Dialogues singuliers sur la langue française by Michael Edwards (review)

The title of the present work is neatly chosen. For the text, which is set in the context of a journey from Cambridge to Paris symbolically representing the author's career from alma mater to adopted homeland, takes the form of a series of chapters consisting almost entirely of an ongoing dialogue between Me and Moi, which serve to represent the two linguistic halves of the author's own persona, his native English self and his acquired French alter ego, in a device that was perhaps suggested at first by the author's own initials. The interchanges between the two protagonists begin with the author's memories of his early linguistic awakening when he started to study French at school in the UK. Although it is recalled that 'j'apprenais le français comme une langue morte' (p. 19), the sense of entering a new and exciting linguistic and conceptual universe was vivid. Thereafter, a deep fascination was to develop with the language in which the author has now acquired native-speaker competence. The linguistic journey that he has travelled is a remarkable one, notably leading to his election as the first British member of the Académie, taking over fauteuil 31 in 2013 after the death of Jean Dutourd, and to his knighthood in 2014. Over the seven chapters of the book, the dialogues address a number of aspects relating to the structure and history of French in a very readable manner. Long-held beliefs in the alleged beauty and logicality of the French language are, perhaps inevitably, aired on occasions but Me wisely expresses some reservations on their validity. However, in the presentation and discussion of other pieces of linguistic data, elegantly executed though they are, it is more than obvious that the author is a literary specialist rather than a trained linguist. Evidence for this comes from the extensive use of the traditional dissertation practice of drawing on citations taken from mainly literary texts of widely ranging historical periods in order to support viewpoints that are being advanced, and also the fact that the only specifically linguistic source referred to anywhere is the brief Histoire de la langue franaise by Mireille Huchon (Paris: Livre de Poche, 2002). Predictably, therefore, the focus of linguistic attention centres mainly on the high-register usage typical of literary French, whereas little is said on other registers or indeed spoken usage. The approach used here, which seemingly finds its rationale in the comment, '[l]e langage est trop important pour être abandonné aux linguistes' (p. 142), means that there is much less of real interest for the more linguistically minded reader than there might otherwise have been. This is regrettable, as the author, being an Immortel, is in a special position that would certainly enable him authoritatively to cover potentially fascinating topics such as the Académie's current procedures in identifying and resolving lexical and grammatical questions. Perhaps future dialogues might shed light on this and other points of linguistic interest.