The Minister of Culture pays tribute to the memory of Pierre Encrevé, whose action was innovative for language policy in France.
He could have been satisfied with a great scientific career. A linguist recognized internationally for his contributions to phonology and sociolinguistics, he has inspired in France most of the major linguistic policy orientations of the last thirty years.
Advisor to Prime Minister Michel Rocard, then to the Minister of Culture Catherine Trautmann, he notably accompanied the creation of the General Delegation to the French Language, the rectifications of the Spelling of 1990, the Committee for the Simplification of the Administrative Language, the European Charter for the Protection of Regional and Minority Languages.
A companion of great French intellectual figures, he notably drew up the catalogue raisonné of Pierre Soulages' work and worked hard to prepare the Louvre exhibition for the painter’s 100th birthday.