LL-L: "Language policies" LOWLANDS-L, 23.FEB.2000 (03) [E]

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From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: LL-L: "Language policies" LOWLANDS-L, 23.FEB.2000 (03) [E]

Olivier Engelaere wrote in response to my endeavor to grasp French language
policies:

> I think that _all_ minority languages are on the same level once they have
> been recognized. There are school in Occitan, Bask, Corse and Catalan.
> Concerning this apparent contradiction that is pointed by Ron, there is > none
> ! La Langue de la République est le français. It means that minority
> languages belong to the french language, that's very easy to undestand ! > In
> other words, the minority languages are a part of the official language > that
> is French. Perhaps is it not true on a scientific level, but well on a
> political one.

Either I am just slow on the uptake or the concept is not quite as "easy to
understand !" as you seem to assume, certainly not to someone who is not or
rarely exposed to French information and thinking modes.  I do not want to
belabor it or want you to become impatient with me, but I am genuinely trying
to understand the concept, since it makes no sense whatsoever scientifically.
Certainly technically speaking, German dialects (Germanic), Breton (Brythonic
Celtic) or Basque (sole representative of a language family) can not, even in
one's wildest fantasies, be considered parts of the French language.  It would
be similar to Germany declaring e.g. Danish (north germanic) and Sorbian (West
Slavic) "parts of German," which I don't think anyone would ever propose.  I
could understand it if, for political reasons, all of these languages,
including French, were considered "French languages," namely "the (national)
languages of France."  This would be similar to "the Chinese languages" or
"the languages of China", e.g., Mongolian, Uyghur, Zhuang, Dai, etc. being
"Chinese languages" or "the languages of China," which does not make them
parts of the actual Chinese language as represented by Standard Mandarin.  But
how can the minority languages of France be "a part of the official language
that is French"?  As though they were French dialects?

Greatly puzzled.

Reinhard/Ron

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