Corpus of French Grammars from the Renaissance

The earliest French grammars are a rich and extremely diverse body of material. The genre was not yet set in stone and reflected a wide range of different uses: not only to describe the French language, but also to teach it to foreigners eager to learn about an idiom and a culture that was spreading throughout Europe. The works vary greatly in size, from a few manuscript pages to more than 1,000 pages. The languages in which they were written were just as varied: French, of course, but also English, German, and frequently Latin. For the first time, a digital corpus allows detailed and varied research using these works, which are still largely unknown. The Corpus des grammaires françaises de la Renaissance provides teachers, researchers, and students with numerous tools for systematic exploration: full-text searches, encyclopedias of authors, titles of works, examples, and quotations—while making it possible to build a corpus and extract and export results.

 

CONTENTS

[Donat] Quantes parties d’oraison sont ? 14e s.

[Barton, Johan] Donait francois, ca. 1409

[Martin Morin] Principalia grammaticalia, ca. 1498

John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse, Londres, 1530

Jacobus Sylvius Ambi anus [Jacques Dubois], In linguam Gallicam isagwge et Grammatica Latino-Gallica, Paris, 1531

Charles de Bovelles, Liber de differentia vulgarium linguarum et Gallici sermonis varietate, 1533

Aelii Donati de octo partibus orationis libellus, Paris, 1585 [1545]

Louis Meigret, Le trętte de la grammęre francoęze, Paris, 1550

Jean Pillot, Gallicae linguae institutio, Latino sermone conscripta, Paris, 1561 [1550]

Robert Estienne, Traicte de la gramaire Francoise, Paris, 1557

Gabriel Meurier, La Grammaire francoise, Anvers, 1557

Jean Garnier, Institutio gallicae linguae in usum iuuentutis Germanicae, Genève, 1558

Abel Matthieu, Devis de la langue francoyse, Paris, 1559

Abel Matthieu, Second Devis et principal propos de la langue francoyse, Paris, 1560

Gérard Du Vivier, Grammaire francoise, Cologne, 1566

Gérard Du Vivier, Briefve Institution de la langue francoise, expliquee en Aleman, Cologne, 1568

Antoine Cauchie, Grammaticae gallicae libri tres, Strasbourg, 1586 [1570]

Petrus Ramus [Pierre de la Ramée], Gramerę, Paris, 1562

Petrus Ramus [Pierre de la Ramée], Grammaire, Paris, 1572

Henri Estienne, Hypomneses de Gallica Lingua, peregrinis eam discentibus necessariæ: quædã verò ipsis etiam Gallis multum profuturæ, Paris, 1582

Jean Bosquet, Elemens ou institutions de la langue francoise, Mons, 1586

Joannes Serreius [Jean Serrier], Grammatica Gallica nova, Strasbourg, 1623 [1598]

 

RESEARCH FIELDS

History of the language, grammar, linguistic codes, history of linguistic theories, translation, sociolinguistic variations, literature.

 

EDITORIAL TEAM

Under the direction of Bernard Colombat (université Paris Cité) and Jean-Marie Fournier (université Sorbonne Nouvelle) : Susan Baddeley (université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines) ; Geneviève Clerico (université Rennes 2 Haute Bretagne) ; Maria Colombo Timelli (Sorbonne Université) ; Alain Cullière (université de Lorraine) ; Colette Demaizière † (université Jean Moulin Lyon 3) ; Brigitte Hébert † (Université Lumière Lyon 2) ; Alberte Jacquetin-Gaudet † (Paris) ; Odile Leclercq (Sorbonne Université) ; Francine Mazière (Université Sorbonne Paris Nord) ; Valérie Raby † (université Sorbonne Nouvelle) ; Danielle Trudeau (San José State University, Californie).