Language & Nationalism in Europe

Ch 3 France: One state, one nation, one language?

Legal/institutional dominance of French

• Being challenged by the EU for the first time since the revolution

• Also being challenged on an international scale by English

• Will traditional protectionist linguistic policies continue to be effective?

France has:

• Large territory

• No official religion

• Shared historical consciousness

• Common legal/administrative system

• Common language

Some French language facts

• Language is seen a a pillar of the nation-state, as “cement”

• French became the official language in 1992, in preparation for the Maastricht treaty

• There are no adult monolingual speakers of regional languages in France (why is this important?)

• There are no official statistics on regional languages (it is illegal to gather such information, considered racist)

Some historical facts

Q: What language did the Gauls speak?

Some historical facts

Q: What language did the Gauls speak?

A: Celtic

Q: Who brought Romance (i.e., Latin that developed into French)?

Some historical facts

Q: What language did the Gauls speak?A: CelticQ: Who brought Romance (i.e., Latin that

developed into French)?A: The Romans, in the 2nd cent CEResult: Gallo-Romance, which is Latin with a

Gaulish substratum. Frankish invaders (Germanic) later (5th cent) impose Frankish superstratum

Nationalism – a French invention?

• 1790s, a post-Revolutionary idea

• Language and homeland give a sense of national belonging

• If national groups are frustrated, they may turn to terrorism, as in Corsica & Basque country

Traditionally recognized regional languages:

• Germanic: Flemish & Alsatian (NE corners)

• Celtic: Breton (NW corner)

• Non-IE: Basque (SW corner)

• Romance: Catalan (SE corner), Corsican

Regional variants that are not traditionally recognized:

• Occitan (large region of S. France)

• Franco-Provencal (mid- East)

• Langues d’oïl (N. France; controversial because they belong to the same group as standard French, but they do not enjoy rights/status)

• Arabic

• Various Creoles

Basque

• Modern descendant of Aquitanian• Basque academy & unified orthography

est. 1919• 80K Basque speakers in France• Basque immersion schools est. 1969, but

opposed by French govt.; first recognized in 1982 and first funded in 1983

• Basque straddles two states, creating conflicting loyalties

Basque, cont’d.

• “4+3=1” – a proposal to unite 4 Spanish provinces and 3 French provinces to create one Basque state

• ETA (Basque Fatherland & Freedom) established 1959 in Spain; French equivalent is Iparretarak

• Most people are against violence, but violence seems to work

Breton

• Derived from Gaulish Celtic languages• A few words survive in French (chemin, mouton) and English (budget)

• 250K speakers• Use in church helped it survive the

Revolution• 25% of male Breton speakers died in WWI• Breton schools created in 1977, funding in

1994

Breton, cont’d.

• Most people learn it as a second language today, not as a mother tongue

• Former nationalist movements have aligned with Germans (WWII) or communists

• Little nationalist aspiration today

• Focus on ties with Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic

Dutch/Flemish

• Steadily shrinking in France (but spoken in neighboring Belgium)

• 80K speakers in France, but only 2% of children in the area can speak Flemish (all can speak French)

• No legal status• No TV• One bilingual radio station has some

Flemish

Alsatian

• Germanic dialects of Alsace & Lorraine, which were part of Germany until 1918

• Intense Frenchification between wars and post WWII

• Now declining rapidly

• Alsatian is spoken, but Standard German is written and taught in schools

• Alsace d’abord movement is very small

Occitan/Langues d’oc

• Developed from Gallo-Romance• Closer to Catalan, Italian, and Spanish than to

French• 12-13M inhabitants, but how many use Occitan?

– 48% understand– 28% speak– 13% read– 6% write

Occitan/Langues d’oc cont’d.

• Occitan has no official status

• Literature dates from the 11th cent

• 13 cent there was a crusade against them

• Is it one nation or two? – Provence & Languedoc-Rousillon

• Provence literary renaissance in 19th c

• 1935 Grammaire occitane & orthography

Occitan/Langues d’oc cont’d.

• Between the world wars it was forbidden to speak a regional language in school

• Little support for political independence• Occitan immersion schools are now spreading

and very popular• Occitan is potentially a link to the world abroad:

Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan -- it is closer to all of these and thus affords an advantage

Franco-Provençal

• Also spoken in Italy and elsewhere

• Very fragmented

• Not taught in France

• No political profile in France

Catalan

• The official language of 8M people living mostly in Spain

• 180K speakers in France

• Supported in schools

• Intellectual revival since the 1960s

• Political party aims at identity, not autonomy

Corsican

• French authority resisted in Corsica• Annexed by France in 1768• Until 1950s some Corsicans did not speak

French• 143K speakers• Very strong nationalism• Front de libération national corse (FLNC)

is an active terrorist group

Regional languages -- conclusions

• EU opens up new trade relations -- Paris is no longer the sole center

• Belonging to a minority group is not incompatible with being French

• Regional languages have economic advantage due to links to other countries, giving them positive associations

Emergence of French

• Roman conquest of Gaul 125-124 BCE

• All of Gaul becomes Roman province in 51 BCE

• Acquisition of Latin very desirable

• Gaulish (Celtic) died out by end of 6th c

• 5th c Germanic migrations/invasions

• Roman Empire collapsed 476 CE

Emergence of French, cont’d.

• Conversion of Clovis, King of Franks, in 496, considered by some to be the beginning of the French nation

• Name “French” derives from Frankish• Langues d’oc were less influenced by both

Gaulish & Frankish forces• Latin became the literary language and

was taught in school in the langues d’oïl region

Emergence of French, cont’d.

• Some langues d’oïl are not mutually intelligible

• Trouble in schools -- children mix langues d’oïl with French

• langues d’oïl not recognized by gov’t until 1980s

Institutionalization of French

• France grew gradually 1229-1860• New territories had to accept French as

administrative language, but did not have to speak it

• After Revolution, language was considered essential to unify state

• Using French would “free” people from “patois” (substandard language)

Institutionalization of French, cont’d.

• All other languages were forbidden• French was considered “the perfect language”,

and spread to the courts of other countries• French, once considered egalitarian, became a

language of repression• Toubon law (1994) makes no concessions to the

regional languages• Officially there are no minorities, all citizens are

equal, strong resistance to granting legal status to minority languages

Challenges to the supremacy of French

• Threat of English– External -- English is becoming the language of

diplomacy– Internal -- Borrowings

• Protectionist linguistic policies since 1960– Each gov’t ministry has a terminological commission– Since 1990 commissions have representatives from

other French-speaking countries– Fines for failure to use French words

Legal pressures

• Toubon law imposes use of French, rejects borrowings

• Toubon law is ridiculed in the press• Toubon law is contrary to EU practice• Gradual increase in recognition of regional

languages, but Charter on Regional & Minority languages has not been ratified

• Position of French in the world is weakened• France is trying to build positive ties to former

colonies

Conclusions

• France used language to establish unity, but then there was outside pressure from English and internal resentment from minority languages

• Most minorities probably do not want separation, just recognition

• In 2000, only 2% of children were educated in a minority language