Henriette Walter (b. Henriette Saada, 5 March 1929 in

Sfax Sfax (; ar, صفاقس, Ṣafāqis ) is a city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD849 on the ruins of Berber Taparura, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate (about 955,421 inhabitants in 2014), and a Mediterranean ...

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) is a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, emeritus professor of French at the

University of Rennes 2 Rennes 2 University (UR2; french: Université Rennes 2) is a public university located in Upper Brittany, France. It is one of the four universities in the Academy of Rennes.The two others are: UBO (Brest), Western Brittany, and UBS in Lorient - ...

, and director of the

Phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

Laboratory at the

École pratique des hautes études The École pratique des hautes études (), abbreviated EPHE, is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is highly selective, and counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions. It is a constituent college o ...

at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

. She is known for both her specialized academic work and her popular linguistics publications.

Biography

Henriette Saada was born in Tunisia to a French mother and an Italian father. She learned to handle multiple languages at an early age: at home she spoke Italian, at school she spoke French, and in the streets she heard

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and Maltese spoken. A sufferer of serious

myopia Near-sightedness, also known as myopia and short-sightedness, is an eye disease where light focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina. As a result, distant objects appear blurry while close objects appear normal. Other symptoms may include ...

, she responded by training her hearing. She is quoted as saying: "As a little girl, I liked the idea that an object could have multiple names, that emotions could be expressed in different ways." She was able to convince her parents to let her go to study English at the Sorbonne, where she performed brilliantly in the

International Phonetic Association The International Phonetic Association (IPA; French: ', ''API'') is an organization that promotes the scientific study of phonetics and the various practical applications of that science. The IPA's major contribution to phonetics is the Interna ...

examination. She married Gérard Walter, who worked with her on multiple publications and with whom she had two children, Isabelle and Éric. A decisive event in her life was meeting the linguist

André Martinet André Martinet (; Saint-Alban-des-Villards, 12 April 1908 – Châtenay-Malabry, 16 July 1999) was a French linguist, influential due to his work on structural linguistics. Life and work Martinet passed his ''agrégation'' in English and recei ...

. She became his closest collaborator and organized a workshop at the École pratique des hautes études from 1966 onwards.

Research and popularization

Henriette Walter is known for her work in phonology. She is a fluent speaker of six languages and has worked with dozens of others.

Selected publications

* Walter, Henriette. 1976. ''La dynamique des phonèmes dans le lexique français contemporain'' (Phonemic dynamics in the contemporary French lexicon). Paris: France Expansion. * Walter, Henriette. 1977. ''La phonologie du français'' (The phonology of French). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. * Walter, Henriette. 1983. La nasale vélaire /ŋ/: un phonème du français? (The velar nasal /ŋ/: a French phoneme?) ''Langue Française'' 60, 14–29. * Walter, Henriette. 1988. ''Le Français dans tous les sens''. Paris: Laffont. Translated as ''French Inside Out'' by Peter Fawcett, 1994. London: Routledge. * Walter, Henriette. 1994. ''L'aventure des langues en Occident: Leur origine, leur histoire, leur géographie'' (The adventure of the languages of the west: origins, history, geography). Paris: Laffont. * Walter, Henriette. 1997. ''L'aventure des mots français venus d'ailleurs'' (The adventure of French words with foreign origins). Paris: Laffont. * Walter, Henriette. 1998. Le Français d'ici, de là, de là-bas (French here, there and everywhere). Paris: Laffès. * Walter, Henriette. 2001. ''Honni soit qui mal y pense: L'incroyable histoire d'amour entre le français et l’anglais'' (The incredible love story of French and English). Paris: Laffont.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walter, Henriette Living people Women linguists Linguists of French Rennes 2 University faculty Paris-Sorbonne University alumni 1929 births