Language Policy In France
France has one official language, the French language. The French government does not regulate the choice of language in publications by individuals but the use of French is required by law in commercial and workplace communications. In addition to mandating the use of French in the territory of the Republic, the French government tries to promote French in the European Union and globally through institutions such as La Francophonie. The perceived threat from anglicisation has prompted efforts to safeguard the position of the French language in France.
Besides French, there exist many other vernacular minority languages of France, both in the metropolitan territory of continental Europe and in the French overseas territories. These languages are recognized by the article 75-1 of the French constitution. Corsican, Tahitian, Kanak, Breton, Gallo, Basque, Franco-Provençal, Occitan and Catalan have an official status in the regions where they are spoken while others with a very small number of native speakers do not. The 1999 report written for the French government by Bernard Cerquiglini identified 75 languages (just eight in continental France proper) that would qualify for recognition under the government's proposed ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (currently only signed but not ratified).
Read more about Language Policy In France: History, Endangered Languages, Opposition To Language Policy
Famous quotes containing the words language, policy and/or france:
“Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tip of my words. My language trembles with desire.”
—Roland Barthes (1915–1980)
“Will mankind never learn that policy is not morality,—that it never secures any moral right, but considers merely what is expedient? chooses the available candidate,—who is invariably the devil,—and what right have his constituents to be surprised, because the devil does not behave like an angel of light? What is wanted is men, not of policy, but of probity,—who recognize a higher law than the Constitution, or the decision of the majority.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“While learning the language in France a young man’s morals, health and fortune are more irresistibly endangered than in any country of the universe.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)