This is a question that is not so simple to answer: why did Aedui, the Allobroges and the Arverni abandon Gaulish? Because the Romans would have threatened with death anyone who did not speak the language of Cicero? You are not there. At no time did Julius Caesar and his successors take reprisals against the Gauls who remained faithful to Celtic culture. No. They resorted to a means that was much more peaceful in appearance, but extremely effective, by making Latin the language of citizenship. I wouldn’t bet on my children’s heads that these were the original words, but, in essence, they explained to them this: “You can perfectly well become citizens equal to everyone else, but it is To do this, you must master the language of the Empire.” The Gauls quickly understood the system. Only Latin allows social ascension? Go for Latin! And this is how, little by little, our “ancestors” adopted the idiom of their invader (blithely distorting it in the process, but that’s another subject).
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This is, moreover, a process that we find in almost all latitudes. Did you know, for example, that the Kamasse people, lost in the depths of Siberia, changed their language three times in fifty years, passing through successive conquests from Kamasse to Turkish, then to Russian? This is an extreme case, but sadly illustrative.
This phenomenon is called “linguistic substitution”. In other words, “the fact that an entire community learns and fluently uses a language which, originally, is not its own, abandoning step by step and definitively its original language”, according to the definition of the linguist Georg Kremnitz (In Social history of the languages of FranceRennes University Press). 99 times out of 100, it is a choice under constraint, of a physical or social nature (as for the Gauls), because a people never spontaneously abandons its language. He does this because he is placed in conditions which leave him no other possibilities.
Examples of linguistic substitution are too numerous to list all, but here are a few more:
– In South America, the Indians switched to Spanish and Portuguese because they suffered the yoke of the conquistadors.
– In Belarus, 72% of residents today speak Russian at home because Pushkin’s language remains privileged, as it was during the USSR. It is true that the (bad) example comes from above. “Nothing great can be expressed in Belarusian. There are only two major languages in the world: Russian and English”, maintains… Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko!
– In the United StatesSpanish-speaking immigrants become English-speaking within two generations because English is the most useful language for social advancement in this country (1).
– In WalloniaWalloon remained the most spoken language until the First World War. If its use has since declined in favor of French, it is because, from 1919, compulsory education took place exclusively in our language, making it the key to professional success.
– In Alsace, German was completely expelled from schools between 1945 and 1970, even though it had been present there since the Middle Ages. It was certainly reintroduced in small doses from the 1970s, but as a “foreign language”. Result: Alsatian, spoken by almost the entire population before the 1914-1918 war, is now ignored by 95% of young children…
These processes of linguistic substitution usually take place over several generations and ultimately result in either on a complete disappearance of the original language (this is the case of Gaulish), or on a situation of “diglossia”. In short: the coexistence, on the same territory, of two idioms with distinct statuses. One, “higher” functions (teaching, businesses, administrations, etc.); to others, everyday conversations. A distribution which manifests itself for example in the Maghreb, with a clear demarcation between classical Arabic (used in culture, media and religion) and dialectal Arabic, but also in France, to the benefit of French and to the detriment of languages regional.
This distribution of roles is arbitrary. It would generally have been enough for the military victory to go to the other side for the hierarchy to be reversed. It is also often accompanied by a form of propaganda. The winner assures most seriously that his language is endowed with all the qualities while that of the loser is supposed to be able to express only trivial thoughts. The most comical thing is that visions change over time. For a long time, the professors at the Sorbonne refused to see French introduced there and defended the monopoly of Latin. O tempora, o mores…
Should this be specified? Linguistic substitution is always a disaster. By making a language, which represents a creation of humanity, disappear, it results first and foremost in major cultural impoverishment. And then, less well known, it also leads to very serious and now well-documented social consequences: alcoholism, depression, suicides, disintegration of family units… This is what is observed, for example, byth World Congress on Public Health among the Aboriginals of Australia or among the Amerindians of Canada.
Ah, we almost forgot: the last speaker of Kamassian died in 1989. Russian and Turkish are doing very well.
(1) Language Shift in the United States (Language Conversion in the United States), by Calvin Veltman. By Gruyter Mouton.
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Read elsewhere
Are you tired of hearing “so” all the time? From “then” to “therefore” via “consequently”, here are 10 solutions to avoid this language tic.
Rwanda has adopted English… and welcomes it
It has been more than twenty years since Rwanda opted for the language of Shakespeare. Result ? The city of Kigali attracts new investors and finds itself at the crossroads of commercial exchanges between the English-speaking and French-speaking worlds.
The literary and solidarity operation Voyage au coeur des pages runs until January 5 at Roissy and Orly airports. Organized by Paris Aéroport in partnership with Secours populaire français, it invites travelers to take part in a large collection of books, which will be redistributed or sold for the benefit of cultural activities. It is also possible to participate without flying.
Marie-Jeanne Verny, tireless Occitanist activist
Academic, Occitanist, daughter of peasants, communist, energetic, bubbling and always militant, Marie-Jeanne Verny is a figure in the fight for cultural diversity. The Cheminez site paints its portrait.
The Breton flag returns to Nantes town hall
Seized by a citizen, who considered that the presence of a Breton flag on the town hall amounted to violating “the principle of neutrality of the public service”, justice had forced the town hall of Nantes to remove the Breton flag, in awaiting a prior decision from the municipal council. This has been done since December 6: elected officials approved the affixing of Gwenn ha du alongside the Nantes, French and European flags.
For the eighth consecutive year, the Brittany Region presented the prizes for Gallo, the other language of the region. Among the winners is the Sainte-Anne school in Romagné (Ille-et-Vilaine), which encouraged its students to write mini-plays in Gallo with their grandparents. 1,250 primary school students today study this language of Latin origin spoken in eastern Brittany.
Pass on the Burgundian-Morvandiau!
The first meeting of the working group intended to create educational tools for the transmission of Burgundian-Morvandiau (a langue d’oïl) will be held on December 18 at the Burgundy Oral Heritage House, in Anost (Saône-et-Loire) . It is open to everyone. Information: 03 85 82 77 00 or [email protected]
This is the theme of the latest work by linguist Georg Kremnitz, who is particularly interested in the relationships between dominant language and dominated language, and the notion of “self-hatred” which results from it. Published in German under the title Colonialism and Sprachenit is not yet translated into French.
Colonialism and Sprachenby Georg Kremnitz. Lehmanns Editions.
What Breton do we speak at school?
While family transmission is almost extinct, the future of Breton rests essentially on school. Problem: the language taught there is sometimes accused of being too far from that of traditional speakers. Based on field work, this work written by an academic precisely measures this gap while taking a positive look at the Breton of these new speakers.
What Breton do we speak at school?by Erwan Le Pipec, L’Harmattan
Discover Anne Mancaux’s novel written in Picard
Ech Guérdin in despair (The Desperate Garden) is the title of this novel by Anne Mancaux, winner of the 2024 Picard Literature Prize. A way of reconnecting with the prestige of this langue d’oïl which had its hour of glory at the end of the Middle Ages with authors like Adam de la Halle or Jehan Bodel. Anne Mancaux had already published a collection of haikus in Picardy.
Ech Guérdin despairè/The Desperate Garden. Novel in bilingual version by Anne Mancaux. Black Aink Editions.
We often ignore it, but Gascon was widely practiced in towns presented today as Basque, notably in Bayonne and Anglet. The proof with this pastoral (play performed in the open air by amateur actors from the same territory), entitled The challah of Nadau (The Flame of Christmas), which will be given in Gascon in the latter city on December 14 and 15 at the Quintaou theater.
What is sociolinguistics used for?
This discipline is interested in variation, linguistic norms and ideologies, multilingualism, and languages in their social context. In this work, around twenty of its representatives focus on various themes related to it and in particular the processes of domination and linguistic minority.
Sociolinguistics, what is it for? Meaning, impact, professionalization. Under the direction of Sylvie Wharton, Samuel Vernet and Médéric Gasquet-Cyrus. Editions Presses Universitaires de Provence.
To listen
Is the dictionary “always true”?
To answer this question asked by a child, the team of Little boats of France Inter called on Laélia Véron, lecturer in stylistics and French language.
To watch
What we know about the language of the Gauls
Very interesting video devoted to this subject by the Passionnés d’Histoire channel. It notably has the merit of putting Celtic civilization in perspective, by speaking of the peoples who preceded their arrival in “France” and its current heirs, notably in the United Kingdom and in “our” Brittany. It also reminds us that all our ancestors were not Gauls, but, for some, “Basques”.
MP Paul Molac is at the origin of the only law ever passed under the Fifth Republic aimed at defending regional languages. I just discovered that he sang too, and very well, as far as I could tell. Listen to him, with his group Ferzaé, filmed here by France 3 Bretagne.
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