The Great Families of Fundamental French

Gougenheim's corpus of 3,500 words (Dictionnaire fondamental [Fundamental Dictionary], 1958) is regrouped according to word base (adjectival, nominal, verbal) & derivative type. The derivatives are classified according to their affixes. It is argued that this classification facilitates vocabulary learning & increases the didactic effectiveness of second-lang teaching as the students learn that: (1) vocabulary is a structural system subject to derivative rules, (2) various bases & derivative strategies can be found in the native lang, & (3) word gender is governed by a suffix. AA Tr & Modified by Z. Dubiel