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French Language Policies and the Revitalisation of Regional Languages in the 21st Century

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Editors:
  1. Michelle A. Harrison

    1. School of Arts, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

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  2. Aurélie Joubert

    1. School of Arts, English and Languages, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland

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  • Provides a critical overview of republican values and French political approach to language
  • Gathers a wide range of languages, approaches and concepts about regional languages in France
  • Provides an analysis of the evolution of French regional languages and their communities
  • Demonstrates the need for institutionalism and support for linguistic minorities in France
  • Investigates the difficulties in delimiting appropriate classifications and norms for regional languages

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About this book

This edited volume presents an analysis of the evolution of French language policies and their impact on French regional languages and their communities. It gathers studies on language revitalisation from several territorial minority languages (Breton, Alsatian, Catalan, Occitan, Basque, Corsican, Francoprovençal, Picard, Reunionese) and evaluates the challenges and opportunities that they face in the 21st century. The chapters tackle different aspects of language endangerment and language planning and adopt varied theoretical and methodological approaches. The first section of the book reconsiders the difficulties in establishing linguistic boundaries and classification for some regional languages. The second section examines the important theme of the new generation of speakers with issues of transmission and identity formation and the changes they can bring to traditional communities. The third section highlights new developments in the context of new technologies and theheightened visibility of regional languages. Finally, the last section presents an overview of the contemporary situation of minority language revitalisation in France and synthesises the key trends identified in this volume: from the educational domain to the European Charter for Minority and Regional languages. This book will appeal to students and scholars of the sociology of language, sociolinguistics, language policy, minority languages and language endangerment.




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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxv
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  2. Introduction: Shifting Dynamics in French Language Policies

    • Michelle A. Harrison, Aurélie Joubert
    Pages 1-34

  3. Reconsidering Boundaries: Languages, Dialects and Translingual Practices

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 35-35
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    2. Linguistic Classification: The Persistent Challenge of the Langues d’oïl

      • Patrick Seán McCrea
      Pages 37-62

    3. Opposition to the Process of Language Identification and Standardisation in ‘Limousin Occitan’ and ‘Poitevin-Saintongeais’

      • Jean-Christophe Dourdet
      Pages 63-82

    4. Challenging Diglossic Models: Translingual Practice in La Réunion

      • Natalia Bremner
      Pages 83-104

  4. New Dynamics in the Communities: Transmission, Identity Relations and the Emergence of New Speakers

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 105-105
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    2. Evolution of Linguistic Identity in a Super-Region: The Case of Catalans and Occitans in Occitanie

      • Aurélie Joubert
      Pages 107-128

    3. Diffusion and Transmission of Francoprovençal: A Study of Speakers’ Linguistic Conscience

      • Giovanni Depau
      Pages 129-148

    4. New Speakers and Language Revitalisation: Arpitan and Community (Re)formation

      • Jonathan Kasstan
      Pages 149-170

  5. The Perception of Regional Languages: Visibility and Modernity

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 171-171
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    2. Gastronomy, Football, and Resistance: The Multi-faceted Visibility of Corsican in the Linguistic Landscape

      • H. William Amos
      Pages 173-202

    3. Picard in the Digital World: A Language That Is Seen

      • Jean-Michel Eloy, Fanny Martin, Cécile Mathieu
      Pages 203-220

    4. Publishing in a Regional Language: The Case of Breton in the Twenty-First Century

      • Hervé Baudry
      Pages 221-242

  6. The Long-Term Impact of French Public Policy and the Resistance to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 243-243
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    2. Public Language Policy and the Revitalisation of Basque

      • Jean-Baptiste Coyos
      Pages 245-264

    3. The Evolution of Regional Language Maintenance in Southern Alsace and Northern Catalonia: A Longitudinal Study of Two Regional Communities

      • Judith Broadbridge, Dawn Marley
      Pages 265-285

    4. The Influence of Teachers’ Language Attitudes on Classroom Practices in Alsace

      • Michelle A. Harrison
      Pages 287-308

    5. The langues de France and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: Keeping Ratification at Bay Through Disinformation: 2014–2015

      • Geoffrey Roger
      Pages 309-333

    6. Epilogue

      • Robert J. Blackwood
      Pages 335-341
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Reviews

“At a time when the traditional regional and minority languages of France find themselves in a state of increasing language obsolescence, this volume provides an essential critical analysis of the policy constraints that inhibit revitalisation efforts in the French context, with the aim of integrating future endeavours to reverse language shift into an existing set of Republican values and ideologies.” (Damien Mooney, Lecturer in French Linguistics, University of Bristol, UK)

“For the student of French dialectology and of France, the country’s policies on its regional languages cannot fail to be absorbing. This volume offers a near-comprehensive treatment by leading scholars of the linguistic, cultural and political aspects of the subject. The book represents the state of the art, and will be of interest to advanced students and teachers alike.” (Nigel Armstrong, Senior Lecturer in French, University of Leeds, UK)

Editors and Affiliations

  • School of Arts, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    Michelle A. Harrison

  • School of Arts, English and Languages, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland

    Aurélie Joubert

About the editors

Michelle A. Harrison is Teaching Fellow in French Studies at the University of Leicester, UK. She has published on regional language-in-education policy and the evolution of language beliefs in Alsace.


Aurélie Joubert is Lecturer in French Studies at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. She has published on language endangerment and transnational speakers’ attitudes in particular with respect to Occitan and Catalan.

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