page_0004

4.

wrote -

"Elle est de toutes les langues la seule qui ait
une probité attachée à son génie."

Now in our busy world of today, where a language has no frontier
guards, it is exposed to many malign influences. As I have said,
I do not think French is in such danger as English, but it is in
danger. I do not object to new words, for there is need for these
in a fast moving world. What I fear is rather the breakdown of
structure, that logical ordonnance for which the French have always
been famous. I do not even mind a certain amount of argot, for the
language of good literature is always being enriched by words
drawn from popular usage. What I want kept sacrosanct is the
structure, for on the structure depends lucidity. In the words of
a famous French critic, "Ce qui n'est pas clair n'est pas francais. ''

The real enemy is not the people but the pedants. There
are many sciences which seem to be adopting an obscure jargon of
their own, full of difficult neologisms and most cumbrous constructions.
They lack that clarity which should be the first aim in
scientific writing, perhaps because the writers are not very clear
themselves as to what they mean. This is a very great danger for
the English speech. It seems to me that with many writers, especially
in the United States, and particularly in the social sciences,
the style is becoming so congested and ugly that it is impossible
to read their works with any pleasure or real understanding. This
must never be allowed to happen to the French tongue. France has