Although no less than 75 different
languages are spoken in France, there is only one official
language: French. But there are Flemish speakers, Basque, Corsican,
Arabic and Berber speakers and in some overseas departments even
Creole languages are spoken. This diversity in languages was always
considered to be a threat to unity. But that idea is slowly
changing.
Very reluctantly France became a signatory to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 1999, seven years after it was drafted. But it seems unlikely that the French government will ratify the Charter. President Jacques Chirac staved that off by pointing out that two years ago the Constitutional Council judged ratification to be unconstitutional.
The Council considered ratification possible, but only after a change in the constitution. And at the moment, nobody is prepared to do that. The present constitution does not allow judges to pass sentence in Breton or documents of employment agencies to be printed in Corsican.
Henri Plagnol,
a French MP, vehemently opposes ratification. "Learning English,"
he says, "is a lot more beneficial to children than learning a
regional language. Moreover, an open field for regional languages
will strengthen independence movements."
Marginal
But in the Breton village of Huelgoat people
would disagree with that. Mr Tanguy teaches at a ‘Diwan
school', a Breton school that is partly state and partly privately
funded. "There are still 300,000 to 400,000 Breton speakers and
really, they are not all in favour of independence for Brittany. On
the contrary, the independence movement is no more than a marginal
phenomenon", Tanguy notes.
No embarrassment
He has noticed an increasing
popularity of the Breton language. "In the mid-nineties there was a
wave of Breton music in Brittany. It was immensely popular with
young people and it made them start speaking Breton again without
feeling embarrassed."
Humiliation
Speaking Breton used to be
against the law. Tanguy: "People of about seventy years of age
remember the harsh punishment you received if you did. They would
hang a clog around your neck to say that you are a peasant and so
humiliate you. The generation that had to suffer all that did not
want their children to go through the same thing so they didn't
teach them any Breton. They also hoped that as French speakers
their children would do better than they did themselves."
Official recognition
In France there are two currents
that are diametrically opposed: those in favour of a strong
centralised state and those advocating decentralisation. The latter
group seems to be gaining influence, which would be an advantage to
regional languages. The Education secretary Jacques Lang for
example, argues in favour of official recognition of the Diwan
schools. He also wants to see to it that this form of education
gets proper funding. Bernard Poignant, languages observer and
former mayor, thinks Breton should not be compulsory. "It should be
optional", he says and adds that "regional languages should not be
oppressed because that would be grist to the mil
Tags: Breton, europe, european union, France, language