“English does not exist, French is pronounced badly”: the provocative statement of a linguist

Does English not exist? This is what the French linguist asks ironically, and not without the intention of provoking. Bernardo Cerquiglini in his new book. “If English is a prestigious and international language today, it is thanks to French,” said the professor.

For this teacher from Lyon, English comes from a poor pronunciation of French. “French gave English an essential vocabulary, that of law, commerce, spirituality, art and government,” Cerquiglini said, reported by the Times. And she said, “French is just pronounced wrong.”

Bernard’s crusade against English stems, in part, from his disgust at the increasingly intrusive incorporation of English words into French speech.

In his book “The English language does not exist”, Cerquiglini says that the English use thousands of words borrowed from French about a thousand years ago.

And give some examples. Some are: “charge,” “bacon,” “enemy,” “surrender,” “people,” “chivalry,” “majesty,” “fashion,” and “wicke.”

However, there are others that are not exactly the same, but are similar. And many have to do with cooking.

“Stew” comes from the Old French “estuver” (steam); “pudding”, from “boudin” (pudding); “mushroom”, from “mousheron” (mushroom); “beef”, from “buef” (beef); “toast”, from “tostée” (toast); “porridge”, from “potage” (porridge); “gin”, from “genevre”.

Others – not related to cooking – are “people”, which derives from “pueple” (people); “butler”, from “bouteiller” (butler); or “vintage”, from “vendanges” (old).

Cerquiglini explains that French was the official and common language of England for several years, although he points out that in the Middle Ages the inhabitants of the British Isles spoke a variety of languages.

In 1066, after the conquest of Normandy, French established itself in England, so much so that for today’s linguist up to 40% of English words are of French origin.

Bernard is, as well as a doctor of literature, a television presenter. Previously he directed, among other jobs, the Center for French and Francophone Studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie.