Linguistic Anthropology

The study of language has been part of anthropology since the discipline started in the 1ate 1870s. This site is a place for linguistic anthropologists to post their work and discuss important events and trends in the field.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Language Ownership: Does the French language belong to France?

Praising the work of a French-speaking singer from Charlemagne, Quebec, France's current president Nicolas Sarkozy revealed an interesting attitude toward the French language. Through a complex rhetoric, Sarkozy seemed to imply that the French language is, somehow, associated almost exclusively with the state of which he has been president for just over a year.

Céline Dion was recently awarded the title of «chevalier de la Légion d'honneur» (Knight of the Legion of Honour) by Sarkozy. In a speech he gave during the event, Sarkozy made several comments about languages and nations. I haven't located a complete transcript of Sarkozy's speech but several of the comments made have been covered by media outlets on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
For instance, in Agnès Gaudet's transcription, in Quebec's Canoë news outlet (emphasis mine):
«La France vous remercie, a-t-il dit, car vous contribuez par votre succès et votre talent à faire rayonner notre langue au-delà de nos frontières, sur tous les continents, alors que la tendance partout dans le monde est de s'aplatir sur un seul modèle, une seule langue.»
My semi-literal translation:
"France thanks you, said he, because you contribute through your success and your talent to making our language radiate beyond our borders, on all continents, while the tendency everywhere in the world is to flatten ourselves out on a single model, a single language."
«Faire rayonner» is idiomatic. Its literal meaning is "to make radiate" but it usually refers to acts which "give exposure to," "increase widespread knowledge of," "expand the horizons of," or "spread the word about" some social institution. Journalists have been translating this part of the speech in different ways:
  • "her talent and success has contributed to the influence of the French language outside of France's borders." (NBC Philadelphia)
  • "France thanks her as because of her talent and success; the influence of French language has increased outside the nation’s borders." (IndiaServer)
  • "for spreading the French language beyond their borders." (Mister-info.com)
In all versions, the association between the French language and the French territory (defined by national borders) remains intact. And this association triggered, for me, some thoughts on language and nationalism.
The "French=France" association seems problematic given the fact that (according to Ethnologue, among others), there are more native and second-language speakers of the French language outside of France than there are French-speakers in France. La Francophonie goes much beyond France's borders as it officially includes 68 member states and governments.
While the French language has had national recognition in France since 1539, other languages have been and are still in use through the French territory. Since the French Revolution, the expansion of the language throughout La République française's territory has been long and partly coercive (Holsti 1995, citing Hobsbawm). During the 20th Century, French has almost become the exclusive language of France with (judging from Ethnologue's statistics for France) around 85% of the French population speaking French natively. Yet, to this day, other languages still share the French national territory. Surely, France's language planning and language policies must take all of these elements into account...
Granted, Sarkozy has not said that Dion is unique in "making French radiate outside of France" or that speaking the French language is an exclusively French prerogative. In fact, the thrust of his speech seems to be that the French language should be spoken by more people, worldwide. But the implication remains that, somehow, the French language belongs to the country of France. By «notre langue» ("our language") and «nos frontières» ("our borders"), Sarkozy was referring to an imagined community which excludes more people than it includes.

It's especially interesting to note that Sarkozy situated his speech in the context of linguistic plurality. Comments about a "single model" and a "single language" seem to emanate from a fear of linguistic domination (and dominance) which goes much beyond France or La Francophonie. But other comments Sarkozy made during the same speech are more marked and specific.
For instance, Sarkozy explicitly avoids pitting French against English.
A partial transcription from France's Libération:
«Il faut comprendre que si nous sommes tellement attachés» à la langue française, «ce n’est pas par opposition à l’anglais», a dit M. Sarkozy, pour qui le «monde est plus heureux avec plusieurs langues» car «la diversité est une richesse».
My semi-literal translation:
"It must be understood that if we are so attached to the French language, it is not by opposition to English," said Mr. Sakozy, for whom the "world is happier with various languages" as "diversity is a resource."
Mister-info.com translation:
"We must understand that if we are so committed" to the French language, "we are not opposed to English," said Sarkozy, for whom the world is more pleasant with several languages "because diversity is a treasure. "
"Treasure" seems like an appropriate translation for «richesse» in this context but «richesse» also means "resource," as in «richesse naturelle» ("natural resource") and "wealth" or "richness." In a political context, «la diversité est une richesse» easily resonates with a discourse
of resource management.

Unsurprisingly, Sarkozy's speech seems to have been politically motivated at several levels. He apparently made a special effort, this time, to talk about both Quebec and Canada. According to Montreal's Le Devoir, Sarkozy has used this speech to refine his message about France's position toward both Quebec and Canada:
«Je fais partie de ces Français qui considèrent que le Québec sont nos frères et que le Canada sont nos amis. Je n'oppose pas les deux.»
Semi-literal translation:
"I am among those Frenchmen who consider that Quebec are our brothers and that Canada are our friends. I don't oppose both."
The Agence France Presse version (through Yahoo! Québec) ends by «nous avons besoin des deux» ("we need both").
Christian Rioux, in Montreal's Le Devoir has a more elaborate version, which makes more grammatical sense and seems more neutral.
«Je sais les liens très forts qu'il y a entre le Québec et la France. J'aurai l'occasion de venir très bientôt dire tout ce que je pense de cette histoire. Le Québec, c'est notre famille. Le Canada, ce sont nos amis. Et moi, je veux plus pour les deux.»
Semi-literal translation.
"I know the very strong links which exist between Quebec and France. I will have the opportunity to come very soon to tell all of what I think about this history. Quebec, it is our family. Canada, they are our friends. And me, I want more for both."
Says Rioux, in this same article from Le Devoir, a previous speech of Sarkozy's, giving equal status to both Quebec and Canada, had been received negatively. The political impetus behind his speech seemed clear to those journalists.

According to Radio-Canada and others, Dion was awarded the Légion d'honneur in 2005, before Sarkozy became the French president (May, 2007). It thus sounds like Sarkozy used a ceremony planned before his presidential mandate to make revealing statements about languages and nations.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

23 Comments:

Blogger Bryce Wesley Merkl said...

Very interesting comments on the French language! Here's site you might find interesting:

Français wiki browser

1:21 AM  
Blogger Sarah said...

Nicolas Sarkozy has a rather interesting record of language use and the points you made about his bordered understanding of Francophonie fascinated me. The excerpts that you singled out reveal how he speaks in his personal name rather than in the name of France and how he frequently relies on an in-built idea of opposition or division, whether it is through the direct use of the word (“oppose”) or through “I am one of those men who do” (as opposed to whom?) which is also contrasting with the ideas of Francophonie and diversity (here the “richesse”). This was an enlightening post.
PS: May I add that he is not the best ambassador of the French language. This may sound odd considering his speech writers are fine wordsmiths, but I cannot think of one occasion where he didn’t commit a syntax or grammar mistake, or, worse, the casual “anglicisme”. Oulala !

5:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wasn't aware of this award to Celine Dion, she is amazingly talent and wow her voice is just magical.


------------------------------------------
generic viagra

1:42 PM  
Blogger stevesmith said...

Hi,
Nice information posted here.. Really very interesting.. Thanks for sharing ..

http:///www.expressmedsrx.com

2:26 AM  
Blogger JohnHawk1989 said...

Wow really nice one post........!
Generic Viagra

2:54 AM  
Blogger jaring futsal dan rumput futsal said...

Thanks for sharing nice information with us
jaring futsal | jaring golf | jaring pengaman proyek |
jaring pengaman bangunan | jaring pengaman gedung
http://www.agen-jaring.blogspot.com/
http://www.toko-jaring.blogspot.com/
http://www.pusat-jaring.blogspot.com/
http://jualjaringpengaman.blogspot.com/
https://pancasamudera.wordpress.com/
https://pasangjaringfutsal.wordpress.com/
https://jualtambangmurah.wordpress.com/
https://tokojaring.wordpress.com/
https://jualjaringfutsal.wordpress.com/
https://jaringfutsal.wordpress.com/



7:52 AM  
Blogger Ishu Sathya said...

French is the third most widely used language in the world after English and German. What you said on your blog is absolutely correct. Thank you for the wonderful blog on the scope of learning the French language.

Regards:

French Classes in Velachery |
French Class in Chennai

5:20 AM  
Blogger Mirnalini Sathya said...

French is the most widely used across the world in various industries like organizations, business, education etc,. Keep updating for more updates on the French language. Thanks to admin.
Regards:
French Training Institute in Chennai
Best French Training in Chennai

5:44 AM  
Blogger svrtechnologies said...

Very Nice Salesforce Training Online

11:29 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Great one..Risk management consulting services
ROI consultant minnesota
consulting company minnesota

11:36 AM  
Blogger Selfless said...

Love your blog post.I'm really, in actuality acquisitive that Mobile will be hugelly acknowledged and accompany in luggage (RuneScape gold or even tens of thousands)of new players. I wish to see that this daring progressing with new players enjoy how it appeared to be.But, and I apparently finish a bit bleak but I receive the action that rs3 Mobile will not be acknowledged as abounding apprehend it to be.

3:25 AM  
Blogger peter x said...

Mobile RS Gold& Cheap OSRS Gold & RS Accounts For Sale
FAST & CHEAP & SAFE(24 Hours online service)
5% Discount Code: rs2hot
7% DM Seasonal Gold Code: OSDMS
[url=https://www.rs2hot.com/rs2007-gold/]old school rs gold[/url]
[url=https://www.rs2hot.com/runescape-gold/]cheap runescape gold[/url]
[url=https://www.rs2hot.com/runescape-gold/]buy rs gold[/url]
[url=https://www.rs2hot.com/rs2007-gold/]buy rs gold[/url]
[url=https://www.rs2hot.com/]buy rs gold[/url]
[url=https://www.rs2hot.com/rs2007-gold/]07 Rs Gold[/url]
[url=https://www.rs2hot.com/runescape-gold/]Runescape 3 Gold[/url]
[url=https://www.rs2hot.com/rs-account/]RS Accounts[/url]
[url=https://www.rs2hot.com/rs-account/]Runescape accounts[/url]
[url=https://www.rs2hot.com/rs-account/]buy Runescape accounts[/url]
[url=https://www.rs2hot.com/rs-account/]Cheap Runescape accounts[/url]
[url=https://www.rs2hot.com/]osrs gold[/url]

12:04 AM  
Blogger peter x said...

runescape gold
runescape gold
buy runescape gold
buy runescape gold
old school rs gold
cheap runescape gold
buy rs gold
buy rs gold
buy rs gold
07 Rs Gold
Runescape 3 Gold

12:04 AM  
Blogger Krish said...

realy great...
Python Internship
Dotnet Internship
Java Internship
Web Design Internship
Php Internship
Android Internship
Big Data Internship
Cloud Internship
Hacking Internship
Robotics Internship

1:25 AM  
Blogger Krish said...

NICE...
Selenium Testing Internship
Linux Internship
C Internship
CPP Internship
Embedded System Internship
Matlab Internship

2:01 AM  
Blogger Arjunreddy said...

great.

FREE Internship in Nagpur For Computer Engineering Students
Internship For MCA Students
Final Year Projects For Information Technology
Web Design Class
Mechanical Engineering Internship Certificate
Inplant Training For Mechanical Engineering Students
Inplant Training Certificate
Ethical Hacking Course in Chennai
Winter Internship For ECE Students
Internships For ECE Students in Bangalore

12:37 AM  
Blogger subha said...

Extremely helpful post. This is my first time i visit here. I discovered such a large number of intriguing stuff in your blog particularly its exchange. Truly its extraordinary article. Keep it up...i really enjoy to read
Ai & Artificial Intelligence Course in Chennai
PHP Training in Chennai
Ethical Hacking Course in Chennai Blue Prism Training in Chennai
UiPath Training in Chennai

11:17 PM  
Blogger Sowmiya R said...

Learned a lot from your blog. Good creation and hats off to the creativity of your mind. Share more like this.
Oracle Training | Online Course | Certification in chennai | Oracle Training | Online Course | Certification in bangalore | Oracle Training | Online Course | Certification in hyderabad | Oracle Training | Online Course | Certification in pune | Oracle Training | Online Course | Certification in coimbatore

12:38 PM  
Blogger Hussey said...

Extraordinary Blog. Provides necessary information.
best selenium training center in chennai
​​best training institute for selenium in chennai

7:20 AM  
Blogger Matt Reeves said...

Great post. Thanks for sharing such a useful blog.
Android Training in Anna Nagar
Android Training in Chennai

4:20 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing your precious time to create this post, it's so informative, and the content makes the post more interesting. Appreciated. I would like to share my latest article with you on Space invaders. Space invaders game is developed in 1978 and it’s an arcade game. It is one of the most prominent video games.

1:16 AM  
Blogger TRONIX said...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Nice blog article

Aws training institution with real-time projects

11:56 PM  
Blogger vv software said...

Nice blog...We value the devotion you have shown to this site. Anticipate further excellent material.
keep posting more

4:37 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home