FRE 222: FRENCH GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION

 

FRE 222: FRENCH GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION

                      QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1.   List and explain all you know about homonyms by which one can trace the meaning of words in French Language.

-      Homonyms are words that have the same spellings sometimes or the same pronunciation but the meanings will never relate in anyway. This means that homonyms are words that have different meanings but either the same spelling or pronunciation. e.g. (a) Knight / Night (b) et / est  (c) dans / don  (d) es/est

NB: Homonym – several words – same spellings / same pronunciation – different meanings

2.      Explain in details what you understand by polysemy by means of which the meaning of words can be traced in French Language.

– Polysemy is a situation whereby one word expresses many different meanings. For example: a) Bank has two meanings- (i) He caught a fish at the bank  - river bank

(ii) He left the bank half an hour ago – financial bank

Note: One word, same spelling- different meanings.

This shows that while polysemy is one word that has multiple different meanings like synonyms, synonyms are different words with one meaning.

3.   Explain in details the implications of holonyms in French language meaning formation.

-      Holonymy (whole and name) is the relationship between a term denoting the whole and a term denoting a part of, or a member of the whole. That is, ‘X’ is a holonym of ‘Y’ if Ys are members of Xs e.g.  tree is a holonym of ‘bark’ of ‘trunk’ and of ‘limb’.

Holonymy is the opposite of meronymy

4.   Explain in details the implications of meronyms in French language meaning formation.

-      Meronym is a word that denotes a constituent part or a member of something e.g. apple is a meronym of apple tree. It is sometimes written as apple < apple tree. This part-to-whole relationship is called meronymy. Meronmy is part-to-whole relationship of a word. Meronymy is not a single relation but a bundle of different part-to-whole relationship. The opposite of a meronym is a holonym – the name of the whole of which the meronym is a part. For example: Apple tree is a holonym of apple (apple tree > apple)

The whole-to-part relationship is called holonymy

Examples of Meronym:

a)   Finger is a meronym of hand

b)   Flesh is a meronym of hand

c)   Toit (roof) is a meronym of maison ( house).

d)   Œil (eye) is a meronym of tête (head)

e)   Feuille (leaf) is a meronym of arbre (tree)

f)    Un bras (an arm) is a meronym of corps (body)

Note: This is a linguistic relationship and not physical relationship e.g. doigt (finger) is a meronyms of main (hand) but main (hand) is not a meronymy of bras (arm)

b. Holonymy is the opposite of meronymy

          Examples of Holonymy:

a)   Maison (house) is a holonymy of toit (roof)

b)   Tête (head) is a holonymy of œil (eye)

c)   Arbre (tree) is a holonymy of feuille (leaf)

d)   Corps (body) is a holonymy of bras (arm)

4.   Explain in details the implication of hyperonyms in meaning creation in French Language

-      Hyperonyms means ‘over’ ‘name’, Hyperonyms or hypernyms are used to generalize. Hyperonym is a word used to generalize other terms. For example:

1.   Bird is a hyperonym of pigeon, crow, fowl, eagle, vulture, seagull, etc. Hyperonym is an umbrella term that is used for other names.

2.   Animal is the hyperonyme of dog (animal est l’hyperonyme de chien)

3.   Headgear is the hyperonyme of hat, crown, headtie beret (coiffure est un hyperonyme de chapeau, de couronne, de beret, de foulard).

Hyperonyms refers to superordination / generalization, that is a general word used to reduce specific.

5.   Give a detailed analysis of hyponymy by which meaning of French words can be traced or analysed.

-      Hyponym is derived from the Greek word ‘hupo’ (under) and ónoma ‘name’. It is a word or phrase which is included within another word, it’s hyperonym or hypernym (Greek words huper (over) and ónoma, (name)

A hyponym is in a sort of relationship with its hyperonym.

For example:  

a)   pigeon, crow, eagle, fowl, vulture are hyponyms of bird.

(poulet, chicken or fowl) est l’hyponyme d’oiseau (bird)

b)   dog (chien) is the hyponym of animal (animal)

c)   headgear (haut-de-forme) is the hyponym of hat (chapeau)

d)   chair (chaise) is the hyponym of seat (siege)

e)   seat (siege) is the hyponym of furniture (meuble)

f)    orange (orange) pomme (apple) are hyponym of fruit (fruit)

6.   What is the relationship between hyperonym and hyponym?

À vous à répondre.

7.   Explain in details what you understand by toponym by which meaning of French words can be traced.

-      Toponym is the scientific and semantic study of places derived from topographical feature.  It is also the study of place names, their origin, meanings, use and typology. It is a place name or word coined in association with the name of a place, river, mountain, person etc. the study of such names is known as toponymy – a branch of onomastics. It is naming a place after some events, place, region, geographical places

Types of toponym:

a.   Agronym – the name of a field or pasture

b.   Dromonym – the name of a transportation route

c.   Drymonym – the name of a forest or groove

d.   Eponyms – the name of a village or town

e.   Limnonym – the name of a lake or pond

f.     Necronym – the name of a cemetery or burial ground

Other types of Toponym:

-      Hagiotoponym – The name of saints

-      Hydronym – associated with water/river source water falls / a body of water.

-      Microtoponym – village, communal settlement

-      Odonym – named after means of communication

-      Oronym – the name of a relief, mountain or hill

Official Toponyms in French / Official French Toponyms

-      L’île – Rousse

-      La rôche – sur-yon

-      Saint – Vincent et grenadines

-      Villeneuve – d’Ascq ( d’ Arcy)

-      Pays de la loire

-      Territories de Belfort

-      Provence – alpes – côte d’ Azur

-      Saint – Paul de Vance

-      La sèvre niortaise

-      L’île d’yeu

-      Le Mont Sainte – Odile

-      Le Mont blanc

-      Le massif du Mont – blanc

-      Le Mont d’or

List some examples of Toponyms.

Examples of Toponym

i.             Agate – after Achates, ancient Greek name for the river Dirillo on the Titian Island of Sicily

ii.            Badminton – after badminton in Gloucestershire, England

8.    Analyse how to explain autonym in tracing the meaning of French words

-      Autonym is a name used by a group or category of people to refer to themselves or their language as opposed to a name given to them by other groups. They are created names the autonyms is said to have priority over the other names of the same rank established at the same time.

Autonyms are not created if the name of the species being subdivided is illegitimate the type of an autonym is the same as that of the name from which it is derived.

For example, when Rehder & Wilson in C.S Sargent, PI. Wilson I (1913): 392, published Magnolia Officinalis Rehder & E.H Wilson var. biloba, they established at the same time Magnolia Officinalis Rehder & E.H. Wilson var. officinalis, even though that name was nowhere mentioned in Plantae Wilsonianae. This shows that autonym has nomenclatural priority over the name (names) that established it. The type of an autonym is the same as that of the name from which it is derived as an autonym is automatically created without an author being involved; no author citation follows the name.

For example : ‘un livre qu’on quitte sans en avoir extrait quelque chose est un livre qu’on n’a pas lu’ (Antoine Albalat)

9. Explain in detail at the meaning of metonym by which the meaning of French words can be traced.

- Metonym is a word, name or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated. For example,  Washington is a metonym for the US government. In other words, a metonym is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. For example,  

a.   ‘Westminster’ a borough of London in the United Kingdom, could be used as a metonym for the country’s government. It is what symbolises a thing

b.   Boire une bonne bouteille (to drink a good bottle)

c.   Prendre une verre (to take a glass)

The words ‘bouteille’ (bottle) and ‘verre’ (glass) symbolises ‘du vin’ (wine)

d.   ‘Bunch of suits’ refers to ‘business people’

10. Explain in details what you understand by synecdoche by which meanings of French words can be traced.

- This is a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in England lost by six wickets (meaning the English Cricket team). This means that it is a figure of speech I which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something or vice versa. It is a class of metonymy, often by means of either mentioning a part for the whole or conversely the whole for the part. It is also a member of figurative language family. For example:

a.   Check out my new ‘wheels’ ‘wheels’ here means a ‘car’

b.   ‘all hands on deck’ ‘hands stands for the whole crew’

c.   Son vélo a crève – un pneu de son vélo (his tyre burst)

d.   Le train crache une fumée noire – la cheminée de la locomotive du train (i.e. fire place of the train which produces smoke.

e.   Un troupeau de cinquante têtes – cinquante animal

11. What is the difference between synecdoche and metonym?

          - Synecdoche is a figure of speech referring to when a part of something is used to refer to the whole, as can be seen in ‘all hands on deck’  ‘hands’ here refers to people; ‘’sails’’ refer to ‘’ship’’ while Metonymy refers to using one thing to describe something related to it. For example:

a)   When ‘’queen’’ is referred to as ‘’crown’’

b)   ‘’a sports team’’ is referred to as the city they are from – Boston Chelsea, Manchester, FCT Club.

c)   White house refers to ‘’president’’

Synecdoche – when a part of something is used to refer to the whole

Metonymy – when something is used to represent something related to it.

For example: Paris a froid, Paris a faim. (Paris is cold, Paris is hungry)

Here Paris represents not only the capital city of France but the inhabitants. There is a metonymical relationship between the inhabitants (people) and the city (of Paris). Metonymy is frequently used because it is economical and is used for short expression. It is also used for styles or variations of styles in literary works.

12. Give examples of Metonymy.

          - Metonymy occurs when the same word is used for

a) what it is made of : Les cuivres et les bois dans un orchestre (the musical instruments made of silver and wood) en cuivre – made of silver

En bois – made of wood

Prendre un café sur le zinc (on the counter made of zinc)

b)  A product by its place of origin, that is where it is made : un bon bordeaux (wine made in Bordeaux)

du roquefort (made in Roquefort)

du brie (made in brie)

(par le lieu de fabrication de ces produits – the place where the product is manufactured.

c)Une chose par sa marque de fabrique, son auteur (something by its trade mark or its author)

e.g. un larousse (written by larrousse)

un Picasso (trade work)

un guiche (trade work)

d)   Someone known by the type of instruments he/she always uses or the type of dress he/she puts on.

For example: une fine lame (a good fencer)

e)   Le tout par la partie (a whole for a part)

For example : une bonne plume (a good pen) pour un bon ecrivain (means a good writer)

f)    L’object par sa matiere (an object by what it is made of) un verre (a glass) stands for a plaque made of glass

g)    Le contenu par le contentant ( a content by what is containing it) noire un verre (drink a glass) stands for to drink what is in the glass)

h)   Le lieu par l’activité (a place by the activities that takes place there) un theatre (a theather); une cuisine (a kitchen)   

i)     L’activité par l’instrument, l’objet (activity known by its instrument or object): faire du piano (to play piano), jouer aux cartes (to play whot)

j)     La cause par effect (the cause by the effect): boire la mort (to drink death) means boire le poison (to drink death)

k)   L’écrivain par son œuvre (a writer by his work) lire un Flaubert (read a book by Flaubert)

13. List more examples of synecdoche.

A. Part use to refer to all

          Generalised synecdoche

         

Type of relation	Generalized synecdoche	Particularised synecdoche
Part used to refer to all	a)   son vélo – un pneu de son vélo b)   le train – la cheminée de la locomotive du train c)   la moldavie – un boxeur moldave	a)   voiles – les bateaux b)   têtes – animaux c)   quinze printemps – quinze ans
Kind – spécie	L’arbre – le chêne	Du pain – de la nourriture
Material – living thing or non-living thing (object)	Le vision---- la l’outre – la fourrure de vision, de l’outre	Le fer (iron) – le poignard (dagger)
Number	a)   les soleils marins – le soleil sur la mer b)   mes salives – ma salive c)   des colbert – de colbert	a)   l’ennemi – les ennemis b)   l’alouette – les alouettes c)   vingt fois – un grand nombre de fois
Concrète – abstract	a)   ni le sexe bi l’âge – ne les femmes ni les vieillards	Cheveux blancs – son grand âge
Nom propre – nom commun (antonomase)	a)   l’hexagone – la France b)   l’ile de beauté – (island of beauty) la corse	a)   Cicéron – un bon orateur b)   Jean moulin – de résistants

14. With many valid examples, explain affixation and its usage in the study of French semantics

-      An affixes is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to inform a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational e.g. English-ness and pre; or inflectional, like English plural –s and past tense – ed.

French examples of affix are:

  Préfixes: anténatal, bénédiction, absentir, disparaître, enlever, parfait, surbordonner, malfaiteur, désordre and so on. They are bound morphemes by definition. Apart from prefixes, there are suffixes. Prefixes and suffixes are separable affixes. For example: anté/natal, dis/paraître.

Affixation is therefore the linguistic process that speakers use to form different words by adding morphemes at the beginning (préfixation) the middle (infixation) or the end (suffixation) of words.

For example : préfix – dis paraître, enlever, contredire, antidater

                   suffix- heureusement, gentiment, mangé, uniforme, horticulture, agricole, thermométrie and so on.  

2. Give at least the meaning of each of these prefix borrowed from latin (latin prefix).

Préfixes	Sens ou leurs significations    (meaning)	New formed words
Anté; Anti Béné; bien Circum; circon	Avant (before) Bien (goodness) Autour de (around / surround)	Anténatal, antédiluvian, antidater, antichambre bénédiction, bénévole (voluntary bienfaisant (charitable) circonstance

15. With valid examples define

a)   Prefix – Prefix is the linguistic process by which a secondary morpheme of one to five letters are attached at the beginning of the stem word in order to form a new word which can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or an adverb. For example: déplaire, empocher, anténatal

b)   Infix- Infix is the process by which a secondary morpheme of one to five letters is added in the middle of a word to create either a different form of that word or a new word with a different meaning.

c)   Suffix – suffix is a series of letters added at the end of a word to form a new word with different meaning. For example: rapidement, heuresement, dansé, manger, agricole, génocide and so on.

16.  Explain the processes of parasynthetic derivations as applied to the French semantics study. Give examples.

-      Parasynthetic derivation is the formation of a word by the addition of a derivational suffix to a phrase or compound. For example:

a.   Belle:  embellir – em + belle + ir

b.   Branche: embranchement – em + branche + ment

c.   Herbe: desherbes (des + herbe + er)

d.   Riche : enrichir (en + rich + ir) and so on.

It is the information of a word by the addition of both a prefix and a derivational suffix to a word or stem.

2. Form at least a word derived from the parasynthetic process for each of the following words:

Belle, branche, forme, herbe, heureux, large, nouveaux, profonde, riche, table, triste, vive.

Belle – embellir (em + belle + ir) and so on.

17. With valid examples define base morphemes by differentiating

          it from affix.

-      Base morphemic are morphemes which are borrowed from other Indo-European languages to form French words. The significant difference between the borrowed affix and the specifically borrowed words is that it is only the stem or the radical morphemic (with complete meaning) and prefix, infix and suffix are added to it to form new words. These bases / stems are morphemes which accepts the affix (prefixation, infixation and suffixation with which it forms the new words)

2. Give at least one meaning of each of the following word base.

Base Morphemique	The meaning	Formed words
Cap	Tête (head)	capitale, chapeau
Cad	Tomber (to fall)	cadavre, caduc
Doc	Enseigner, montrer (to teach, to show)	document, docile doctorat
Fac-, fec-	Faire to do make	facile, difficile, effectif
Jug	Lier ensemble (join together)	jugulaire, conjugal, conjuncture

18. With many valid examples explain how to identify French words borrowed from Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Germany English and Arabic language.

1.   Latin: advocation – advoct

2.   Italien: la musique – ardente

3.   L’espagnol: camarade

4.   L’allemand: sabre

5.   L’anglais: le tennis etc.

19. Define Onomatopoeia used in French Language Morpho-semantics. Give examples.

-      Onomatopia is a word borrowed from Greek ‘Onomatopoli’ which means (word formation). It is the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named, e.g. cuckoo, sizzle. It can be sounds associated with objects, things, human beings or animals to form a new word. It is also known as phononyme in French (Phono-sound)

Some Onomatopoeia are spontaneous while some are conventionnals. For example:

a.   cui cui – le chant de l’oiseau (the song of a bird)

b.   piou – piou – le chant de l’oiseau

c.   crac – le bris d’une branche ou d’un arbre (the breaking of a branch or of a tree)

d.   le tic-tac – le son d’une horloge (sound of a wall clock)

e.   miauler – cri d’un animal (cry of an animal)

f.     le brouhaha – dees bruits (noise)

g.   gbam gbam – zinc

20. List some sounds and their associated meanings (at least 6)

a)   Arf  - arf, Aie – Ah! Aaaah – cri d’effroi (cry of anguish)

b)   Argh argh – Soupir, montrer une erreur (showing there is something wrong)

c)   Boum – Explosion

d)   Badaboum – chute (great fall)

e)   Ding dong – dong – cloche (bell)

f)    Quille – douleur ou crainte de douleur (pain) or fear of pain

21. Using many examples, define abbreviations.

-      Abbreviations are used to shorten long words in order to save time while talking or save space while writing. Instead of pronouncing or writing out in full a very long word, one can decide to use the first part of the word to represent or in place of the whole or entire word. For example: La télévision – la télé

Words (mots)  –  meaning (leur signification)

a)   L’auto              –    l’automobile

b)   La stéréo          –    la stéréophonique ou la stéréographic

c)   La fac               –    la faculté

d)   La radio            –    la radiophonique ou radiographic

22. Differentiate between Onomatopiaes and abbreviations as used in the French morpho-semantics. Give examples.

23. Distinguish between Acronymes and pantomimes. Give examples

-      Acronym is a word or name formed as a type of abbreviation formed from the initial components of the words of a longer content such as of a name or phrase, often with individual initial letters as in:

a.   NATO:  North Atlantic Treaty Organization

b.   L’UA: Union Africaine

c.   L’OPEP: Organisation des pays Exportateurs du pétrole

d.   L’OUA: Organisation de l’Union Africaine

e.   OMS: Organisation Mondiale de la Santé

f.     CEDEAO: Communauté économique des états de l’Afrique occidentale

-      Pantomime is the act of expressing a term by another more generalised and abstract term. It is the art or technique of conveying emotion, actions feelings by gestures without speech. It is a way of expressing information or telling a story without words by using body movements and facial expressions instead of talking.

For example passe-partout – machine, truc, chose, bidule, toutim used in place of people, objects, notions are pantonyme. It is a generalised name of a thing. For example:

a) machine is a general name of heavy metal objects.

b) Trunk is a general name for a tree  

c) Mammals is a general name for animals

d) Female is a general name for girls / women

23.Explain in details (a)  Eponyms (b) Paronyms (c) Retronyms by which meanings of French words can be traced.

-      Eponym is a person, place or thing after whom or after which something is named or believed to be named. The word is derived from the Greek ‘’Eponymes’’ which means giving name. in such a case the proper noun becomes a common noun. Who or what gives the name is an eponym. Examples:

a.    Guillotine (after the inventor M. Guillotin)

b.   Maladie de Parkinson (named after the discoverer of the disease)

c.   Platonique (named after the inventor of the drunk)

Eponym can also be used as an adjective e.g. Staline (proper name) – Stalinien (adjective) other adjectives can have the following suffix: - esque, -ique, -ien, -iste.

-      Paronyms are words which is a derivative of another and has a related meaning. Example ‘’wisdom is a paronym of wise’’ it is also a word formed by adaptation of a foreign word

Example: ‘’preface’’ is a paronym of latin ‘’prefatio’’ paronyms can also be defined as words that are pronounced or written in a similar way but which have different lexical meaning. Paronyms are opposite of homonyms which are words with different meanings having the same pronunciation or spelling.

Examples a) alternately/alternatively

b. acceptation / acception

c. accident/ incident

d. affleurer / effleurer

e. allocation / allocution and so on.

-      Retronyms : A Retronym is a new name for an existing thing that differentiates the original form or version from a more recent one. It is a word or phrase created to differentiate between two types despite the fact that there is no need for clarification. Advances in technology are responsible for the coinage of retronyms. For examples:

a.   ‘’acoustic guitar’’ was coined at the advent of ‘’electric guitars’’

b.   ‘’analog watches’’ were renamed to differentiate them from ‘’digital watches’’

c.   Addresse – Adresse postale

d.   Arme – Arme conventionnelle

e.   Copie – copier papier

      Detailed examples of Retronyms

Terme remplacé (old term)	Nouveau terme (new term)	Raison du remplacement (reason for replacement)	Epoque (Age/year/ century)
Appareil photo	Appareil photo argentique	Appareil photo numerique	Époque (age / Year/ century)
Chocolat	Chocolat chaud (boisson – hot drink)	Chocolat solid	Fin du xxe siècle (end of 20th century)
Machine a laver (washing machine)	Lave – linge	Lave vaisselle
Guerre mondiale (world war)	Premiere guerre mondiale (1st world war)	Seconde guerre mondiale (2nd world war)	In the year 1940
Second Republique (second republic)	Deuxième République (2nd republic)	Troisième République 3rd republic	1875

24.       a) With some examples, define composition writing.  

     b) Of what relevance is composition to grammar?

25.       a) Define argumentative essay

  b) Define expository essay

a)   With many examples, define what a letter is.

b)   Explain how one can identify and write a semi-formal letter.

26.       Write an informal letter to your friend in French language telling him or her that you are visiting him or her during the weekend.

Abuja

Le 15 Novembre, 2019.

Mon cher Ami/

Mon chère Amie,

Je te remercie de ta lettre d’hier. J’ai bien reçu cette lettre. Merci beaucoup. J’espère que tu viens chez moi pendant le weekend. Je serai vraiment heureux de te voir. Nous allons visiter le zoo et le stade.

Dis-moi que tu iras.

          Je t’embrasse tendrement. Au revoir. A bientôt.

                                                Bien amicalement/Ton ami (e) ta amie

Bola Isah

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