AP French Language · Unit 2

La quête de soi: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)

35 flashcard terms for AP French Language Unit 2, written to match the course framework. Study them here, then drill them as interactive flashcards, or test yourself with the 20-question quiz — free, no account needed.

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La quête de soi: AP theme covering identity: language, nationality, beliefs, gender, and belonging. Prompts often ask how identity is shaped by community and culture.
L'identité linguistique: Sense of self tied to the language one speaks; central to Québec, Belgium and francophone Africa where French coexists with other languages.
La loi 101: Charte de la langue française (1977) making French the official language of Québec and requiring French on signs and in most schooling.
L'Académie française: Institution founded in 1635 by Richelieu that guards the French language and publishes the official dictionary; its 40 members are 'les Immortels'.
La loi Toubon: 1994 law requiring French in advertising, workplaces and public documents in France to protect the language against anglicisms.
Le franglais: Mixing of English words into French (le week-end, un mail); debated as either enrichment or threat to identity.
Le verlan: Slang that inverts syllables (femme → meuf, louche → chelou); a marker of youth and banlieue identity.
Le créole: Languages born from contact between French and African languages in Haïti, Martinique, Guadeloupe and La Réunion; co-official in Haïti since 1987.
L'alexandrin: Twelve-syllable verse line, not identity itself but the classical vehicle for French self-expression from Racine to Hugo.
Le multiculturalisme vs. l'intégration: France officially favors a universalist Republican integration model rather than recognizing separate communities.
Le droit du sol: Citizenship acquired by birth on French soil (with residence conditions), contrasted with le droit du sang based on parentage.
La double culture: Experience of second-generation immigrants navigating heritage culture at home and French culture at school; theme of many films and songs.
Le voile et l'école: 2004 law banning conspicuous religious symbols in public schools, a flashpoint for debates about laïcité and identity.
La négritude: Literary movement of the 1930s led by Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor and Léon Damas affirming Black identity and rejecting colonial assimilation.
Léopold Sédar Senghor: Poet and first president of Senegal (1960-1980), first African member of the Académie française; championed francophonie as cultural dialogue.
Aimé Césaire: Martinican poet and politician, author of Cahier d'un retour au pays natal; coined the term négritude.
L'égalité femmes-hommes: Ongoing goal: French women gained the vote in 1944, the parity law of 2000 required gender-balanced candidate lists.
Simone de Beauvoir: Philosopher whose Le Deuxième Sexe (1949) argued 'On ne naît pas femme, on le devient', foundational for gender identity debates.

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L'écriture inclusive: Gender-inclusive writing (les étudiant·e·s); contested by the Académie and banned in official documents by a 2017 circular.
Le pronom iel: Gender-neutral pronoun added to Le Robert online in 2021, sparking national debate about language and gender identity.
L'adolescence: Period of identity formation; vocabulary includes s'affirmer, se rebeller, l'estime de soi, la pression des pairs.
Le rite de passage: Ceremony marking a transition, e.g., le baccalauréat, le permis de conduire, or initiation ceremonies in West African cultures.
Le baccalauréat: Exam ending lycée, created by Napoléon in 1808; passing it is a national rite of passage and required for university.
L'aliénation: Feeling of estrangement from one's culture or self, explored by Frantz Fanon in Peau noire, masques blancs.
Frantz Fanon: Martinican psychiatrist and thinker who analyzed the psychology of colonized identity and later supported Algerian independence.
Les valeurs de la République: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité; plus laïcité — the shared civic identity taught in French schools.
Le patrimoine: Cultural heritage (monuments, cuisine, language) that anchors collective identity; les Journées du patrimoine open sites each September.
L'accent: Regional or foreign accent as identity marker; a 2020 law made accent discrimination (la glottophobie) illegal in France.
Les langues régionales: Breton, occitan, alsacien, corse, basque; taught optionally but limited by Article 2 of the Constitution declaring French the language of the Republic.
Le Québécois: Variety of French with distinct vocabulary (char, magasiner, blonde) and pride tied to survival as a francophone minority in North America.
La Révolution tranquille: 1960s modernization of Québec that secularized institutions and asserted a francophone Québécois identity ('Maîtres chez nous').
L'expression de soi sur les réseaux: Building identity online through Instagram or TikTok; vocabulary: se mettre en scène, l'image de soi, l'anonymat.
Le pronom on vs. nous: In spoken French on replaces nous ('On y va'); knowing this register shift signals authentic self-expression.
Les verbes pronominaux: Reflexive verbs used to talk about oneself: se sentir, s'identifier à, se définir; in passé composé they take être.
Le passé simple: Literary past tense found in the texts of Césaire or Camus; recognize il fut, ils eurent, elle alla for reading comprehension.

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