Writes Lasen DS. (L6th)
On Thursday during The Hour, Upper Sixth student Dominic D. delivered an impressive presentation for Panglossia, entitled L’évolution de la langue française. Most notably, his talk was presented entirely in French.
Dominic explored how anglicisms have shaped the French language across history, categorising them into integral, semantic, morphological, phonetic, and syntactic forms. Challenging common assumptions, he argued that anglicisms are less “English” than they appear — many, like spoiler, trace their roots back through centuries of Latin and Old French. He went on to examine French as a global language, noting its profound influence on English, before contrasting the language’s natural evolution with its artificial regulation by the Académie française.
Dominic spoke with remarkable fluency and was convincing throughout. He handled nuanced questions about youth influence on language and whether artificial regulation stifles freedom of expression with impressive balance and knowledge. It was a genuinely erudite talk, with an inspiring level of French. Thank you Dominic!
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