There were many beautiful people under the august Dome of the French Academy, on this cool autumn day. The Republican Guard in full pomp; the Immortals in green clothes and even the President of the Republic who, as “protector” of the Company, was present in their capacity. The event, it is true, deserved it. This November 14, the Company gave him the last volume of the latest edition of its famous dictionary. Knowing that the previous publication dated back to… 1935, the day could legitimately be described as historic.
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To fully understand the scope of this publication, I refer readers to the rather benevolent analysis provided to L’Express by the linguist Jean Pruvost and to that, much more critical, of his colleagues in the “tract of linguists”. (see the “To read elsewhere” section). For my part, it’s a few outrageous things uttered throughout the speeches that I decided to dedicate this newsletter.
To all lords, all honor: let’s start with the head of state, who said: “[La langue française] was the making of a nation which, otherwise, escaped between its vernacular languages, its patois, its different regional languages which, for many of them, still exist, but were an instrument, fundamentally, of division of the nation” (around 55’45). Regional languages ”instrument of dividing the nation”? Nobody really understood why Emmanuel Macron had decided to launch into this strange indictment. In fact, from the origin of France to In the middle of the 20th century, multilingualism has always been the rule in our country and, as far as we know, this has not in any way prevented it from existing. Better: if our long history is punctuated by internal conflicts. , these were, depending on the case, of religious, political or colonial origin, never linguistic. On the contrary, we must remember that, during the First World War, hundreds of thousands of Poilus had poor command of the national language, but spoke. admirably Breton, Auvergne or Picardy, died in the trenches for the homeland? We will agree that it is quite strange to hear such remarks a few days after the ceremonies of November 11.
Entire in his enterprise of demonization, the Head of State did not hesitate to resort to the pejorative term “patois“, the origin of which must always be emphasized: “Gesticulate to make yourself understood with your hands like deaf-mutes” (Historical dictionary of the French language). Let us therefore remind our president that, among these so-called “patois” that he seems to despise so much, there are notably – to cite only two examples – Basque, whose richness fascinates scientists around the world, and the langue d’oc which , with its troubadours, dominated literary Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. Resorting to such a demeaning lexicon is therefore either ignorance or ethnocentrism.
With little concern for consistency, the president continued his speech by affirming that in Canada, with an English-speaking majority, the use of French in Quebec was akin to an “act of resistance”. “Resistance over time, to the reign of algorithms, to the standardization which threatens us, to the approximation, to the leveling of everything which leads to the loss of taste and sense” (around 1 h 04 min). Without realizing that he was contradicting himself! If we follow him correctly, in fact, the practice of a minority language would therefore be an “instrument of division” in France, but a “resistance to standardization” in North America With such reasoning, we understand better why the student Macron was failed in the Normale Sup entrance exam…
To my great regret, I must say that Amin Maalouf, of whom I am usually a fervent admirer, has also made many blunders. The permanent secretary of the Academy, for example, declared:
“The central State assumed the task of building a nation cemented by a common language and the values it carries” (around 37′). As I have already had the opportunity to explain, a language does not carry value. The proof? French was both the language of the monarchy and that of the Republic; that of slaveholders and abolitionists; that of the Dreyfusards and the anti-Dreyfusards; that of collaboration and Resistance… From there, I wish courage to anyone who wants to define the “values” which our national language is supposed to carry – it being understood that the reasoning also applies to German, English, Russian, Wolof or Provençal.
“Language ensures equality before the law, as Francis I understood in 1539”also said Amin Maalouf in an allusion to the order of Villers-Cotterêts (around 39′). This one is very good. Historians estimate that in the 16th century, at the time the said ordinance was signed (which was made to say what it did not say, but that’s another subject…), 80% to 90% of the population did not speak not French, but one of these so-called regional languages so frowned upon by Emmanuel Macron. Under these conditions, it is difficult to see how imposing a rare language on an entire population could be considered a mark of “equality”. To understand this, it is enough to imagine that, tomorrow, Corsican will be made the sole official language of France. Would Academicians still consider this to be a measure of “equality before the law”? That would really surprise me…
Also, for my part, I have a clear preference for this luminous quote from the linguist Philippe Blanchet: “Unity is choosing to be together when we are different. Uniformity is crushing differences to forcing people to live together. On November 14, unfortunately, the concern for uniformity visibly prevailed over the search for unity.
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READ ELSEWHERE
“Is there still a future for the Academy?”
This is the question posed in this reasoned article by the association of the “tract of linguists”, which considers the new Academy dictionary to be already outdated. “Words that have become commonplace are not included: coronavirus, chocolatine, daron, feminicide, click, keuf, smartphone, web…. And the email there is only a small hammer or a promenade planted with trees, without any reference to the word e-mail recently added online!”, we can read. Hence this conclusion: “A ninth edition, and after? Let’s stick to the site, which, indisputably, has its value today.” The authors of the text encourage the Immortals to instead engage in an enterprise of rationalizing spelling.
Breton language: eight projects financially supported by the Redadeg relay race…
The Redadeg is a relay race crossing the five departments of historic Brittany, intended to promote and raise funds for the Breton language. The organizers of the 2024 edition have just presented checks totaling 135,000 euros to eight associations, as well as to the Diwan immersive teaching network.
… but still problems with the rectorate
The Molac law provided for offering the teaching of regional languages to all students in the territories concerned. Noting its non-application in Brittany, despite the signing of a State-Region agreement, the associations Div Yezh Breizh (parents of students) and Kelennomp! (teachers) contacted the rectorate to each demand the payment of a sum of 10,000 euros in compensation for the damage suffered. First step before referral to the administrative court.
A common European language inspired by Latin?
This is the project of Marco de Grandis, who published at the beginning of the year the first grammar of the eurizianowhich retains all the essential characteristics of Latin, while simplifying them. An artificial language created in the hope of providing Europeans with a common language.
Percheron enters the Sound Atlas of Languages
Linguist Philippe Boula de Mareüil has just enriched his formidable sound atlas of regional languages by adding Percheron, a variant of langue d’oïl. A way to safeguard this intangible heritage threatened with disappearance and to celebrate cultural diversity.
Grammar of Crozant’s Crozantian speech
This descriptive grammar is the first study of this magnitude dedicated to the speech of Crozant (Creuse), practiced today by less than 50 speakers. Located in the linguistic area of the Crescent, Crozantais is found at the junction of Occitan groups (Limousin), to the south, and Oïl dialects (French and Berrichon) to the north.
Grammar of the Crozant dialect of Crozant (Creuse)by Amélie Deparis, Editions L’Harmatan
Chablis, chagrin, camel… Daniel Lacotte had fun multiplying puns based on the word “cat” in a book illustrated by Pierre Fouillet. A work more original than convincing.
Chaperlipopetteby Daniel Lacotte and Pierre Fouillet. Editions Larousse.
TO WATCH
Striking Corsican polyphony offered by the female trio A funtana. An interpretation all the more astonishing as two of the three singers, Clara Pertuy and Fanny Châtelain, are not Corsican, but respectively from Lorraine and Béarn. But both share with Muriel Chiaramonti a deep love for this island, its culture and its music.
“Imposing a single language is a characteristic of despotic regimes”
The sociolinguist Philippe Blanchet, inventor of the concept of glottophobia, has just been heard by the elected representatives of the Corsican Assembly. Here he answers questions from France 3 Corse ViaStella. Without mincing words.
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