The history of linguistic legislation in France

Abstract

Aspirations towards reflecting an image of France where only one language is being spoken have a long history. Well before the concept of one nation–one language became widespread in the 19th century, French monarchs had used linguistic unification as a means of building a unified realm and a single French identity. In this respect, the histories of linguistic - national, autochthonous, historical - minorities share a great deal of similarities in France, Spain and the United Kingdom. However, while in the latter two states autochthonous minorities managed to gain a greater or lesser degree of territorial autonomy including the competence to legislate on linguistic rights, autochthonous minorities in France – with the only exception of Corsica – have no such power. Regional/minority languages were not allowed to be taught in state schools until 1951, and they have been recognized by the Constitution since only 2008. Also, France belongs to those few states which still not have signed or ratified either the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, or the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. This paper proposes to offer a detailed overview of linguistic legislation in France, and in the meantime, to dispel the myth of a monolingual France. In the last chapter, the author considers future prospects of French linguistic legislation affecting the fate of regional/minority languages spoken in the country.