[Linguistic Anthropology] Language Ownership: Does the French language belong...

[Alexandre]

[http://www.canoe.com/divertissement/celebrites/nouvelles/2008/05/23/5649766-jdm.html]
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 discourseof
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.

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Posted By Alexandre to Linguistic Anthropology at 5/31/2008 09:41:00 AM
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