France’s L’Académie Française upset by rule to recognise regional tongues
17th August 2008
You would think that they were “activists”.
A parliamentary vote has led to more than 20 regional languages now being officially recognised by France’s constitution for the first time in history, horrifying those who see France’s single tongue as its unifying force.
Oh, no. The forces of centralization and uniformity have suffered a perhaps fatal blow.
The revolution has been brought about by lobbying from an unlikely alliance of minority groups, including Corsican nationalists, Breton druids, Germanic-leaning Alsatians, and even romantic poets from the southern Languedoc region.
What, riff-raff can lobby? Whoda thunkit.
Despite furious opposition from L’Académie, Article 75 of the revised constitution now states that all the languages “are part of France’s heritage”. As a result, French tax payers also face a multi-million Euro bill to make everything from road signs to menus into “regionally acceptable” dual-translation form.
No good deed goes unpunished. Nowhere is it explained, of course, why, just because a language is recognized as part of the national heritage, every conceivable nook and cranny of the government bureaucracy has to accommodate it. Why, you’d think they were becoming Americans. Or perhaps that Americans were becoming Europeans. I’m becoming confused….