Assumption. We are in 2053 and France has abolished the law on secularism. From now on, there is no more neutrality of the State in the matter. Our country has an official religion, Catholicism, and refuses to grant the same status to other denominations present on its territory. To obtain a diploma, to enter a company, to become a civil servant, one must be Catholic, and only Catholic. Article 2 of the Constitution was thus modified: “The religion of the Republic is Catholicism”.
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Formally, of course, it is not forbidden to continue to be Jewish, Muslim, Protestant, Orthodox or Buddhist. No. Nor is it forbidden to transmit the faith of one’s fathers to one’s descendants. Simply, we know that they will thus be deprived of any access to social promotion. This is why teachers keep repeating it at school: “You have to break with your superstitions and convert to Catholicism. Your children’s interests are at stake.” Moreover, weary of the struggle, many families were persuaded. Reluctantly, they send their offspring to church on Sundays, read the Bible, declaim Hail Mary And Father Noster.
The highest authorities of the State welcome this development. The new President of the Republic thus declared: “By making Catholicism the only religion in the country, we have found the best way to unite our Nation and break with communalism.” To those who consider that it is on the contrary a partial choice, he replied in a peremptory tone: “In doing so, France remains faithful to the value that has guided it for centuries: equality. Indeed , it is enough to be Catholic to have access to all the diplomas and to all the posts. There is therefore nothing discriminatory there.” The applause burst out and the commentators, in their crushing majority, approved “this high quality speech”.
At this stage of this column, some of you must doubtless be wondering whether I did not press the wrong button and sent, instead of my newsletter, the article by my colleague in charge of large spiritualities. I assure you: such is not the case. Because it is now enough to take again what precedes by replacing “religion” by “language” and “Catholicism” by “French”. See what it looks like:
Assumption. We are in 2053 and France has abolished the law on linguistic secularism. From now on, there is no more neutrality of the State in the matter. Our country has an official language, French, and refuses to grant the same status to the other languages present on its territory. To obtain a diploma, to enter a company, to become a civil servant, one must master French, and only French. Article 2 of the Constitution was thus modified: “The language of the Republic is French”.
Marvel of “republican” rhetoric!
Formally, of course, it is not forbidden to speak Alsatian, Picard, Basque, Creole or Catalan. No. Nor is it forbidden to transmit the language of one’s fathers to one’s descendants. Simply, we know that they will thus be deprived of any access to social promotion. This is why teachers keep repeating it at school: “You have to break with your patois and convert to French. Your children’s interests are at stake.” Moreover, weary of the struggle, many families were persuaded. Regretfully, they practice the language of Molière at home and read books in French.
The highest levels of the state regularly welcome this development. The new President of the Republic thus declared a few days after his inauguration: “By making French the only language of the country, we have found there the best way to unite our Nation and to break with communitarianisms.” To those who consider that it is on the contrary a partial choice, he replied in a peremptory tone: “In doing so, France remains faithful to the value that has guided it for centuries: equality. Indeed , it is enough to speak French to have access to all the diplomas and all the positions. There is therefore nothing discriminatory there.” The applause burst out and the commentators, in their majority, approved “this high quality speech”.
I have no doubt that this parallel may seem excessive to some. However, I hope that it will allow others to better understand what seems to me to be a sad tricolor paradox. While France is a historically multilingual country, only one of its languages has full prestige status. Only one allows access to diplomas, jobs and social promotion. The others are relegated to the private sphere and condemned in fact to decline. And yet, looking good, those who hold power ensure that this deeply unequal policy does not pose any problem in terms of equality. Marvel of “republican” rhetoric! People will say that I have a teasing spirit, but I’m not sure they would say exactly the same thing if, by hypothesis, the nationalist Gilles Simeoni acceded one day to the Elysée and replaced French by Corsican…
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So let’s make a wish. And let’s hope that one day, France will draw inspiration from its beautiful law on religious secularism to convert a little bit to a form of linguistic secularism. And thus reconnects with another of its fundamental values, which the historian Fernand Braudel considered to be at the heart of its identity: diversity.
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Attend the next Dulala Summer School
The next Dulala summer school (“From one language to another”) will take place on July 10 and 11 at the Inalco auditorium, in Paris, and will have as its theme: “Migrations, transmission and plurilingualism – Read, write and represent linguistic and cultural diversity”. On the program: talks by authors, teachers and researchers.
TO WATCH
Such is the conviction of a group of linguists, who have just published a text on this topic in collection leaflets de Gallimard, where they challenge a number of received ideas about our language. Two of these linguists, Anne Abeillée and Julie Neveux were guests of the France Inter morning show last week.
REACT, DISCUSS AND FIND MORE INFO ABOUT FRENCH AND THE LANGUAGES OF FRANCE ON this facebook page