Grammar and History of Français Tirailleur : A French Military Pidgin from Africa / Parkvall Mikael.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mikael, Parkvall, author.

Series:

Grammars and Sketches of the World's Languages ; 22.

Language and Linguistics E-Books Online, Collection 2026.

Grammars and Sketches of the World's Languages ; 22

Language and Linguistics E-Books Online, Collection 2026

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Studies.

Languages and Linguistics.

Literature & Culture.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (244 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

A French Military Pidgin from Africa

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2027.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Français-Tirailleur (FT) was a French-lexicon pidgin spoken in the French African army between 1860 and 1960, and by civilians in contact with it. Despite their importance, pidgins remain understudied, often dismissed as mere precursors to creoles. Yet FT, like other pidgins, was a rule-governed, functional language—streamlined for communication, stripped of unnecessary complexity, and optimised for ease of learning. Born in the crucible of colonial encounters, FT’s history reflects both unlikely solidarities and the harsh realities of war, exploitation, and racism. This study offers the most detailed account yet of FT’s structure, background, and enduring linguistic significance.

Contents:

Acknowledgements

List of Figures, Graphs, Maps and Tables

Abbreviations

1 Introduction

2 Historical Background

2.1 France’s Use of Native Troops outside Europe

2.2 African Beginnings

2.3 Tirailleurs in the First World War

2.4 The Interwar Years

2.5 The Second World War

2.6 The Post-war Era

2.7 The Sociohistorical Setting

2.8 Timeline

2.9 Trans-Atlantic Connexions?

3 Sources and Reliability

3.1 Size and Origin of the Corpus

3.2 Reliability

3.3 A Very Special Case

3.4 Presentation

4 Lexicon

4.1 Words from Specific Registers of French

4.2 Other Specific Developments of French Words

4.3 Compensatory Strategies

4.4 Lexical Contributions from Other Languages

4.5 Semantic Contributions from Other Languages

4.6 Lexical Categories

4.7 Pronouns

4.8 Prepositions

4.9 Quantifiers and Intensifiers

4.10 Numerals

4.11 Homonymy

5 Phonology

5.1 Phoneme Inventory: Consonants

5.2 Phoneme Inventory: Vowels

5.3 Phoneme Inventory: Summary

5.4 Syllable Structure

5.5 Bisyllabicity

5.6 Suprasegmentals

5.7 The Pronunciation of trop

6 Morphology

6.1 Affixation

6.2 Compounding

6.3 Reduplication

7 Nominal Categories

7.1 Gender

7.2 Number

7.3 Articles

7.4 Demonstratives

8 Verbal Categories

8.1 Tense, Mood, Aspect and Auxiliaries

8.2 Voice

8.3 Reflexives and Reciprocals

8.4 Copulas

8.5 Light Verbs

8.6 Serial Verbs

9 The Structure of Simple Clauses

9.1 General Word Order Issues

9.2 Negation

9.3 Questions

9.4 Comparison

9.5 Predicative Possession

9.6 Attributive Possession

9.7 Absolute Possessives

10 Complex Sentences

10.1 Coordinating Conjunctions

10.2 Subordinating Conjunctions

11 Pragmatics

12 Diachrony and Legacy

12.1 Diachronic Development

12.2 Legacy

Appendix 1: Word List

Appendix 2: Growth of the Tirailleur Corps

Appendix 3: The Language Name

Appendix 4: On the Possibility of Pidgins in Other French Colonies

References

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Mikael, Parkvall Grammar and History of Français-Tirailleur

ISBN:

9789004713741

OCLC:

1610749704

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004713741 DOI