The latest publication in Gilles Siouffi’s prodigious output is a different approach to the well-trodden field of the linguistic history of France: a geographically and socially bounded take, which ‘restricts’ itself to the city of Paris. The author takes the reader through the whole history of Paris ‘depuis les Parisii jusqu’aux Jeux olympiques de 2024’ (p325). Covering these 2,000 years of history in just over 300 pages of narrative requires a deft hand, and that is what we see here.

Siouffi has spent his career so far researching the internal and external history of the French language, and its sociolinguistics, not the history of Paris particularly, so we may ask why he has now produced a work described as a history of Paris, albeit a linguistic one. The reason for this way of covering the material probably lies in the intended market for the book. It is written to be read, not primarily to be consulted as a source: though there is a copious list of sources, as thorough as we would expect in an academic book, there are no in-text citations. There is also no general index, though there is an index of languages and an index of peoples mentioned; both of which make the point that Paris is not just French and does not contain only French people. It seems clear then that this work is aimed at the educated lay reader, to be found ‘in all good bookshops’ rather than just in academic ones. The prose style, elegant, very precise, and yet lively, also attests to this.

This readership probably explains the innovative way of writing about the material: though the location of this history within the ‘frame’ of Paris is apt and does not need justification, it may also be true that the average educated reader in France is more familiar with Paris than with France’s linguistic history. Paris is therefore a good way into the material. The Conclusion states that if we want an account of the social history of French, we will in any case have to talk a lot about Paris, which for a large proportion of its history has been the largest city in France, therefore with the largest number of ‘people who speak things’, including French. But then we need to circle back and ask what is actually spoken in Paris. It certainly isn’t just French, even though Paris is also the cradle of that language, and the capital of a state which is officially monolingual in French and which has in certain periods been quite militant about that. Thus, the reason for the book’s approach is clear.

The Table of Contents of this tour de force shows how Siouffi emphasizes that Paris has never been monolingual, even as the French constitution insists that ‘La langue de la République est le français’. We start with Gaulish, Latin and the other languages spoken in Paris before French was even ‘a thing’. Chapter 2 covers the development of Paris as a commercial city, and the consequent rise to prominence of its language. Chapter 3 is on Renaissance Paris, the first time it is clear that French, as opposed to a langue d’oc, will become the most prestigious language in this country. Chapters after that (4-7) are chronological by century. The sections within them, on subjects alternating between French, other languages, and social history, make it clear that in Paris (as elsewhere) these histories are all interdependent.

The wide scope of this work means that other historians of French may be surprised by some of its emphases, or lack thereof. The Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts gets scant mention, if any; the Abbé Grégoire is mentioned on two pages, and Bertrand Barère on one. Such economies are necessary in a book wishing to cover the whole grand sweep of Paris’ linguistic history in a single, readable volume. They do not need to be defended because the brief mentions of such totemic events and figures serve the real purpose of the book: to expose the intricacy and vastness of the Parisian linguistic tapestry, in which any single item is comparatively small. It’s the overall impression that counts.

Most readers of this review will be academics, and may therefore wonder how they could use this book. They may be nervous about assigning it to students because it does not use in-text citations to place itself in the context of its field, even though it is a secondary source. Students might then mistake it for a primary source, even though Siouffi never claims that it is one. I would say that this caution is justified, but that we should then think past it and assign relevant parts of this text anyway (or encourage interested students to read the whole thing). This is a lively history of an important place and its languages, and it will do two things for the right student: it will transmit passion for its subjects, and it will tell them what to look for in other references. Thus, this book would be an appropriate addition to university libraries, even though it is not like most other books on the same shelf.

Paris-Babel: histoire linguistique d’une ville-monde is a deep, intricate guide to the linguistic and social history of Paris, written for the educated lay reader, but of great use to the right students too. It is a fitting distillation of the author’s prodigious output (so far) on the external history of French, complementing his academic studies and making them accessible to the market outside universities. I thoroughly recommend it.