Unit information: Reading Old and Middle French in 2013/14

Unit name	Reading Old and Middle French
Unit code	MODLM2011
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Professor. Marianne Ailes
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Modern Languages
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

The unit aims to give students a reading knowledge and basic grammatical understanding of Old and Middle French. The unit is taught through short extracts from a range of texts. Grammatical principles are explained as they occur within texts from different genres and periods from the earliest Old French texts to the fifteenth century. Older French texts and normally in verse and display a wider range of sentence structure than the later prose texts. On the other hand earlier texts usually have the line as a sense unit making it easier to translate in smaller units. Half of the course will concentrate on French of the 12th and 13th centuries and will offer opportunities to explore the peculiarities of Old French dialects; the other half will focus on the development of Old French into the Middle French period.

Intended Learning Outcomes

1. Students will learn to read a range of texts in Old and Middle French, including texts of different genres.
2. Using appropriate reference materials they will be able to translate short extracts of narrative or descriptive text and analyse the linguistic features of these texts; they will also be able to translate shorter passages of narrative text without dictionaries.
3. They will understand the basic grammatical structures of both Old and Middle French and some of the features of the major dialects of Old French.
4. Students will be able to make appropriate use of information technology for research and presentation of work.
5. Students will be able to undertake research using appropriate source materials.
6. Students will be able to work independently and to deadlines, to an exacting scholarly level.

Teaching Information

This unit is taught through a weekly lecture and a weekly seminar. The contact time is supplemented through a series of online interactive tutorials. Some of the teaching may be taught alongside a related 4th year unit.

Assessment Information

The assessment for this unit is 50% portfolio of six translations with linguistic commentaries, and 50% class test.

The portfolio consists of six translations of around 200 words, three Old French and three Middle French each of equal weighting. Students are also asked to comment on 5 underlines phrases in each translation.

The class test (2 hours) consists of two translations, each of around 200 words; students will also be asked to comment on underlined phrases.

Reading and References

• Ayres-Bennett, Wendy, The History of the French Language through texts (Routledge, 1996)
• De Lage, Guy, Introduction à l’ancien français, 1st published 1958 or Manuel pratique de l’ancien français, 1st published 1964
• Einhorn,E., Old French: A Complete Handbook (CUP, 1974)
• Rickard, Peter, A History of the French Language, 2nd ed (Unwin Hyman, 1989)
• Zink, P., Le moyen français (PUF, 1990)