“A language is a dialect with an army and a navy”Max Weinreinch, linguist. It is with this edifying quote that Michel Feltin-Palas’ book opens, a real plea for the preservation of regional languages in France, and more broadly for that of all minority languages in the world. .
Michel Feltin-Palas wishes to reaffirm it: all languages are equal from a linguistic point of view. The difference is status. He thus recalls that the word patois was only invented to discredit those who were not lucky enough to be chosen as the official state language.
But according to UNESCO, all the languages of France will have disappeared by the end of the century if we don’t change our language policy. These languages are our common heritage, it seems urgent to act to preserve them and keep them alive.
Guest :
- Michel Feltin-Palas is a journalist, editor-in-chief at L’Express magazine. He is the author of the newsletter “On the tip of the tongue” devoted to French and the languages of France, free on subscription only here. His last work Save regional languages was published by Héliopoles editions.
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