LAF: Learning Anglo-French: French Language-Learning Manuscripts in Britain, c.1200-c.1500

中世纪英国的法语既是一种文化语言，也是第二种方言。这种不同寻常的情况使它成为了解多语言社会如何运作的关键案例。然而，这种语言在英国传播的方式仍然鲜为人知。学习英语-法语(LAF)借鉴了最近的方法论进步，以解决有关中世纪英国白话语言习得和多种语言的历史的关键问题；同时，它探索了在分析中世纪手稿和揭示其隐藏的历史方面现在有多大可能。它的中心语料库是一组在13至15世纪之间在英国制作的50多份手稿，其中包含用于教授法语的文本。LAF提出了两个值得注意的创新。首先，它对手稿的关注有别于当前的学术实践，后者倾向于将法语学习材料视为从其物质背景中抽象出来的单独文本。在LAF，每一份手稿都将被理解为包含一个具体的法语学习方案，相关材料归类在不同的星座中，有待统一研究。其次，将对这些手稿进行全面的分析，这是对任何中世纪材料都很少尝试过的，其结果将纳入一个开放获取的数据库，并通过重要出版物传播。设想的分析将包括数字药典、语言分析以及DNA和蛋白质分析。总而言之，这些调查将为历史上看似棘手但至关重要的问题找到具体的答案：法语是从哪里学来的？哪种法语？如何、由谁、在什么背景下？以互动和可搜索的格式提供数据将使人们能够在一系列领域提出新的研究问题，包括现代语言、英语研究、历史、编纂、教育、语言学和考古学。

French in medieval Britain was both a language of culture and a second vernacular. This unusual situation makes it a key case study for grasping how multilingual societies work. Yet the means by which the language was transmitted in Britain are still poorly understood. Learning Anglo-French (LAF) draws on recent methodological advances to address vital questions about the history of vernacular language acquisition and multilingualism in medieval Britain; simultaneously, it explores how far it is now possible to go in analysing medieval manuscripts and uncovering their hidden histories. Its central corpus is a group of over fifty manuscripts made in Britain between the 13th and 15th centuries containing texts used to teach French.LAF presents two notable innovations. First, its focus on manuscripts diverges from current scholarly practice, which tends to approach French language-learning materials as individual texts abstracted from their material contexts. In LAF, each manuscript will be understood as containing a specific programme of French learning, with relevant materials grouped together in differing constellations that are yet to be studied cohesively. Second, the manuscripts will be subjected to holistic analysis at a level that has rarely been attempted for any medieval materials, with results integrated into an open-access database and disseminated through high-profile publications. The analyses envisaged will include digital codicology, linguistic analysis and DNA and protein analysis. Together, these investigations will uncover concrete answers to problems that have historically appeared intractable yet crucial: Where was French being learned? What kind of French? How, by whom, and in what contexts? The presentation of data in interactive and searchable formats will enable the formulation of new research questions across a range of fields, including Modern Languages,English Studies, History, Codicology, Education, Linguistics and Archaeology.