 dire n. famille, race m. jour Virrég. faire Adj. vieux adv. de nouveau prép. après n. chair m., poisson Virrég. aller Adj. saint hū ilċ lōcian magan manig miċel mōnaϸ, es munuc,es nama, an ne nōn, es niht, e ofer sang, es seōn Pron. interr. comment Adj. même Vfb2 regarder Vperfprés pouvoir Dét. beaucoup de Adj. grand Det. beaucoup de m. mois m. moine m. nom Nég. ne…pas n neuvième heure f. nuit Prép. au-dessus de m. chant Adv. voir syϸϸan swā sōna swiϸe Adv. depuis, alors Conj. puisque, lorsque, dès que Adv. ainsi, si Vft1 bientôt Adv. beaucoup, très ϸonne ϸǣr twa wamb, e weg, es wifel, es wiϸ Adv. alors Conj. quand Adv. là Dét. deux f. ventre m. chemin m. scarabée Prép. contre Exercice 3 : Lay le Freine / Marie de France, Frêne Le lai de Marie de France, écrit en anglo-normand (le français parlé en Angleterre à l’époque moyenanglaise), a été traduit en moyen-anglais. La femme d’un chevalier vient d’accoucher de deux garçons. Le père envoie prévenir son voisin et ami pour lui demander d’être parrain. Mais la femme de ce voisin prononce des paroles inconsidérées, qui vont se retourner contre elle quand elle accouchera à son tour de deux filles. Dans le texte moyen-anglais, quels mots n’ont pas survécu jusqu’en anglais contemporain ? moyen-anglais Than was the levedi of the hous A proude dame and an envieous, Hokerfulliche missegging, Squeymous and eke scorning. To ich woman sche hadde envie; Sche spac this wordes of felonie: "Ich have wonder, thou messanger, Who was thi lordes conseiler, To teche him about to send And telle schame in ich an ende, That his wiif hath to childer ybore. Wele may ich man wite therfore That tuay men hir han hadde in bour; That is hir bothe deshonour." The messanger was sore aschamed; The knight himself was sore agramed, And rebouked his levedy To speke ani woman vilaynie. And ich woman therof might here Curssed hir alle yfere, And bisought God in heven For His holy name seven That yif hye ever ani child schuld abide A wers aventour hir schuld bitide. Marie de France (source du moyen-anglais) La femme al chevaler surist-Ki juste lui al manger sist-Kar ele ert feinte e orguilluse E mesdisante e envïuse. Ele parlat mut folement E dist, oant tute sa gent: «Si m'aït Deus, jo m'esmerveil U cest produm prist cest conseil Que il ad mandé a mun seignur Sa huntë e sa deshonur, Due sa femme ad eü deus fiz. E il e ele en sunt huniz. Nus savum bien qu'il i afiert: Unques ne fu ne ja nen iert Ne n'avendrat cel'aventure Que a une sule porteüre Quë une femme deus fiz eit, Si deus hummes ne li unt feit.» Si sires l'a mut esgardee, Mut durement l'en ad blamee. «Dame,» fet il, «lessez ester! Ne devez mie issi parler! Verité est que ceste dame Ad mut esté de bone fame.» La gent quë en la meisun erent Cele parole recorderent. Asez fu dite e coneüe, Par tute Bretaine seüe: Mut en fu la dame haïe, Pois en dut estre maubailie; Tutes les femmes ki l'oïrent, Povres e riches, l'en haïrent. Oft him anhaga are gebideð, metudes miltse, þeah þe he modcearig geond lagulade longe sceolde hreran mid hondum hrimcealde sæ wadan wræclastas. The Wanderer, poème vieil-anglais Often a solitary man finds mercy for himself, the Lord’s compassion, though he, heart-sorrowing, through the flood-path long must stir by hand the frost-cold sea, wade the ways of exile. 2 et 3. Les emprunts au latin dans le lexique du vieil-anglais Mots latins empruntés par le germanique avant l’installation des Anglo-Saxons en Angleterre au Ve siècle. Exercice 1. Classer les mots ci-dessous en catégories en fonction de leur sens. Que permettent-ils de déduire concernant les relations entre les Germains et les Romains ? Latin balteus benna episcopus butyrum cattus calx caseus OE belt bin biscop butere catt cealc cese MnE belt bin bishop butter cat chalk cheese Latin mulus patina pisa piper pulvinus pinna pipa 0E mul panne pise pipor pyle pinn pipe cuprum cuppa discus furca uncia copor cuppe disc forca ynce copper cup dish fork inch puteus pix / picem prunum papaver pondo pytt pic plume popig pund catillus cucina linea milea molinum moneta mortarium cetel cycene line mil mylen mynet mortere kettle kitchen line mile mill mint (money) mortar bursa secula strata tegula telonium vallum vinum purs sicol stræt tigele toll wall win Jespersen sur les emprunts au latin MnE mule pan pea pepper pillow pin pipe (musical) pit pitch plum poppy pound (weight) purse sickle street tile toll (tax) wall wine Otto Jespersen, Growth and Structure of the English Language, 1905 Exercice 2. Emprunts au latin pendant la période vieil-anglaise. Même exercice que ci-dessus. MnE OE Date Latin MnE 0E Date Latin anchor angel apostle ark balsam beet box (tree) candle cap cedar chalice chest circle cook (N) coulter cowl creed crisp disciple fan fennel fever font ginger lily lobster martyr mass ancor engel apostol arc balsam bete box 880 950 950 1000 1000 1000 931 ancora angelus apostolus arca balsamum beta buxus master mat minster mussel myrrh nun organ mægester matt mynster muscle myrra nunne organe 1000 825 900 1000 824 900 1000 magister matta monasterium muscula murra nonna organum candel cæppe ceder celic cest circul coc culter cugele creda crisp discipul fan finugl fefor fant/font gingiber lilie lopustre martyr mæsse 700 1000 1000 825 700 1000 1000 1000 931 1000 900 900 800 700 1000 1000 1000 971 1000 900 900 candela cappa cedrus calix cista circulus cocus culter cuculla credo crispus discipulus vannus finuclum febris fons gingiber lilium locusta martyr missa palm pear pine plant pope priest psalm radish sabbath sack school shrine silk sock sponge talent temple title verse zephyr palma pere pin plante papa preost psealm rædic sabat sacc scol scrin sioloc socc sponge talente templ titul fers zefferus 825 1000 1000 825 900 805 961 1000 950 1000 1000 1000 888 725 1000 930 825 950 900 1000 palmum pira pinus planta papa presbyter psalmus radix sabbatum saccus scola scrinium sericus soccus spongia talenta templum titulus versus zephyrus Exercice 3 In Moose County, four hundred miles north of everywhere, it always starts to snow in November, and it snows–and snows–and snows. First, all the front steps disappear under two feet of snow. Then fences and shrubs are no longer visible. Utility poles keep getting shorter until the lines are low enough for limbo dancing. Listening to the hourly weather reports on the radio is everyone’s winter hobby in Moose County, and snow-plowing becomes the chief industry. Plows and blowers throw up mountains of white that hide whole buildings and require the occupants to tunnel through to the street. Lilian Jackson Braun, The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare 1. Dans ce texte il y a trois mots venant du latin, empruntés en germanique ou en vieil-anglais. Lesquels ? 2. Il y a aussi deux mots qui viennent à la fois du latin et du français. Comment est-ce possible ? 3. Quel mot ne vient ni du français ni du latin, alors que le mot français correspondant est pourtant très proche ? Comment cela s’explique-t-il ? Les réponses sont dans l’OED : https://www-oed-com.bases-doc.univ-lorraine.fr/ Les emprunts au scandinave Exercice 4. Liste d’emprunts au scandinave. Relever les mots appartenant aux catégories suivantes : mots grammaticaux : (3) parties du corps et description du corps : (4) noms désignant des personnes : (2) mots liés à un mode de vie agricole : (4) mots décrivant l’environnement naturel : (3) objets du quotidien : (5) langage des émotions et des attitudes : (7) mots liés à la guerre et à la violence : (3) mots liés aux relations sociales amicales : (3) verbes désignant des actions courantes : (7) adjectifs courants : (5) mots liés à la culture intellectuelle ou à la religion : mots désignant des objets ou des notions inconnus des Anglais à l’époque : Comparer cette liste avec les emprunts au latin dans les deux exercices précédents. Que remarquezvous ? anger awe awkward bag bait (n.) bank bark (v.) bask (v.) birth bend bloom booth bread brink bull cake cast (v.) clip (v.) craft crook die (v.) dike, dyke dirt dwell (v.) egg (n.) fellow flat (adj.) fog freckle gait gap gape (v.) gasp (v.) get (v.) gild (v.) girth give (v.) glitter (v.) guess (v.) guest hail (v.) happen (v.) happy haven hit (v.) husband loft loose low meek mire nay odd plough raise (v.) rake ransack reindeer rid (v.) rift rim root rotten rugged same (adj.) scale scant scathing scatter (v.) skin skirt skull sky slaughter sly smile sprint stack steak tattered they, them, their though thrall thrive (v.) thrust (v.) thwart tidings tight till trust ugly want (v.) down (n.) doze drag (v.) dream droop drown (v.) ill kid kindle (v.) knife leg loan score scowl (v.) scrap scrape (v.) seem (v.) skill weak window wing wrong Eggs at the end of the 15th century Caxton, Preface to Eneydos (end of the 15th century) And certainly our language now used varies far from that which was used and spoken when I was born. For we Englishmen are born under the domination of the moon, which is never steadfast, but ever wavering, waxing one season, and wanes and decreases another season. And the common English that is spoken in one shire varies from another. In so much that in my days happened that certain merchants were in a ship on the Thames to sail over the sea to Zealand. And for lack of wind, they tarried at Forland, and went to land to refresh themselves. And one of them named Sheffield, a mercer, came into a house and asked for meat (food); and specially he asked after eggs. And the good wife answered that she could speak no French. And the merchant was angry, for he also could speak no French, but would have had eggs (wanted eggs), and she didn’t understand him. And then at last another said that he would have eyren. Then the good wife said that she understood him well. Lo, what should a man in these days now write, eggs or eyren? Certainly it is hard to please every man, by cause of diversity and change of language. 4 et 5. Emprunts au français en moyen-anglais Exercice 1. Texte mélangeant les deux langues (XVe siècle). Dans cette lettre écrite en hâte, l’auteur change plusieurs fois de langue. Repérez l’influence du français dans les parties en anglais, et l’influence de l’anglais dans les parties en français. Please a votre très gracieuse Seigneurie entendre que aujourd’hui après none […] qu’ils furent venus dans notre comté plus de 300 des rebelles de Owen, Glyn, Talgard, et plusieurs autres rebelles de vos marches de Galles, et ont pris et robé dans votre comté de Hereford plusieurs gens, et bataillé à grand nombre. […] Wherefore, for God’s sake, thinketh on your best friend, God, and thank him as he hath deserved to you! and leveth not that ye ne come for no man that may counsel you the contrary, for, by the trough that I schall be to you yet, this day the Welshmen, supposed and trusten, that ye shull not come there, and therefore, for God’s love, make them false men! […] Je prie la benoite Trinité qu’elle vous octroie bonne vie avec très entière santé à très longue durée, and send you soon to us in help and prosperity. Escript a Hereford, en très grande hâte, à trois de la clocke après none. (Lettre de Richard Kyngaston, dean of Windsor, à Henri IV, 1403 ; Knowles, A Cultural History of the English Language, p. 55) Exercice 2. Ci-dessous une série de mots empruntés au français au cours de la période moyen-anglaise. Classer ces mots en catégories en fonction de leur sens. Comparer cette liste avec celles des emprunts au latin et au scandinave. Que peut-on en déduire sur la culture du français et de l’anglais à l’époque moyenanglaise ? army (XIVe s.) baptism (XIVe s.) baron (XIIe s.) battle (XIIIe s.) beef (XIIIe s.) boot (XIVe s.) bottle (XIIIe s.) button (XIVe s.) cathedral (XIIIe s.) chapel (XIIIe s.) charity (XIIIe s.) cider (XIVe s.) collar (XIIIe s.) conquer (XIIIe s.) conscience (XIIIe s.) council (XIIe s.) county (XIVe s.) court (XIIe s.) crown (XIIe s.) duke (XIIe s.) enemy (XIIIe s.) exile (XIIIe s.) falcon (XIIIe s.) gibbet (XIIIe s.) gout (XIIIe s.) govern (XIIIe s.) grace (XIIe s.) grammar (XIVe s.) gules (XIVe s.) jail (XIIIe s.) judge (XIVe s.) jury (XIVe s.) justice (XIIe s.) lamp (XIIe s.) liege (XIIIe s.) mantle (XIIIe s.) marquis (XIVe s.) medicine (XIIIe s.) melody (XIIIe s.) miracle (XIIe s.) music (XIIIe s.) mutton (XIIIe s.) parliament (XIIIe s.) partridge (XIIIe s.) patience (XIIIe s.) plaintiff (XIVe s.) plate (XIIIe s.) pork (XIIIe s.) prayer (XIIIe s.) prince (XIIIe s.) prison (XIIe s.) religion (XIIe s.) remedy (XIIIe s.) repent (XIVe s.) romance (XIIIe s.) sacrament (XIIe s.) saint (XIVe s.) salmon (XIIIe s.) sermon (XIIe s.) supper (XIIIe s.) throne (XIIIe s.) treason (XIIIe s.) vassal (XIVe s.) veal (XIVe s.) velvet (XIVe s.) venison (XIIIe s.) victory (XIVe s.) viscount (XIVe s.) war (XIIe s.) Exercice 3. Doublets Que suggère l’existence des doublets suivants en moyen-anglais ? Ox/cow, beef Calf, veal Pig/sow, pork Sheep/ewe/ram, mutton Lamb Chicken/hen Exercice 4: OED In Moose County, four hundred miles north of everywhere, it always starts to snow in November, and it snows–and snows–and snows. First, all the front steps disappear under two feet of snow. Then fences and shrubs are no longer visible. Utility poles keep getting shorter until the lines are low enough for limbo dancing. Listening to the hourly weather reports on the radio is everyone’s winter hobby in Moose County, and snow-plowing becomes the chief industry. Plows and blowers throw up mountains of white that hide whole buildings and require the occupants to tunnel through to the street. (Lilian Jackson Braun, The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare) 1. D’où vient le mot fence ? Comment aboutit-il à son sens actuel ? 2. Comment est formé l’adjectif hourly ? Quand a-t-il été créé ? De quand datent ses éléments ? Les réponses sont dans l’OED : https://www-oed-com.bases-doc.univ-lorraine.fr/ Exercice 5. Clipping. 1) Aphérèse (initial clipping). Complétez la colonne 2 des tableaux A et B ci-dessous. Tableau A. Perte du e- dans le préfixe es1. Mot ancien français eschalder, « échauder » escalope, « coquille » escare, « croûte » escuelerie < escuelier, fabriquant de vaisselle escumee, « écume » estoner, « étourdir », « frapper de stupeur » escarn, « moquerie » esclusee, « écluse » escurer, « se nettoyer » escren, escran, « écran » escurge, « fouet » escroue, « écrou » escrivein, « scribe » estorie, « histoire » 2. Mot anglais (AC) 3. Sens du mot anglais (AC) ébouillanter coquille Saint-Jacques cicatrice arrière-cuisine écume, mousse, racaille étourdir dédain écluse récurer écran fouet, fléau vis, écrou scribe, notaire histoire (récit) Tableau B. Perte d'autres préfixes Complétez la colonne 2. 1. Mot ancien français defens 2. Mot(s) anglais (AC) despit, « humiliation », « mépris » desport, « distraction », « « passe-temps » destresse, « étroitesse », « douleur », « angoisse » empreinter, « graver », « faire une empreinte » 3. Sens mot(s) anglais (AC) 1. défense 2. barrière 1. « malgré », « au mépris de » 2. « rancune », « malveillance » Activité physique exercée dans le sens du jeu et de l'effort. 1. douleur, angoisse 2. tension, anxiété 1. « marquer sur », « imprimer (une forme) » 2. « imprimer » (un livre, etc.), « publier », « tirer » (photos) 2) Perte d'une syllabe à l'intérieur d'un mot (syncope ; medial clipping). Complétez la colonne 2 du tableau. Tableau C 1. Mot ancien français antoillier (VF), andouiller (AN) fantaisie, « imagination » garnement, « équipement » panetrie, « garde-manger » 2. Mot(s) anglais (AC) 3. Sens mot(s) anglais (AC) andouiller, ramure 1. imagination, fantasme 2. imagination, caprice vêtement garde-manger Amis and Amiloun (fin XIIIe siècle) Ce poème conte l'histoire de deux amis, Amis et Amiloun, si semblables que nul ne peut les distinguer. Victimes des intrigues d'un courtisan jaloux, ils se trouvent confrontés à de terribles épreuves, mais leur amitié triomphe de tous les obstacles. L'extrait proposé ci-dessous se trouve au début du poème. Adolescents, Amis et Amiloun sont élevés à la cour du duc de Lombardie. ϸo ϸai were fiften winter old He dubbed boϸe ϸo bernes bold To kniʒtes in ϸat tide & fond hem al ϸat hem was nede Hors & wepen & worϸly wede, As princes prout in pride. ϸat riche douke, he loued hem so, Al ϸat ϸai wald he fond hem ϸo ϸat riche douke hadde of hem pris, For ϸat ϸei were so war & wiis & holden of gret bounte. Sir Amiloun and Sir Amis He sett hem boϸe in gret office, In his court for to be. Sir Amis, as ʒe may here, He mad his chef botelere. [For he was hend and fre]. & sir Amiloun of hem alle He made chef steward in halle, To diʒt al his meine. […] ϸan hadde ϸe douke, ich vnderstand, A chef steward of alle his lond, A douhti kniʒt at crie ϸat euer he proued wiϸ niϸe and ond Wiϸ gile and trecherie. For ϸai were so gode & hende & for ϸe douke was so wele her frende He hadde ϸer-of gret envie. To ϸe douke wiϸ wordes grame Euer he proued to don hem schame Wiϸ wel gret felonie. Traduction : Traduisez le texte en vous aidant du tableau suivant : bern n. enfant < VA bearn, es n. dēde f. action < VA dǣd, e f. diʒten Vfb diriger < VA dihtan frē Adj. noble < VA frēō gram Adj. furieux < VA gram ginnan Vft commencer < VA ginnan kniʒt m. chevalier < VA cniht, es m. niϸ m. méchanceté < VA nīϸ, es m. onde m. envie < VA anda, an m. stede m. lieu < VA stede, es m stēde m. destrier < VA stēda, an m tīde f. temps, époque < VA tīd, e f. wēde n. vêtement < VA wæde, es n. worϸly Adj. précieux < VA weorϸlīc war Adj. prudent < VA wær wīs Adj. sage < VA wīs Exercice 6. Dans la liste ci-dessus, quels mots issus du vieil-anglais existent encore en anglais contemporain ? Exercice 7. Emprunts au français. Complétez le tableau suivant : vieux français Amis (moyen-anglais) anglais moderne bouteiller bonté cri aduber felonie guile (ruse) office pris prover tricherie Handlynge Synne (XIVe siècle) Composé au tout début du XIVe siècle par Robert Mannyng de Brunne, Handlyng Synne est une adaptation en moyen-anglais d'un long poème anglo-normand intitulé Manuel des Pechiez. L'ouvrage est un traité religieux qui expose les doctrines fondamentales de l'église catholique, et traite, en particulier, des sept péchés capitaux. Son originalité réside principalement dans le nombre et la variété des exempla — exemples à suivre, ou à ne pas suivre — qui illustrent les conseils et les exhortations de l'auteur. L'extrait qui suit met en scène un ménestrel et un évêque : 1 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Seynt Gregory telϸ yn hys spell How hyt of a mynstral fell. A mynstral, a gulardous, Com onys to a bysshopes hous, And askede ϸere ϸe charyte. ϸe porter lete hym haue entre. At tyme of mete ϸe bord was leyd And ϸe benesoun shulde be seyd. ϸys mynstral made hys melody Wyϸ grete noyse and loud and hy. Of ϸe bysshop ϸe fame ran ϸat he was an holy man. ϸe bysshop sette hym at ϸe burd And shulde haue blessed hyt wyϸ word. So was he sturbled wyϸ ϸe mynstral, ϸat he hadde no grace to seye weyl al Hys graces ryght deuoutely For ϸe noyse of ϸe mynstralsy. ϸe bysshop pleynede hym ful sore And seyde to alle ϸat were ϸere ϸat he ne shulde make hys nycete Before ϸe graces of ϸe charyte. He sagh hyt weyl ϸurgh ϸe spyryt ϸat ϸyr shulde veniaunce alstyt. "ʒeueϸ hym ϸe charyte & lateϸ hym go Hys deϸ ys nygh ϸat shal hym slo." He toke charite & toke hys wey And as he passede out at ϸe ʒate A stone fyl down of ϸe wal And slogh ϸere ϸe mynstral. ϸat betokened ϸat God was noght Payd of ϸat ϸe mynstral wroght ϸat he dysturblede ϸe benesoun And ϸe gode mannes deuocyoun. ϸys tolde y for ϸe glemennes sake To loke whan ϸey here gle shul make And also for ϸo ϸat shulde hit here ϸat ϸey loue hyt nat so dere Ne haue ϸer yn so gret lykyng, ϸe lesse to worshepe heuene kyng. Exercice 8. Voici la liste des 34 substantifs qui figurent dans le passage ci-dessus. Repérez dans cette liste les mots d'origine française. Quel pourcentage du texte ces mots représentent-ils ? spell, mynstral, bysshop, hous, charyte, porter, entre, tyme, mete, bord, benesoun, melody, noyse, fame, man, word, grace, nycete, spyryt, veniaunce, deϸ, wey, stone, wal, God, deuocyoun. glemann, sake, gle, loue, lykyng, worshep, heuene, kyng. 6. L’expansion lexicale de la Renaissance https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9912811/ The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, de Raoul Lefèvre, traduit du français par Caxton, imprimé en 1473 en Flandre, à Bruges ou Gand. Emprunts introduits par certains auteurs: Thomas More: anticipate, contradictory, exact, exaggerate, explain, fact, monopoly, necessitate, pretext. Shakespeare: accommodation, apostrophe, dislocate, misanthrope, reliance, submerge. Coexistence de termes de différentes origines : anglais break reckon kingly français sever count royal latin separate compute regal Exercice 1 Classer cette liste de mots empruntés au latin et au grec à la Renaissance en différentes catégories selon leur sens, et comparer avec les listes similaires pour le latin (en germanique et en vieil-anglais), le scandinave et le français. Quelles remarques pouvez-vous faire ? absurdity, adapt, alienate, anachronism, anonymous, appropriate, atmosphere, autograph, benefit, capsule, catastrophe, chaos, climax, conspicuous, contradictory, crisis, criterion, critic, disability, disrespect, emphasis, encyclopedia, enthusiasm, epilepsy, eradicate, exact, excavate, excursion (« progression beyond fixed limits »), exist, expectation, fact, glottis, halo, idiosyncrasy, immaturity, impersonal, inclemency, jocular, larynx, lexicon, lunar, monopoly, monosyllable, obstruction, pancreas, parenthesis, pathetic, pneumonia, relaxation, relevant, scheme, skeleton, soda, species, system, temperature, thermometer, tibia, tendon, transcribe, ulna, utopian, vacuum, virus Exercice 2 : OED In Moose County, four hundred miles north of everywhere, it always starts to snow in November, and it snows–and snows–and snows. First, all the front steps disappear under two feet of snow. Then fences and shrubs are no longer visible. Utility poles keep getting shorter until the lines are low enough for limbo dancing. Listening to the hourly weather reports on the radio is everyone’s winter hobby in Moose County, and snow-plowing becomes the chief industry. Plows and blowers throw up mountains of white that hide whole buildings and require the occupants to tunnel through to the street. Lilian Jackson Braun, The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare 1. Quel mot de ce texte a été emprunté à la Renaissance ? 2. Combien y a-t-il de mots d’emprunts dans ce texte ? Quelle proportion cela représente-t-il ? Exercice 3 : les « inkhorn words » 1) Tous les termes notés en italiques dans le texte ci-dessous sont des « inkhorn words ». Faites la liste de ceux qui existent toujours en anglais contemporain, en précisant la catégorie morphosyntaxique à laquelle ils appartiennent dans le texte original (nom, adjectif, verbe ou adverbe). 2) Chercher dans l’OED les mots suivants, présents dans le texte : Expend / Fertile / Invigilate / Magnifical / Accersited / Adnichilate / Collaude 1. Noter la date d’emprunt. 2. Noter la date du dernier emploi, si ces mots ont disparu. 3. Est-ce que tous sont des emprunts au latin ? 3) Transposez en anglais contemporain la fin de la lettre (à partir de “You know my literature”), en vous bornant à remplacer les « inkhorn words » qui n'existent plus de nos jours par leurs équivalents actuels et à faire les quelques changements mineurs, nécessaires à la cohérence syntaxique et sémantique du texte. Extrait de L'Art de la Rhétorique de Thomas Wilson (1553) Après avoir sévèrement critiqué ceux qui abusent des « inkhorn words », Wilson illustre leur sottise par une lettre parodique : A letter devised by a Lincolnshire man, for a voyde benefice, to a gentleman that then waited upon the Lorde Chauncellour, for the time being. Pondering, expending and revoluting with myselfe, your ingent affabilitie, and ingenious capacity for mundaine affairs: I cannot but celebrate & extol your magnifical dexteritie above all other. For how could you have adepted such illustrate prerogative, and dominicall superioritie, if the fecunditie of your ingenie had not been so fertile and wonderfull pregnant. Now therefore being accersited to such splendente renoume and dignitie splendidious: I doubt not but you will adjuvate such poore adnichilate orphanes, as whilom ware condisciples with you, and of antique familiaritie in Lincolneshire. Among whom I being a scholasticall panion, obtestate your sublimitie, to extoll mine infirmitie. There is a Sacerdotall dignitie in my native Countrey, contiguate to me, where I now contemplate: which your worshipfull benignitie coud soon impetrate for mee, if it would like you to extend your sedules, and collaude me in them to the right honorable Lord Chauncellor, or rather Archgrammatician of Englande. You knowe my literature, you know the pastorall promotion. I obtestate your clemencie, to invigilate thus much for me, according to my confidence, and as you know my condigne merits for such a compendious living. Dated at my Dome, or rather Mansion place in Lincolnshire, the penulte of the moneth Sextile. Anno Millimo, quillimo, trillimo. Per me Johannes octo What wiseman reading this Letter, will not take him for a very Caulf that made it in good earnest, and thought by his ink pot termes to get a good parsonage? 7. L’époque classique : l’instauration de règles Exercice 1. Comparer les deux dictionnaires ci-dessous. Quel est l’objectif du premier ? En quoi le second s’en différencie-t-il ? 15. LE PREMIER DICTIONNAIRE DE L'ANGLAIS Robert Cawdrey, Table Alphabeticall (1604) LE DICTIONNAIRE DE SAMUEL JOHNSON (1755) Exercice 2. Comparer le dictionnaire de Johnson avec l’OED. Chercher dans l’OED damn et ses dérivés. Que constatez-vous ? Exercice 3. Certains auteurs s’élèvent contre des pratiques de leur temps et cherchent à instaurer des règles. C’est le cas de Jonathan Swift dans cette lettre à l’éditeur du Tatler (1710). Dans la partie c (Remarques), ajouter des exemples des phénomènes décrits dans les passages en gras, pris dans la lettre parodique de la partie b. a. Introduction […] These two evils, ignorance and want of taste, have produced a third; I mean, the continual corruption of our English tongue, which, without some timely remedy, will suffer more by the false refinements of twenty years past, than it hath been improved in the foregoing hundred: And this is what I design chiefly to enlarge upon, leaving the former evils to your animadversion. But instead of giving you a list of the late refinements crept into our language, I here send you the copy of a letter I received some time ago from a most accomplished person in this way of writing, upon which I shall make some remarks. It is in these terms : b. Lettre parodique I couldn’t get the things you sent for all about Town.…– I thôt to ha’ come down my self, and then I’d ha’ brôut ’um; but I han’t don’t, and I believe I can’t do’t, that’s pozz.…Tom begins to gi’mself airs because he’s going with the plenipo’s.…’Tis said, the French King will bambooz'l us agen, which causes many speculations. The Jacks, and others of that kidney, are very uppish, and alert upon’t, as you may see by their phizz’s.…Will Hazzard has got the hipps, having lost to the tune of five hundr’d pound, thô he understands play very well, nobody better. He has promis’t me upon rep, to leave off play; but you know ’tis a weakness he’s too apt to give into, thô he has as much wit as any man, no body more.…He has lain incog ever since.…The mobb’s very quiet with us now.…I believe you thot I bantered you in my last like a country put… I sha’n’t leave Town tis month, _&c_ c. Remarques This letter is in every point an admirable pattern of the present polite way of writing; nor is it of less authority for being an epistle. You may gather every flower in it, with a thousand more of equal sweetness, from the books, pamphlets, and single papers, offered us every day in the coffeehouses: And these are the beauties introduced to supply the want of wit, sense, humour, and learning, which formerly were looked upon as qualifications for a writer. If a man of wit, who died forty years ago, were to rise from the grave on purpose, how would he be able to read this letter? And after he had gone through that difficulty, how would he be able to understand it? The first thing that strikes your eye is the breaks at the end of almost every sentence; of which I know not the use, only that it is a refinement, and very frequently practised. Then you will observe the abbreviations and elisions, by which consonants of most obdurate sound are joined together, without one softening vowel to intervene (2 exemples d'élision : effacement d'un élément vocalique entre 2 consonnes); and all this only to make one syllable of two, directly contrary to the example of the Greeks and Romans; altogether of the Gothic strain, and a natural tendency towards relapsing into barbarity, which delights in monosyllables, and uniting of mute consonants; as it is observable in all the Northern languages. And this is still more visible in the next refinement, which consists in pronouncing the first syllable in a word that has many, and dismissing the rest; such as (5 exemples) and many more; when we are already overloaded with monosyllables, which are the disgrace of our language. Thus we cram one syllable, and cut off the rest; as the owl fattened her mice, after she had bit off their legs to prevent their running away; and if ours be the same reason for maiming words, it will certainly answer the end; for I am sure no other Nation will desire to borrow them. Some words are hitherto but fairly split, and therefore only in their way to perfection, as (2 exemples : un terme disyllabique et l'autre trisyllabique). But in a short time it is to be hoped they will be further docked to (les deux mêmes termes, réduits à des monosyllabes). This reflection has made me of late years very impatient for a peace, which I believe would save the lives of many brave words, as well as men. The war has introduced abundance of polysyllables, which will never be able to live many more campaigns; (1 exemple: quadrisyllabique d'origine latine) as numerous as they are, if they attack us too frequently in our coffeehouses, we shall certainly put them to flight, and cut off the rear. The third refinement observable in the letter I send you, consists in the choice of certain words invented by some pretty fellows; such as (mot signifiant « embobiner » en AC), country put and (mot signifiant « embobiner » en AC), as it is there applied; some of which are now struggling for the vogue, and others are in possession of it. I have done my utmost for some years past to stop the progress of mobb and banter, but have been plainly borne down by numbers, and betrayed by those who promised to assist me. In the last place, you are to take notice of certain choice phrases scattered through the letter; some of them tolerable enough, till they were worn to rags by servile imitators. You might easily find them, though they were not in a different print, and therefore I need not disturb them. These are the false refinements in our style which you ought to correct: First, by argument and fair means; but if those fail, I think you are to make use of your authority as Censor, and by an annual index expurgatorius expunge all words and phrases that are offensive to good sense, and condemn those barbarous mutilations of vowels and syllables. Exercice 4. Le désir de correction va parfois trop loin et aboutit à des erreurs. L’étymologie populaire a modifié la forme les mots de cet exercice en réinterprétant un de leurs éléments. A partir du mot de la langue d’origine, retrouver le mot anglais et expliquer l’étymologie populaire. Old North French berfroi "movable siege tower" (Modern French beffroi), from Middle High German bercfrit "protecting shelter". Old English brydguma "suitor," from bryd "bride" + guma "man". Old French crevice (Modern French écrevisse). Old French ginginbrat "ginger preserve," from Medieval Latin gingimbratus "gingered". Old English mistiltan, from mistel + tan "twig". Anglo-French pentiz, a shortening of Old French apentis "attached building” (cf. Fr. appentis. Old French salier "salt box" (Modern French salière) Exercice 5. Les mots suivants, empruntés au français ou au latin, ont subi une déformation. Quelle est la forme dans la langue d’origine ? Comment s’explique la modification ? sound, lawn, jaundice, gender, quince, pea Exercice 6. Swift pratique-t-il ce qu’il prêche ? Relever dans ce texte les mots d’emprunt, avec leur date. Distinguer : - les emprunts au latin de l’époque vieil-anglaise ou germanique, qui ne se différencient plus par la forme des mots indigènes - les emprunts de l’époque moyen-anglaise, au français ou au latin (XIIe-XVe) - les emprunts de la Renaissance et du début de l’époque classique (XVIe-XVIIe), au français ou au latin - les emprunts récents à l’époque de Swift (à partir de 1700) Quels commentaires pouvez-vous faire sur le vocabulaire qu’il utilise ? A Modest Proposal For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick. by Dr. Jonathan Swift 1729 Ce célèbre pamphlet de Jonathan Swift propose une solution originale au problème que posent les enfants des familles pauvres en Irlande. Après avoir fait le point sur la situation, Swift avance sa proposition : […] I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection. I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasee, or a ragoust. I do therefore humbly offer it to publick consideration, that of the hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle, or swine, and my reason is, that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded by our savages, therefore, one male will be sufficient to serve four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune, through the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump, and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter. I have reckoned upon a medium, that a child just born will weigh 12 pounds, and in a solar year, if tolerably nursed, encreaseth to 28 pounds. I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children. 8. Emprunts en anglais moderne Français Exercice 1. Classer ces emprunts en catégories en fonction de leur sens. Amateur, attack, bain-marie, ballet, banquet, bayonet, bomb, bourgeois, café, champagne, chauffeur, colonel, connoisseur, coquette, crayon, cuisine, decolleté, faux-pas, genteel, grotesque, hautboy, liaison, liqueur, manoeuvre, mayonnaise, meringue, moustache, parvenu, prestige, recherché, reconnoitre, risqué, rouge, scene, soirée, soup, trousseau. Exercice 2 Dans les mots français ci-dessous, qui sont des emprunts aller-retour, retrouver le mot anglais, et le mot français dont il est issu. Bacon, budget, car, cash, catch, challenge, coach, denim, express, flirter, fuel, gentleman, hall, humour, interview, jean, magazine, management, marketing, parking, pattern, pedigree, penalty, piercing, poney, porridge, rail, rallye, record, rosbif, saloon, shop, sport, standard, stress, supporter, tennis, ticket, toast, tunnel Exercice 3. Classer ces emprunts en catégories en fonction de leur sens. Qu’indiquent-ils sur les relations entre les deux pays ? Italien archipelago, bandit, canto, carnival, chiaroscuro, cicerone, contraband, cupola, fresco, frigate, gondola, grotto, influenza, lagoon, lava, malaria, mercantile, opera, pedestal, pianoforte, portfolio, primadonna, scenario, semolina, sonnet, soprano, spaghetti, stanza, stiletto, traffic, umbrella, volcano. Espagnol alligator, ananas, anchovy, avocado, banana, cannibal, cargo, cigar, cigarette, cockroach, dago, embargo, galleon, guitar, mosquito, mulatto, negro, picaresque, potato, pronunciamento, sherry, tango, tobacco, tornado, vanilla. Néerlandais bowsprit, buoy, cruise, deck, dock, easel, etch, freight, iceberg, landscape, sketch, skipper, smuggle, walrus, yacht. Allemand field-marshal, kindergarten, kirsch(wasser), nickel, plunder, poodle, quartz, rucksack, schnapps, zinc. Langues non européennes divan, caravan, bazaar (persan) coffee (arabe) ketchup (chinois), chocolate et tomatoe (nahuatl). bungalow, nabob, sahib, jungle, sari, shampoo, suttee, verandah cashmere, panda, chutney, thug, pukka sahib (Inde) kangaroo, boomerang, budgerigar, koala (Australie). Exercice 4. Chercher le mot influenza dans l’OED. Quand est-il apparu dans la langue et pourquoi ? Que lui est-il arrivé et pourquoi ? Exercice 5. Associer les mots ci-dessous à l’une des langues suivantes : allemand, chinois, espagnol, français, italien, japonais, portugais, russe, urdu. blitz bonanza bravura hangar karaoke khaki mustang piranha poodle pyjamas ranch samovar tycoon wok Exercice 6. En vous aidant des définitions proposées, complétez le texte suivant de manière à reconstituer les mots numérotés de 1 à 9. The blizzard started, so we put on our p———as1. As we were t——kking2 across the tundra, looking for a place to b—————c3, a horde of b————ts4 confronted us demanding cash. They ransacked our r——————ks5. One of the th—gs6 went beserk and we were scared they might all run amok when they found nothing with which to t————c7 but ch—————te8 and b————as9. (1) a coat or jacket with a hood for cold-weather wear ( inuit) (2) hiking ( afrikaans) (3) to camp ( suisse) (4) robbers ( hindi) (5) a large bag, usually having two straps and a supporting frame, carried on the back and often used by climbers ( allemand) (6) a cutthroat ( italien) (7) to carry on business, generally of an illicit kind ( italien) (8) food ( langue indienne du Mexique) (9) food ( espagnol) Exercice 7 Chercher dans l’OED les mots blizzard, tundra, horde, ransack, berserk, scare, amok. Quelle est leur origine et la date de l’emprunt (si emprunt il y a) ? Pouvez-vous imaginer les raisons de l’emprunt ? 9. Anglicisation des emprunts lt. presbyterium > v.a. preost (a.m. priest) lt. monasterium > v.a. mynster (a.m. minster) lt. phlebotomum > v.a. flytme « flamme (pour saignées) » lt. episcopus > v.a. biscop (emprunt en germanique) > bishop Exercice 1 Chercher des mots ayant conservé les terminaisons suivantes (trois mots dans chacune des deux premières catégories, deux mots dans les autres) : -us (latin): -um (latin): -a (latin ou grec): -os (grec): -is (grec) : Exercice 2 Quels mots dans la liste ci-dessous ont gardé leur prononciation d’origine? barrage, bourgeois, buffet, carriage, chair, champagne, chauffeur, chic, courage, face, garage, gentle, genre, machine, passion, penchant, vase. Quels mots issus du français ont un h initial muet en anglais ? Citez quelques mots issus du français qui ont gardé un accent (aigu, grave ou circonflexe) sur une voyelle. Exercice 3 Expliquer la graphie anglaise des mots suivants, issus de diverses langues de l’Inde : cashmere (de Kashmir, nom d’une région, cf. fr. cachemire) curry (tamil kari) suttee (hindi sati) Que pouvez-vous déduire concernant la voyelle finale du mot hindi « sati » ? Exercice 4 Ci-dessous quelques emprunts au français avec la diphtongue /oi/, parmi les plus courants : join, void, coil, toil, soil, foil, oil, loin, coin, boil, noise, moist, poise, point, joint, choir, voice, avoid, spoil, toilet, joy, coy, annoy A quels mots français correspondent annoy, boil, coy, foil (nom), moist, noise, spoil, void ? Qu’est-il arrivé en français à la diphtongue –oi- que ces mots possédaient à l’époque de l’emprunt ? Exercice 5 Quelle est l’origine des mots suivants ? S’ils viennent du français, à quel mot français pouvez-vous les rattacher ? avoid, boy, buoy, broil, decoy, goy, loin, loiter, toil, turmoil. Mots en skGrec : skepticism, skeleton Français : skirmish (escarmouche), skim (écumer), skew (esquiver), scandal, scarlet, scourge, scallop, scamper, scruple, screen, script, scarce, scroll, screw, scout, scarf, scorn, scald, scar, square, squad, squash, squat, squire, squirrel, squeamish Néerlandais : sketch, skate, scoop, scour, scum Scandinave : skill, skirt, skull, skulk, skin, skip, skid, sky, scuffle, scrape, scant, scrap, scare, scant, scowl, scoff, scold, scot(-free) Algonquin : skunk Norvégien : ski Latin : scholar, scalpel (XVIIe s.), school, scheme, scribe, sculpt (XVIe s.), scarab, scope (XVIe s.), scan Italien: scherzo, scampi, squadron Exercice 6 : mots en skQuels sont les mots français correspondant à skirmish, scamper, scout, scarf, squad, squire, squirrel ? Pourquoi l’anglais a-t-il emprunté le mot « ski » au norvégien ? A quels domaines appartiennent les trois mots italiens ? Que suggère l’emprunt de « school » au latin en vieil-anglais ? A quels domaines appartiennent les deux emprunts au grec ? Exercice 7 : mots en g/k + voyelle d’avant Quel mot d’anglais moderne correspond aux mots moyen-anglais en gras ci-dessous, qui ont encore la consonne du vieil-anglais ? Was never man or woman yet beyete, That was unapt to suffer loves hete (heat). (Chaucer, Troylus and Cressida) Therefore I yeve you rede (= conseil), Ne doth unto an olde man non harm now. (Chaucer, The Pardoner’s Tale) Exercice 8 Retrouver la forme pleine des mots ci-dessous. fo’c’sle, good-bye, ha’p’orth, missus, ne'er (Renaissance), tane (Renaissance, forme verbale), tuppence, weskit. Exercice 9 Reconstituer la forme pleine des mots tronqués ci-dessous, puis classez-les en fonction de la partie du mot qui a été élidée: cab, chancery, champ, chap, fess, flu, fridge, gator, lab, miss (titre), mob, plane, pram, proxy, pub, quad, sitcom, tec, vet, wig, zoo. Exercice 10 Quels mots parmi ceux de la liste ci-dessous ont gardé leur pluriel d’origine ? Lesquels ont un pluriel anglais ? addendum, alga, cherub, conundrum, crisis, fungus, memento, memorandum, opus, portfolio, virus. Exercice 11 Lesquels des mots ci-dessous ont un pluriel étranger? antenna, cathedral, crisis, criterium, mosquito, syllabus. Exercice 12 Citer trois expressions où l’adjectif est à droite du nom. Exercice 13 Dans la liste ci-dessous, repérez les mots qui associent un radical appartenant à une langue et un affixe appartenant à une autre, ou bien deux mots de langues différentes. afterthought, chairman, courteously, cumbersome, drinkable, gentleman, peacefully, rebuilt, subjectmatter, tasteless, trouble-maker, understanding, unintentional, unlovely. 10. Accidents lors de l’emprunt Glissements sémantiques D’où viennent ces mots ? I. Accidents lors de l’emprunt v.a. pise (< lt. pisum) > a.m. pea, Pl. peas m.a. cheris (< fr. cerise) > a.m. cherry, Pl. cherries m.a., a.m. riches (< fr. richesse) s'emploie avec un verbe au pluriel fr. chaise > shay (XVIIIe s., vulgarisme) breech < v.a. bre#c, Pl. de bro#c adder (XIVe s.) < v.a. nædre apron (XVIe s.) < m.a. napron < fr. napperon nickname (XVe s.) < m.a. ekename (eke = « ajout »). Exercice 1. Expliquer pour quoi les mots suivants, issus du français, ont des lettres supplémentaires qui ne figurent pas dans le mot français : v.fr aventure avis dette douter faute parfit suget m.a. aventure avys det(te) douten faute parfit suget a.m. adventure advice debt doubt fault perfect subject Exercice 2. Le mot island vient du vieil-anglais iegland. Pourquoi a-t-il un s en anglais moderne ? II. Glissements sémantiques Quelques exemples de faux-amis parmi les plus courants : To achieve : accomplir Affluence: richesse Agony : souffrance intense Argument: dispute To attend: assister Audience: auditoire Bachelor : célibataire Candid : sincère Chance : hasard Character : personnage College : université To contemplate: envisager Crime: délit To deceive: tromper To delay: retarder To demand: exiger Gentle : doux Grief: chagrin Journey: voyage Library : bibliothèque Location : emplacement Malice : méchanceté Occupation : métier To pass (an exam) : réussir (un examen) Phrase: expression Physician: médecin Preservative : conservateur To pretend: faire semblant To purchase: acheter Punishment : punition, mais aussi, traitement brutal Relative : membre de la famille To resume: reprendre Résumé : CV Sensible : sensé To support: soutenir Surname : nom de famille Sympathetic : compatissant Vicious : vicieux, mais aussi, cruel Exercice 1. Ci-dessous quelques mots empruntés par l’anglais au français, avec leur étymologie. Pour chaque mot, indiquer laquelle des deux langues a modifié le sens d’origine, et quel rapport ce nouveau sens a avec le sens d’origine. deceive (v) : tromper / fr. décevoir : disappoint Old French decevoir, from Latin decipere "to ensnare, take in, beguile, cheat," from de "from" + capere "to take". malicious (a) : malveillant / fr. malicieux : mischievous Old French malicios, from Latin malitiosus "wicked, malicious," from malitia "badness, ill will, spite," from malus "bad, unpleasant". resume (v) : reprendre (une activité) / fr. résumer : sum up Middle French resumer and directly from Latin resumere "take again, take up again, assume again," from re- "again" + sumere "to take, obtain, buy". rude (a) : impoli / fr. rude : rough Old French ruide or directly from Latin rudis "rough, crude, unlearned". trespass (v) : enfreindre ; entrer sans autorisation / fr. trépasser : die Old French trespasser, from tres- "beyond" (from Latin trans) + passer "go by, pass". Exercice 2. Ci-dessous quelques mots dont le sens s’est modifié. Indiquer le sens actuel de ces mots, et le rapport avec le sens primitif. accident (Middle English) : an event, especially an unforeseen one. adder (Old English) : a snake. deer (Old English) : a quadruped (cf. allemand Tier). fowl (Old English) : a bird (cf. allemand Vogel). Exercice 3 Ce texte a été écrit en utilisant certains mots dans un sens ancien. Repérez ces mots. Quel est le sens ancien ? En quoi se différencie-t-il du sens moderne ? Tom was a clever cretin. He had no neighbours and lived in a town with his unmarried sister, Mary, a wife of nearly thirty years. He had shining hair, black as snow. A vegetarian teetotaller, Tom ate meat and drank liquor every day with his friends. He was a silly and a wise boor, and everyone really liked him, he was just so buxom. I often used to see Tom feeding nuts to the deer that lived in the branches of an old apple tree. But no more. Sadly Tom starved from overeating last year. So we buried him beneath that old apple tree. I remember well, it was full of pears at the time. Exercice 4 Les mots ci-dessous ont connu des changements de sens récents, en général par ajout d’une nouvelle nuance de sens. Expliquer le nouveau sens et suggérer la raison du changement de sens (ex. innovation technologique, extension métaphorique, confusion avec un autre mot…). 1. Turn the antenna to the right. 2. The changes made are only cosmetic. 3. We couldn't finish because the computer was down. 4. That rest area has no facilities. 5. You should have your car fixed. 6. She has been a hacker since she was eight years old. 7. There is a demonstration for gay rights today. 4. Ellen is totally disinterested in tennis. III. D’où viennent ces mots ? Exercice 1. Parties du corps. La liste ci-dessous contient douze mots empruntés à d’autres langues (scandinave, français, latin et grec). Repérer les emprunts. Quels types de mots sont empruntés à chacune de ces langues ? ankle, arm, back, bone, bowels, breast, cheek, chin, ear, elbow, eye, face, finger, fist, flesh, foot, hair, hand, head, heel, hip, joint, knee, leg, lip, mouth, muscle, nail, navel, neck, nose, nostril, pelvis, shin, shoulder, skeleton, skin, skull, temple, thigh, throat, thumb, toe, tongue, tooth, tonsil, vein, womb, wrist Exercice 2. Aliments. Remplir le tableau avec les mots de la liste ci-dessous. Comparer les emprunts de cette liste avec ceux de la précédente. Que constatez-vous ? apple, banana, beef, biscuits, butter, cheese, cherry, chicken, crab, cream, crème fraîche, duck, eggs, fig, fish, flour, fruit, grape, ham, herring, honey, hummus, lamb, lemon, lobster, mackerel, mango, margarine, mayonnaise, meat, melon, milk, mustard, noodles, nuts, oil, olives, orange, pasta, paté, peach, pear, pizza, plum, pork, rice, salami, salmon, salt, sausages, spaghetti, sugar, veal, vinaigrette, vinegar, whey, yeast, yoghurt. Mot indigène latin (emprunt ancien) scandinave français (emprunt moyen-anglais) français (emprunt moderne) italien espagnol ou portugais allemand (1) turc (2) malais (1) 11. Les familles de mots La guerre des mots I. Les familles de mots Exercice 1. Répartissez les mots ci-dessous par familles. Vous devriez trouver douze familles ayant entre deux et douze mots. Une famille regroupe des mots remontant à la même racine, même s’ils ont été empruntés à une autre langue. Ex. mother, maternal, sont des mots de la même famille car provenant de la même racine indoeuropéenne, même si le premier est indigène et le second est un emprunt au français. achieve acre acrid agrarian agriculture bleed bless blood cap capital capitulation captain cattle chapter chief dentist denture devotion doubt dozen dubious duo eager garden gardener hail (verb) hale hallowed Halloween handkerchief head health holiday holy horticulture jardiniere mischief nasal nose nostril nosy pilgrim II. La guerre des mots Exercice 1 Remplir les deux tableaux. Qu’est-il arrivé au mot d’origine anglaise ? Mot d’origine vieil-anglaise hide (nom) numb (participe passé) shank Mot d’origine scandinave sky skirt (verbe) fro (préposition) wrath Mot d’origine anglaise lore (noun) Mot d’origine française pilgrimage recapitulate tadpole toad tooth toothless twelve twenty twilight twin two vocal voice vote vow vowel wassail whole yard count (nom) liberate (verb) fair (adjectif) pray (verbe) ox (nom) large comprehension dumb realm consternation body walk (v) member expire mansion shun seethe desire shut Exercice 2 Les emprunts divers font que la langue possède souvent plusieurs mots pour exprimer une même notion. Ils se distinguent les uns des autres par des nuances de sens ou de registre. Comment les mots suivants se répartissent-ils le territoire ? Lesquels sont des emprunts ? fungus, mushroom, padstool, champignon silly, foolish, stupid work, toil, labour ill, sick happen, occur, befall wealthy, rich cry, weep win, earn, gain sheep, mutton, ewe sweat, perspire slim, slender, thin, wiry, bony, emaciated ask, question, interrogate stink, stench, smell, odour, scent, perfume, fragrance Exercice 3 Un même mot peut avoir été emprunté plusieurs fois, avec des formes différentes en fonction de la date d’emprunt. Quelquefois la forme récente supplante et élimine la plus ancienne. D’autres fois les deux formes coexistent avec des sens différents. Quels mots anglais sont des emprunts aux mots français suivants ? Comment se distinguent-ils par leur sens ? chasser, château, chef, gentil (trois mots), liqueur, masque, troupe Exercice 4 “Traduire” avec des mots anglo-saxons. Qu’arrive-t-il au registre? The patient is experiencing a potentially fatal haemorrhage situation. 12. Langue et créativité La création lexicale chez Shakespeare Exemples assassination, misanthrope, obscene, perusal, sanctimonious, amazement, dwindle, fitful, humour (verbe), lonely, pedant, weird. Exemples en contexte If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly. If the assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch With his surcease success; that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all here… (Macbeth) FIRST GENTLEMAN Heaven grant us its peace, but not the King of Hungary’s! SECOND GENTLEMAN Amen. LUCIO Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the Ten Commandments, but scraped one out of the table. SECOND GENTLEMAN ‘Thou shalt not steal’? LUCIO Ay, that he razed. (Measure for Measure) The weird sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about: Thrice to thine and thrice to mine And thrice again, to make up nine. Peace! the charm's wound up. (Macbeth) Exercice 1 En vous aidant de l’OED, retrouvez où Shakespeare a pris les trois mots en gras ci-dessus. Exercice 2 Trouver la pièce de Shakespeare de laquelle sont extraites les expressions ci-dessous, qui sont passées dans l’usage courant. Quel est leur sens en contexte dans la pièce ? Quelle est leur signification actuelle ? hoist with his own petard more honoured in the breach than in the observance to out-Herod Herod pound of flesh foregone conclusion seamy side. Exercice 3 Trouver sept néologismes dans les extraits 1 et 2 ci-dessous : - deux adjectifs forgés par ajout d'un suffixe à un nom. Ce suffixe n'est ni - ing, ni –ful. - un verbe forgé par ajout d'un préfixe à un verbe simple. - un verbe forgé par conversion d'un nom. - un verbe forgé par ajout d'un suffixe à un adjectif. - un adjectif composé forgé par association d'un nom et d'un adjectif. Extrait 1 MACBETH : 25 I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent But only vaulting ambition, which ov'rleaps itself And falls on the other — (I. vii. 26-28) Extrait 2 paraphrase MACBETH : I have no spur to stimulate my guilty intention except ambition — ambition which is like a too eager rider, who in vaulting into the saddle o'erleaps himself and falls on the other side of the horse. (Arden Shakespeare) paraphrase MACBETH : 40 … Ere the bat has flown His cloistered flight, ere to Black Hecate's summons His shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done A deed of dreadful note. MACBETH : … Before the bat has flown His hidden flight, before black Hecate's summons are heard, Before the dung beetle, with his drowsy hums, Rings the bell to end the night, there shall be done A deed of dreadful note. LADY MACBETH : 45 What's to be done? LADY MACBETH : What's to be done? MACBETH : Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day. And with thy bloody and invisible hand 50 Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond Which keeps me pale. Light thickens, and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood (III. ii. 40-51) MACBETH: I don’t want you to know, dearest sweetheart, Until you can applaud the deed. Come, night that closes the eyes, Cover the tender eye of pitiful day; And, with your bloody and invisible hand, Cancel and tear to pieces that great deed Which keeps me pale! Light thickens, and the crow Flies to his roost to the wood. Exercice 4 Le « Cockney Rhyming Slang » est l’argot des cockneys, habitants de l’East End de Londres, d’abord langage secret au XIXe siècle. Le principe est de remplacer un mot par une expression qui rime avec lui. Le résultat est opaque et souvent drôle. L’expression “get down to brass tacks” (= to facts) est passée dans le langage courant. Associer l’expression rimée avec le mot anglais auquel elle correspond. apples and pears bees and honey bird (lime) brown bread butcher's (hook) dog’s meat Duke of Kent loaf (of bread) pork chops pork pies skin and blister tables and chairs trouble and strife dead feet head lies look (noun) money police rent sister stairs stairs time (in prison) wife Exercice 5 Supprimer un affixe est un procédé reconnu de formation de mots, mais peut aussi relever d’une démarche ludique : inept ept (not inept). Dans le texte ci-dessous, relever les exemples où un préfixe ou un morceau d’expression idiomatique a été supprimé, et le changement de sens que cela implique. Faites la liste des éléments concernés. Tous ont le même sens. Comment se différencient-ils par leur origine et leur emploi? It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate. I was furling my wieldy umbrella when I saw her standing alone in a corner. She was a descript person, a woman in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way. I wanted desperately to meet her, but I knew I’d have to make bones about it, since I was travelling cognito. Only toward and heard-of behaviour would do. (Jack Winter, “How I Met my Wife”) Utilisation littéraire des mots d’origine étrangère Exercice 6 Chercher dans l’OED l’origine du mot carminative employé dans le texte ci-dessous. Quelles sont les caractéristiques de ce mot qui le rendent poétique (jusqu’à ce qu’on en connaisse le sens) ? "One suffers so much," Denis went on, "from the fact that beautiful words don't always mean what they ought to mean. Recently, for example, I had a whole poem ruined, just because the word 'carminative' didn't mean what it ought to have meant. Carminative--it's admirable, isn't it?" "Admirable," Mr. Scogan agreed. "And what does it mean?" "It's a word I've treasured from my earliest infancy," said Denis, "treasured and loved. They used to give me cinnamon when I had a cold--quite useless, but not disagreeable. One poured it drop by drop out of narrow bottles, a golden liquor, fierce and fiery. On the label was a list of its virtues, and among other things it was described as being in the highest degree carminative. I adored the word. 'Isn't it carminative?' I used to say to myself when I'd taken my dose. It seemed so wonderfully to describe that sensation of internal warmth, that glow, that--what shall I call it?--physical self-satisfaction which followed the drinking of cinnamon. Later, when I discovered alcohol, 'carminative' described for me that similar, but nobler, more spiritual glow which wine evokes not only in the body but in the soul as well. The carminative virtues of burgundy, of rum, of old brandy, of Lacryma Christi, of Marsala, of Aleatico, of stout, of gin, of champagne, of claret, of the raw new wine of this year's Tuscan vintage--I compared them, I classified them. Marsala is rosily, downily carminative; gin pricks and refreshes while it warms. I had a whole table of carmination values. And now"--Denis spread out his hands, palms upwards, despairingly--"now I know what carminative really means." "Well, what DOES it mean?" asked Mr. Scogan, a little impatiently. "Carminative," said Denis, lingering lovingly over the syllables, "carminative. I imagined vaguely that it had something to do with carmen-carminis, still more vaguely with caro-carnis, and its derivations, like carnival and carnation. Carminative--there was the idea of singing and the idea of flesh, rose-coloured and warm, with a suggestion of the jollities of mi-Careme and the masked holidays of Venice. Carminative--the warmth, the glow, the interior ripeness were all in the word. Instead of which..." "Do come to the point, my dear Denis," protested Mr. Scogan. "Do come to the point." "Well, I wrote a poem the other day," said Denis; "I wrote a poem about the effects of love." "Others have done the same before you," said Mr. Scogan. "There is no need to be ashamed." "I was putting forward the notion," Denis went on, "that the effects of love were often similar to the effects of wine, that Eros could intoxicate as well as Bacchus. Love, for example, is essentially carminative. It gives one the sense of warmth, the glow. 'And passion carminative as wine...' was what I wrote. Not only was the line elegantly sonorous; it was also, I flattered myself, very aptly compendiously expressive. Everything was in the word carminative--a detailed, exact foreground, an immense, indefinite hinterland of suggestion. 'And passion carminative as wine...' I was not ill-pleased. And then suddenly it occurred to me that I had never actually looked up the word in a dictionary. Carminative had grown up with me from the days of the cinnamon bottle. It had always been taken for granted. Carminative: for me the word was as rich in content as some tremendous, elaborate work of art; it was a complete landscape with figures. 'And passion carminative as wine...' It was the first time I had ever committed the word to writing, and all at once I felt I would like lexicographical authority for it. A small English-German dictionary was all I had at hand. I turned up C, ca, car, carm. There it was: 'Carminative: windtreibend.' Windtreibend!" he repeated. Mr. Scogan laughed. Denis shook his head. "Ah," he said, "for me it was no laughing matter. For me it marked the end of a chapter, the death of something young and precious. There were the years--years of childhood and innocence--when I had believed that carminative meant--well, carminative. And now, before me lies the rest of my life--a day, perhaps, ten years, half a century, when I shall know that carminative means windtreibend. 'Plus ne suis ce que j'ai été Et ne le saurai jamais être.' It is a realisation that makes one rather melancholy." "Carminative," said Mr. Scogan thoughtfully. "Carminative," Denis repeated, and they were silent for a time. Aldous Huxley, Crome Yellow Exercice 7. Shakespeare. 1. Le passage ci-dessous raconte la mort d’Ophélie, qui, devenue folle, est tombée à l’eau et chante sans se rendre compte qu’elle est sur le point de se noyer. Repérer les effets poétiques liés à l’utilisation des mots en gras. But long it could not be Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay To muddy death. (Hamlet) 2. Macbeth, sur le point d’assassiner le roi, évite le mot propre et le remplace par des euphémismes et par des mots d’emprunt ressentis comme plus intellectuels et donc moins violents. Classer dans ces deux catégories les équivalents de « murder » et « death » dans le texte ci-dessous : If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well It were done quickly; if the assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch With his surcease success; that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all… (Macbeth) 3. Macbeth vient de tuer le roi et se rend compte trop tard que rien ne pourra le laver de son crime. Quel est l’effet des deux longs mots d’emprunt dans l’avant-dernier vers, dont le second est une création de Shakespeare (d’où la glose dans le vers suivant)? Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red. (Macbeth) Exercice 8. Relever dans ce poème les quelques mots d’emprunt. Quels traits ont-ils en commun ? Quel effet produit le choix du vocabulaire dans ce poème ? Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound’s the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. (Robert Frost) Exercice 9. Comparer les mots des deux premières strophes et ceux de la dernière, en ce qui concerne l’origine, la longueur, et le pouvoir évocateur. Quel est l’effet produit ? Que signifie « moidores » ? Peut-on deviner le sens d’après le contexte ? Quel effet ce mot inconnu produit-il sur le lecteur ? Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine, With a cargo of ivory, And apes and peacocks, Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine. Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus, Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores, With a cargo of diamonds, Emeralds, amethysts, Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores. Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack Butting through the Channel in the mad March days, With a cargo of Tyne coal, Road-rail, pig-lead, Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays. (« Cargoes », John Masefield) Exercice 10 Lisez ce texte écrit par un Yankee et censé se passer à l’époque du roi Arthur. Quels mots et quelles formes grammaticales du langage de Clarence suggèrent un personnage du Moyen Age ? Leur emploi est-il systématique ? Est-ce ainsi qu’on parlait à l’époque du roi Arthur ? Quel est le registre utilisé par le Yankee ? Quel est l’effet recherché ? The narrator, a Connecticut Yankee, finds himself at King Arthur’s court after receiving a blow on the head. He has been imprisoned in a dungeon with a boy, Clarence, and he is to be burnt to death on the next day. I said beseechingly: "Ah, Clarence, good boy, only friend I've got, -- for you ARE my friend, aren't you? -- don't fail me; help me to devise some way of escaping from this place!" "Now do but hear thyself! Escape? Why, man, the corridors are in guard and keep of men-at-arms." "No doubt, no doubt. But how many, Clarence? Not many, I hope?" "Full a score. One may not hope to escape." After a pause -- hesitatingly: "and there be other reasons -- and weightier." "Other ones? What are they?" "Well, they say -- oh, but I daren't, indeed daren't!" "Why, poor lad, what is the matter? Why do you blench? Why do you tremble so?" "Oh, in sooth, there is need! I do want to tell you, but --" "Come, come, be brave, be a man -- speak out, there's a good lad!" He hesitated, pulled one way by desire, the other way by fear; then he stole to the door and peeped out, listening; and finally crept close to me and put his mouth to my ear and told me his fearful news in a whisper, and with all the cowering apprehension of one who was venturing upon awful ground and speaking of things whose very mention might be freighted with death. "Merlin, in his malice, has woven a spell about this dungeon, and there bides not the man in these kingdoms that would be desperate enough to essay to cross its lines with you! Now God pity me, I have told it! Ah, be kind to me, be merciful to a poor boy who means thee well; for an thou betray me I am lost!" I laughed the only really refreshing laugh I had had for some time; and shouted: "Merlin has wrought a spell! MERLIN, forsooth! That cheap old humbug, that maundering old ass? Bosh, pure bosh, the silliest bosh in the world! Why, it does seem to me that of all the childish, idiotic, chuckle-headed, chicken-livered superstitions that ev -- oh, damn Merlin!" But Clarence had slumped to his knees before I had half finished, and he was like to go out of his mind with fright. "Oh, beware! These are awful words! Any moment these walls may crumble upon us if you say such things. Oh call them back before it is too late!" Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court George Orwell, Newspeak Newspeak est la langue créée par la société de 1984. Elle se caractérise par un appauvrissement délibéré du vocabulaire : peu de mots, chacun avec si possible un seul sens. Les mots exprimant des notions non acceptables sont tout simplement supprimés. L’objectif est de rendre impossible la pensée hérétique, faute de mots pour l’exprimer. The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought--that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc--should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words. […] Quite apart from the suppression of definitely heretical words, reduction of vocabulary was regarded as an end in itself, and no word that could be dispensed with was allowed to survive. Newspeak was designed not to extend but to DIMINISH the range of thought, and this purpose was indirectly assisted by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum. Il existe un vocabulaire de base (appelé A), un vocabulaire politique (B) et un vocabulaire scientifique (C) interdit à la majorité. THE A VOCABULARY. The A vocabulary consisted of the words needed for the business of everyday life--for such things as eating, drinking, working, putting on one's clothes, going up and down stairs, riding in vehicles, gardening, cooking, and the like. It was composed almost entirely of words that we already possess words like HIT, RUN, DOG, TREE, SUGAR, HOUSE, FIELD--but in comparison with the present-day English vocabulary their number was extremely small, while their meanings were far more rigidly defined. All ambiguities and shades of meaning had been purged out of them. […] Le nombre de mots est réduit par la pratique généralisée de la conversion (un seul mot pour nom et verbe) et des préfixes et suffixes pour former adjectifs et adverbes. There was, for example, no such word as CUT, its meaning being sufficiently covered by the noun-verb KNIFE. Adjectives were formed by adding the suffix -FUL to the noun-verb, and adverbs by adding WISE. Thus for example, SPEEDFUL meant 'rapid' and SPEEDWISE meant 'quickly'. […] In addition, any word--this again applied in principle to every word in the language--could be negatived by adding the affix UN-, or could be strengthened by the affix PLUS-, or, for still greater emphasis, DOUBLEPLUS. Thus, for example, UNCOLD meant 'warm', while PLUSCOLD and DOUBLEPLUSCOLD meant, respectively, 'very cold' and 'superlatively cold'. […] By such methods it was found possible to bring about an enormous diminution of vocabulary. […] THE B VOCABULARY. The B vocabulary consisted of words which had been deliberately constructed for political purposes: words, that is to say, which not only had in every case a political implication, but were intended to impose a desirable mental attitude upon the person using them. […] To take a single example: the word GOODTHINK, meaning, very roughly, 'orthodoxy', or, if one chose to regard it as a verb, 'to think in an orthodox manner'. This inflected as follows: noun-verb, GOODTHINK; past tense and past participle, GOODTHINKED; present participle, GOOD-THINKING; adjective, GOODTHINKFUL; adverb, GOODTHINKWISE; verbal noun, GOODTHINKER. Some of the B words had highly subtilized meanings, barely intelligible to anyone who had not mastered the language as a whole. Consider, for example, such a typical sentence from a 'Times' leading article as OLDTHINKERS UNBELLYFEEL INGSOC. The shortest rendering that one could make of this in Oldspeak would be: 'Those whose ideas were formed before the Revolution cannot have a full emotional understanding of the principles of English Socialism.' But this is not an adequate translation. To begin with, in order to grasp the full meaning of the Newspeak sentence quoted above, one would have to have a clear idea of what is meant by INGSOC. And in addition, only a person thoroughly grounded in Ingsoc could appreciate the full force of the word BELLYFEEL, which implied a blind, enthusiastic acceptance difficult to imagine today; or of the word OLDTHINK, which was inextricably mixed up with the idea of wickedness and decadence. […] Countless other words such as HONOUR, JUSTICE, MORALITY, INTERNATIONALISM, DEMOCRACY, SCIENCE, and RELIGION had simply ceased to exist. A few blanket words covered them, and, in covering them, abolished them. All words grouping themselves round the concepts of liberty and equality, for instance, were contained in the single word CRIMETHINK, while all words grouping themselves round the concepts of objectivity and rationalism were contained in the single word OLDTHINK. Greater precision would have been dangerous. […] In Newspeak it was seldom possible to follow a heretical thought further than the perception that it WAS heretical: beyond that point the necessary words were nonexistent. No word in the B vocabulary was ideologically neutral. A great many were euphemisms. Such words, for instance, as JOYCAMP (forced-labour camp) or MINIPAX (Ministry of Peace, i.e. Ministry of War) meant almost the exact opposite of what they appeared to mean. Some words, on the other hand, displayed a frank and contemptuous understanding of the real nature of Oceanic society. An example was PROLEFEED, meaning the rubbishy entertainment and spurious news which the Party handed out to the masses. […] L’utilisation d’abréviations rend les termes opaques et permet de les utiliser sans avoir conscience de leurs connotations. Even in the early decades of the twentieth century, telescoped words and phrases had been one of the characteristic features of political language; and it had been noticed that the tendency to use abbreviations of this kind was most marked in totalitarian countries and totalitarian organizations. Examples were such words as NAZI, GESTAPO, COMINTERN, INPRECORR, AGITPROP. In the beginning the practice had been adopted as it were instinctively, but in Newspeak it was used with a conscious purpose. It was perceived that in thus abbreviating a name one narrowed and subtly altered its meaning, by cutting out most of the associations that would otherwise cling to it. The words COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL, for instance, call up a composite picture of universal human brotherhood, red flags, barricades, Karl Marx, and the Paris Commune. The word COMINTERN, on the other hand, suggests merely a tightly-knit organization and a well-defined body of doctrine. It refers to something almost as easily recognized, and as limited in purpose, as a chair or a table. COMINTERN is a word that can be uttered almost without taking thought, whereas COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL is a phrase over which one is obliged to linger at least momentarily. […] […] The intention was to make speech, and especially speech on any subject not ideologically neutral, as nearly as possible independent of consciousness. For the purposes of everyday life it was no doubt necessary, or sometimes necessary, to reflect before speaking, but a Party member called upon to make a political or ethical judgement should be able to spray forth the correct opinions as automatically as a machine gun spraying forth bullets. His training fitted him to do this, the language gave him an almost foolproof instrument, and the texture of the words, with their harsh sound and a certain wilful ugliness which was in accord with the spirit of Ingsoc, assisted the process still further. So did the fact of having very few words to choose from. Relative to our own, the Newspeak vocabulary was tiny, and new ways of reducing it were constantly being devised. Newspeak, indeed, differed from most all other languages in that its vocabulary grew smaller instead of larger every year. Each reduction was a gain, since the smaller the area of choice, the smaller the temptation to take thought. Ultimately it was hoped to make articulate speech issue from the larynx without involving the higher brain centres at all. This aim was frankly admitted in the Newspeak word DUCKSPEAK, meaning 'to quack like a duck'. Like various other words in the B vocabulary, DUCKSPEAK was ambivalent in meaning. Provided that the opinions which were quacked out were orthodox ones, it implied nothing but praise, and when 'The Times' referred to one of the orators of the Party as a DOUBLEPLUSGOOD DUCKSPEAKER it was paying a warm and valued compliment. (texte complet à http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt, à la fin du livre) Quelques exemples (Wikipedia) bellyfeel — The blind, enthusiastic acceptance of an idea blackwhite — To accept whatever one is told, regardless of the facts. In the novel, it is described as "...to say that black is white when [the Party says so]" and "...to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary". (See also 2 + 2 = 5) crimethink — Thoughts and concepts that go against Ingsoc such as liberty, equality, and privacy, and also the criminal act of holding such thoughts. Frequently referred to by the standard English “thoughtcrime”. doubleplusgood — The word that replaced Oldspeak words meaning "superlatively good", such as excellent, fabulous, and fantastic doubleplusungood — The word that replaced Oldspeak words meaning "superlatively bad", such as terrible and horrible doublethink — The act of simultaneously believing two, mutually contradictory ideas duckspeak — Automatic, vocal support of political orthodoxies facecrime — A facial expression which reveals that one has committed thoughtcrime Ficdep — The Ministry of Truth's Fiction Department goodthink — A synonym for "political orthodoxy" and "a politically orthodox thought" as defined by the Party Ingsoc — English Socialism (the political ideology of The Party) joycamp — Labour camp Minipax — The Ministry of Peace, who wage war for Oceania oldthink — Ideas from the time before the Party's revolution, such as objectivity and rationalism prolefeed — Popular culture for entertaining Oceania's working class rectify — The Ministry of Truth's euphemism for manipulating a historical record ref — To refer (to someone or something) speakwrite — A machine that transcribes speech into text telescreen — A two-way television set with which the Party spy upon Oceania's population thinkpol — The Thought Police, the secret police force of Oceania's government unperson — An executed person whose existence is erased from history and memory Exercice 11 Repérer quelques procédés utilisés dans la création de ces mots. Comment ces procédés servent-ils les objectifs de la classe politique dans le roman ? Euphémismes Exercice 12 Restituez à ces mots pudiquement déformés leur forme d’origine : blooming, darn, dashed, egad (anglais classique), gosh, goodness, by gum, lor, Great Scot, zounds (Renaissance). Chercher des exemples de déformation ou de remplacement par un quasi-homonyme en français. Exercice 13 Trouver le sens des euphémismes suivants : Blessed The Grim Reaper Powder-room To do time An older person A child with special needs Happy event In the altogether The facts of life Usual offices Impecunious Pass water Pass away
