The French language, a common good
As a pillar of our culture, the cement of our society and the “world language”, French is our collective responsibility. A strong responsibility that requires the commitment of all and a policy adapted to contemporary issues, to promote the sharing, mastery and creativity of our language.
A pledge of national unity
Historically, France has been built on a complex relationship with the French language and the languages practised on its territory. From a multilingual space in which the language of the court has long rubbed shoulders with regional languages, it has become over the centuries a state in which French is a guarantee of national unity.
The development of a common language
In 1539, François I signed an ordinance at the castle of Villers-Cotterêts which imposed the use of French for acts of justice and civil status, instead of Latin. French unification, begun in the 16th century, accelerated with the French Revolution. The war of 1914-1918, by gathering in the trenches soldiers from different regions of France, contributed to the development of French in all layers of society, strengthening the «Republic one and indivisible». Finally, starting in the 1960s, the French language became established in all areas, thanks to the widespread access to television, which encouraged a unification of language practices.
An issue at the heart of citizens' concerns
89% of French people consider that the use of French is useful to guarantee social cohesion (CREDOC French Language Perception Surveys (2020-2022)
France has a long tradition of intervening on language, “the business of the state”. It is the Republic that imposes French as a national language. Over the past 50 years, the development of European integration, the internationalization of trade and the acceleration of technological innovations have led the legislator to introduce in 1992 the principle that “the language of the Republic is French”. All citizens have the democratic right guaranteed by law to receive information and to express themselves in their language. This right is not exclusive to the use of other languages, regional or foreign, in a country rich in its diversity.
The cement of society, the French language is a sensitive subject for many of our fellow citizens. Our collective care for our language contributes to the republican bond.
To go further:
Language of the Republic, national passion, subject of debates, vector of social link... French is the subject of many citizen expectations. Two exclusive interviews with linguist Bernard Cerquiglini and Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, Perpetual Secretary of the Académie française, to be found in the Report to Parliament on the French Language 2023.
For the DGLFLF, linguist Bernard Cerquiglini discusses the historical passion of French people for their language and explains the debates it provokes.
The identity of France, said Michelet, is its language; it is also its noblest passion. State religion of a secular republic, national sport (timeless success of dictation competitions), incessant quarrel (from circumflex accent to inclusive writing), language is the cement and threshold of the nation.
The reasons for such a passion are diverse. They are moral: Germanized Romanesque language, French has lost its natural link with Latin and has rebuilt it from scratch (etymological spelling, etc.): one reveres the idol of which one is the artisan. They are political: the favor of the state, whether royal, imperial or republican, for language was a constant, from the edict of Villers-Cotterêts to the Francophonie. State centralism responds to an imperious monolingualism, in defiance of the rich national linguistic heritage.
Finally, they belong to the cult of the standard established by seventeenth-century grammar, taken up without fright by the school of the Republic. Social worship: for Vaugelas, the «good use» was a matter of social elitism and courtesan training. Ambiguous cult: the linguistic insecurity that so many French people feel is due less to the subjugation of the absolute monarchy than to the blurring of the prescription. Who defines the standard today? The French Academy (legal), the school (by function), social networks (de facto)?
Doubt reinforces the purist fantasy and the idea of decline feeds a reluctance to change, neglecting the wealth of a idiom that has become global. Now the French now enjoys a universality of which Antoine de Rivarol in the eighteenth century had not dreamed: spoken by three hundred million humans, it should arouse a much more generous affection. Attachment to global French invites the movement to move away from a fixism of the norm, to enrich itself with varieties and usages. The French language, a passion for the French language, is undoubtedly the most honourable way to defend and promote it.”
For nearly four centuries, the French Academy has been constantly observing and accompanying the emergence and changes of our language. Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, Perpetual Secretary of the Académie française, discusses the institution’s role in the often lively national debate on language.
How do you explain the French passion for language?
H. C. E. | The French Academy, which receives many language questions, is well placed to note that our language is not the object of a blissful consensus or, even worse, of a fixed and mechanical practice. Speaking, writing in a language presupposes being open to its possibilities, appreciating its accuracy, nuances, difficulties. French, since it has been extracted from Greek and Latin, has never ceased to build itself between reason and feeling, and to feed on lively quarrels. French is not an acquired language, but a language composed – to paraphrase Mona Ozouf – by those who practice and reflect on it.
What authority does the Académie française have?
H. C. E. | The longevity of the Académie française gives it the necessary perspective to put into perspective the transient movements that sometimes destabilize the speakers of a language. Beyond ideologies, geopolitical dominances that want to impose, the Academy is content to collect: its task is to identify a common use of French. It sets out rules and recommendations that guide this use, within its dictionary, and even outside it if necessary, as the sovereign authority it is in the matter. It is a similar educational requirement that led her to create in 2019 a digital portal bringing together the nine historical editions of her dictionary: three and a half centuries of mutations of our language are thus offered to the knowledge of all.
What is its role in the face of language changes?
H. C. E. | The French language is changing; is it disfigured? With regard to language, the Académie française is careful not to intervene; it simply ensures that French retains its coherence in the memory of its history. More than anything, it preserves linguistic continuity between generations. Language is ours and survives only if it can be transmitted and arouse a creative desire. When these two conditions are threatened, the Academy has the responsibility to alert of a possible danger.
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