A History of the French Language

This well-established and popular book provides students with all the linguistic background they need for studying any period of French literature. For the second edition the text has been revised and updated throughout, and the two final chapters on contemporary French, and its position as a world language, have been completely rewritten. Starting with a brief description of the Vulgar Latin spoken in Gaul, and the earliest recorded forms of French, Peter Rickard traces the development of the language through the later Middle Ages and Renaissance to show how it became standardized in a near modern form in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
." . . should be compulsory reading for any serious practitioner of French, either amateur or professional. Not merely will many things become clear for the first time but it will be a very enjoyable experience."
-"Times Educational Supplement