Lectronic Resources for French Studies (Lang. and Lit.)

lectronic resources for French Studies (Lang. and Lit.)

Answers to exercises

1. Can you find a full-text version of the following article:

Provost, Jean “Le trésor de la langue française du «grand chêne» au cyberspace” International journal of lexicography,15, no.1, 2002?

What academic journal publisher is it available from?

SUGGESTED METHOD:

Go to MLA bibliography and type in Trésor de la langue française.

Click on 'Find it in Oxford' 'Check availability'.

In the record, click on DOI (Digital Object Identifier). This should take you to the full-text of the article.

ANSWER: It is available from Oxford University Press Journals

2.BBC Radio 4, Poetry Please ( Sunday 25th May, 1630) featured the poem 'Paradox of time' 'byPierre de Ronsard, translated by Austin Dobson'. Here is the first verse, can you find the originalFrench poem by Ronsard?

‘The Paradox of Time’ by Pierre de Ronsard, translated by Austin Dobson

Time goes, you say? Ah no!

Alas, Time stays, we go;

——Or else, were this not so,

What need to chain the hours,

For Youth were always ours?

——Time goes, you say?—ah no!

SUGGESTED METHOD:

Go to FRANTEXT.

Select 'Version non catégorisée' as this version contains the largest number of texts (not all of them have been tagged for linguistic analysis but that is not important here).

Click on 'Entrer dans Frantext'.

Click on 'Pour commencer à travailler veuillez définir un corpus de travail'.

In the box 'Sélection par auteur' type 'Ronsard'.

Then click on 'Enregistrer la sélection'. You will note that the number of texts selected is 9.

Click on 'Lancer une recherche'.

In the box labelled 'Mot à rechercher', type 'temps'.

Then click on 'Lancer la recherche'. You will have retrieved about 70 snippets of text containing the word 'temps' (!). You will notice that none of the texts has anything like a translation of this verse. The only text that comes close is No 36 which contains the lines:

Le tems s'en va, le tems s'en va , ma dame,

Las! Le tems non, mais nous nous en allons

Go now to LION (Literature Online). Select 'Texts'.

Type in 'Paradox of time' as title keyword and 'Dobson' as author. Click on 'Search'. Here you will find that 'The paradox of time' is in fact a 'variation' not a translation of Ronsard. Those BBC researchers should check their facts!

PS: If you want to find the original entire Ronsard sonnet, go to:

(or find it on the shelves of the Taylor Institution Library)

ANSWER:

There is no original Ronsard poem. The Dobson poem is inspired by two lines from a sonnet by Ronsard (Sonnet à Marie).

3.Can you find out where you could find a letter from Saint-Exupèry to Curtice Hitchcock in 1942relating to a visa inquiry?

SUGGESTED METHOD:

Go to the website of 'Le catalogue collectif de France'.

Select the PALME database (Répertoire des manuscrits littéraires français du XX e siècle).

Type in Saint-Exupèry in the box for 'Personne'. Type 'visa' in the box for 'Plein texte' or 'Titre'.This should bring up the record:

Saint-Exupèry, Antoine de/Correspondance/Lettre de Saint-Exupèry à Curtice Hitchcock: relative àl'obtention d'un visa/1942/Centre historique des archives nationales/Fonds Saint-Exupèry 153 AP 2.

ANSWER:

The letter can be found at Centre historique des archives nationales (60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, Paris)

4.Pourquoi les Belges mettent-ils un paratonnerre au-dessus des boulangeries? (Joke)

This is one of the many Belgian jokes to be found at:

If you do not know the word 'paratonnerre', go to one of the online bilingual dictionaries at Lexilogos:

Select Reverso.

Select tab at the top: 'Dictionnaire'.

Select Collins Français – Anglais.

Type in

'paratonnerre'. 'Paratonnerre' = 'Lightning conductor'

ANSWER:

Pour fabriquer les éclairs!

Au revoir!

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