Abstract

During the Ancien Régime but also in nineteenth-century Europe, the French language, which occupied a special position in international commerce and diplomacy, develops increasingly into the language of culture and education. The language of the Republic of Letters also serves as the language of contacts and self-expression within European elites. After a rapid survey of studies devoted to this phenomenon, we concentrate on the more specific use of French as a second language in the sphere of private life. All this on the basis of a corpus of partly unpublished material written by people from the Netherlands, Italy, Russia and Turkey. These personal documents (diaries, correspondence, autobiographical texts and alba amicorum) make interesting material enabling us to reach a better understanding of the controversial question of the genesis of expressing one's feelings in texts written in the first person singular. In this context we may distinguish several functions of French. It is not only the language used by the elites but also, due to the influence of French literature, that of the heart, the language of introspection, and paradoxically that of becoming aware of one's national identity.

Keywords: francophonie, French as second language, French language of private life, intimacy, personal documents, semi-public communication, semi-intimate communication