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Standard French

Standard French (in French: le français standard, le français normé, le français neutre [Neutral French] or le français international [International French], the last being a Quebec invention) is an unofficial term for a standard variety of the French language. It is a set of spoken and written formal varieties used by the educated francophones of several nations around the world.

As French is a pluricentric language, Standard French comprises various linguistic norms (consisting of prescribed usage). The syntax, morphology, and orthography of Standard French is explained in various works on grammar and style such as the Bescherelle, a reference summary of verb conjugations first compiled in the 19th century by Louis-Nicolas Bescherelle from France, and Le Bon Usage written in the 20th century by Belgian grammarian Maurice Grevisse.

In France, Standard French is based on the pronunciation and vocabulary used in the formal registers of French in Metropolitan France.

In Quebec, it is more often called "International French" or "Radio Canada French" because of decades of a foreign, European pronunciation dominating both news and cultural broadcasts until the 1970s. In the rest of Francophone Canada, the spoken and written varieties of formal Quebec French as well as language in Government of Canada documents and speeches are viewed as Standard French. Linguists have been debating what actually constitutes the norm for Standard French in Quebec and Canada on a lexical level since research, to date, has concentrated much more on the differences from informal varieties of Quebec French and Acadian French.

French

French may refer to:

See also

French Defence

The French Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:

The French has a reputation for solidity and resilience, though it can result in a somewhat cramped game for Black in the early stages. Black often gains counterattacking possibilities on the queenside while White tends to concentrate on the kingside.

Basics

Following the opening moves 1.e4 e6, the game usually continues 2.d4 d5 (see below for alternatives). White expands his claim on the centre, while Black immediately challenges the pawn on e4.

White has several main options—he can defend it with 3.Nc3 or 3.Nd2, exchange with 3.exd5, or advance the pawn with 3.e5, which leads to different types of positions. Note that 3.Bd3 allows 3...dxe4 4.Bxe4 Nf6, after which White must concede to Black either a tempo or the advantage of the two bishops.

General themes

See the diagram for the pawn structure most typical of the French. Black has more space on the queenside, so tends to focus on that side of the board, almost always playing ...c7–c5 at some point to attack White's pawn chain at its base, and may follow up by advancing his a- and b-pawns.

Sicilian Defence

The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:

The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. 1.d4 is a statistically more successful opening for white due to the high success rate of the Sicilian defence against 1.e4.New In Chess stated in its 2000 Yearbook that of the games in its database, White scored 56.1% in 296,200 games beginning 1.d4, but 54.1% in 349,855 games beginning 1.e4, mainly due to the Sicilian, which held White to a 52.3% score in 145,996 games.

17% of all games between grandmasters, and 25% of the games in the Chess Informant database, begin with the Sicilian. Almost one quarter of all games use the Sicilian Defence.

Grandmaster John Nunn attributes the Sicilian Defence's popularity to "its combative nature; in many lines Black is playing not just for equality, but for the advantage. The drawback is that White often obtains an early initiative, so Black has to take care not to fall victim to a quick attack." Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson considered why the Sicilian is the most successful response to 1.e4, even though 1...c5 develops no pieces, and the pawn on c5 controls only d4 and b4. Rowson writes: