Accent on authenticite as French fight `le franglais'

HAILED as a linguistic Joan of Arc, Jacques Toubon, France's Culture Minister, has embarked on a new campaign to kick English words out of the French language.

Mr Toubon, a leading Gaullist, presented a new bill to the cabinet this week providing for heavy fines for the use of foreign words - in the case of English, known as "franglais" - where a French word or saying would do.

Mr Toubon's draft law, which has to be approved by parliament, is the logical culmination of his campaign against the domination of what he calls "an international language drawn from English".

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