Imagine, God forbid, the Pont du Gard collapsing. And imagine that Emmanuel Macron is content to declare: “It’s boring for the Gard department, but let it manage: the state will do nothing”. We can assume that the outcry would be immense and that the President of the Republic should very quickly rectify his remarks.
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Comparison may not always be right, but in the end, this is more or less the reasoning that we seem to hold vis-à-vis the so-called regional languages, which are declining without the highest authorities being moved by it. This is why it seems useful to me this week to recall some forgotten truths (I ask the speakers of the languages that I have not mentioned to please forgive me. The reasoning is of course valid for all the languages of France):
1. Basque is the only living non-Indo-European language still spoken in France. Which means that it is the only one not to depend on the common branch from which the Latin, Slavic, Germanic, Celtic, Indo-Iranian languages come… This is why it constitutes an object of study throughout the world, where it is rightly considered as precious as an Egyptian pyramid or a Greek temple.
2. In the time of the troubadours, the langue d’oc enjoyed immense prestige throughout Europe. Its highest representatives practiced their art from Poitiers (Guillaume IX of Aquitaine), Limousin (Bernard de Ventadour) or Provence (Raimbaut of Orange) – among other examples. They certainly did not write in French, but they are indeed poets who today can be considered as Frenchinsofar as they lived in territories that now belong to France.
3. Still in the Middle Ages, Picard, which ignoramuses consider a vulgar “patois”, was a leading administrative language and a great literary language, which Adam de la Halle, Jean Froissart or Jehan Bodel glorified.
4. The unknown Frankish Moselle (or Platt), spoken as its name suggests in Moselle, is considered to be the language closest to that spoken by Clovis.
5. Breton is the only Celtic language still spoken on national territory. It is therefore the only language that links us to our Gallic past. And shouldn’t the necessary measures be taken to guarantee its future? Asterix, come back, those who lead us to Paris are even crazier than the Romans!
Is it therefore so complicated to understand that this heritage constitutes our wealth common ? To consider that, if it were to disappear, it would not only be a problem for the Basque Country, the Occitan-speaking regions, Picardy, Moselle and Brittany, but for the whole of France? And to conclude that not taking the necessary measures constitutes a scandal?
I deduce this: contrary to what is believed in the Constitutional Council, the Council of State, in the prefectural or the Ministry of National Education, those who defend Alsatian, Franco-Provençal, Norman , Corsican – yes, Corsican – Auvergne, Reunionese Creole and all the other so-called regional languages are much better patriots than those who, out of indifference or ideology, work for their disappearance. And thereby ruin the cultural heritage of the entire nation.
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When the Paul-Bocuse Institute chooses an anglicized name…
The Paul-Bocuse Institute, which specializes in hospitality and the culinary arts, has had its day. From now on, it will be called the Lyfe Institute. Lyfe? You are supposed to understand Lyon for ExcellenceEnglish style, no doubt because our friends across the Channel are renowned for the excellence of their gastronomy… This choice immediately aroused the anger of several associations for the defense of the French language.
Defending ecology in French is possible
Photovoltaic shade house, solar cadastre, shared housing, cycle route… The climate transition is giving rise to multiple technical innovations and new behaviours, which should be named precisely. Discover here the findings of specialists, published in Official newspaper on April 22, 2023.
What languages are spoken in Morocco? Arabic, of course, knowing however that it comes in classic version and dialectal versions. But they also speak Berber, French, Spanish and even English. In this work, the first of a collection of BiblioMonde editions entitled “Languages and policies”, Farid Bahri analyzes the place that each of these languages occupies in Moroccan society.
Moroccans and their languages. What speaking four or five languages means, by Farid Bahri. Editions BiblioMonde.
Gallo-Breton: the war of the panels is declared
Six Welsh language panels have disappeared in Liffré (Ille-et-Vilaine), north of Rennes. An act that seems to respond to previous thefts of panels in other municipalities, in Breton this time. The autonomist regional councilor Kaourintine Hulaud, delegate for the Welsh language calls for a “peace of the brave”.
A trilingual Breton-French-English art gallery
Talking about modern art in Breton is possible, as this trilingual Breton-French-English art gallery, founded and directed by Mari Yvenat, proves. Proof by example that the love of so-called regional languages does not necessarily lead to “withdrawal”.
I am Picard, but I take care of myself
New publication in this collection of Héliopoles editions devoted to regional identities, with this lively and subtle text by journalist Philippe Lacoche. A book that includes a sensitive chapter on the Picardy language written by Jean-Marie François, a very interesting interview with Jacques Darras on the rediscovery of Picardy literature as well as a posthumous preface by journalist Philippe Tesson.
I am Picard, but I take care of myself, by Philippe Lacoche. Editions Heliopoles.
Publication of the Limousin French-Occitan lexicon
With more than 15,000 French-Occitan entries and 25,000 entries in the opposite direction, this work centered on the Limousin lexicon is intended for those who speak this language as well as those who learn it.
Limousin French-Occitan lexicon, by Denis Chapduelh. Novelum Editions – IEO Perigòrd/Lo Permanent Congress of Lenga Occitana
Gabièu and bullfighting/Gabriel and bullfighting
Claude Gaich assures him: he has two mother tongues. French, of course, but also Occitan, the “hidden language” that his ancestors, victims of too much punishment and denigration, did not always speak to him, but which he learned to read and write. A double culture that gave birth to a book devoted to a sensitive subject: bullfighting. In a bilingual version, of course.
Gabièu and bullfighting/Gabriel and bullfighting, by Claude Gaich. Editions Edit me.
When teachers were also ethnographers
Between 1850 and 1950, teachers and professors were privileged witnesses of local societies very strongly marked by regional identities. As a result, they sometimes turned into ethnographers, that is to say, into observers of the human groups among which they lived. The sociologist Hervé Terral had the good idea of bringing together 24 period texts reflecting their discoveries in a book which also questions the progressive marginalization of the langue d’oc.
Educators and ethnographers. A look at schools and pupils in the South-West of France. 1850-1950, by Herve Terral. Editions Amis des Archives de la Haute-Garonne.
The first bilingual French-Basque public school is 40 years old
The parents’ association Ikas-Bi has just celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the first French-Basque bilingual section in the history of National Education, opened in April 1983 in Sare. A teaching which, today, represents 35% of the overall enrollment in the Basque Country. “You are the parents of the generation that will save the transmission of the Basque language”, assured Maïder Béhotéguy, departmental adviser in charge of the Basque language, on this occasion.
No, answers Sylvain Detey in this essay where he believes that we must learn to speak less and above all to speak better.
Can we really talk? From the linguistic contract as a social contract, by Sylvain Detey. Editions Armand-Colin.
Conference in Ploemeur on May 11: why speak Breton in 2023?
Many are convinced: “Breton is useless”. Hence this “logical” conclusion: let it disappear. An error of reasoning that I will try to dismantle this Thursday, May 11 in Ploemeur, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the Océanis cultural center, avenue François-Mitterrand. A conference organized as part of the university of free time.
TO LISTEN
Exchanges between languages have always existed, and that’s very good… except when these exchanges turn into domination, which has been the case with Anglo-American for several decades. An example among a thousand with Anglicism digitalwhich tends to replace “digital”, when it means “which relates to the fingers”, as Muriel Gilbert reminds us in her RTL column candy on the tongue.
TO WATCH
Let’s give back to the Gauls what belongs to the Gauls! Jacques Lacroix, specialist in this Celtic language, recalls in this video that “our ancestors” bequeathed to us a host of place names and terms still used today. This is particularly the case of “borne” (unrelated to the Prime Minister), which comes from the Gaulish Bodina.
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