The Linguist

24 The Linguist Vol/62 No/4 thelinguist.uberflip.com FEATURES Jack Shiers on the battle for Breton in France T he tripartite motto 'liberté, égalité, fraternité' is ingrained in the French national consciousness as a historic maxim of popular sovereignty and the meritocratic ideal. Post-revolution nation- building centralised power to foster a newfound French identity, with Breton and other French languages seen as barriers to national cohesion. Under the constitution, French was the only language of the Republic, acting as a unifying force: the égalité to speak one language overshadowed the liberté to speak one's own. Seen as archaic at best, and counter-revolutionary at worst, regional languages were thus juridically, politically and socially minoritised. Spoken in the Brittany region of northwest France, Breton went from regional hegemony to the precipice of cultural erasure, leading to the current revitalisation efforts to save it. Breton is part of the Brythonic subfamily of Insular Celtic languages and the only surviving continental Celtic language. Originating from the migration of Britons fleeing the Anglo- Saxons in the 5th century, it soon supplanted the region's native tongue, Romanticised Gaul. Following numerous military victories against the Franconians and the Normans, Brittany maintained its distinct language and culture for over 600 years. Although French influence was gradually on the rise in this period, Breton remained the primary means of communication and cultural expression. Everything changed after the revolution. The nouveau régime embraced 'francisation', encompassing a range of government and education policies, and establishing the French language as the dominant standard of the Republic. Breton, along with other regional languages, was systematically marginalised, instilling an internalised 'inferiority complex' among its speakers. The francisation efforts of successive governments turned to education reforms to inculcate the ideological ideals of the revolution, and subsequent national monolingualism, in the public consciousness. The Jules Ferry education reforms of 1882 saw secular primary education mandated, prescribing all instruction be conducted exclusively in French. Teachers thus assumed a dual role, both as educators and as agents of francisation, instructing Breton-speaking pupils in the proper use of the national tongue. To prevent the use of Breton in the classroom, non-Breton -speaking teachers were often drafted in from the Parisian metropole, effectively eliminating any possibility of Breton communication in educational settings. Punishments were used against any pupil caught speaking a regional language in the classroom, including extra homework, writing lines (commonly je ne parlerai plus breton; 'I will no longer speak Breton') and corporal punishment. Particularly humiliating was le symbole ('the symbol'), which was passed from the teacher to a child caught speaking Breton. Pupils then had to pass it on to a classmate caught speaking the language, with the pupil bearing it at the end of the school day subject to punishment. This sought not only to exclude Breton from the classroom but also to foster a culture of denunciation, which negated any attempts of Breton pupils forming alliances and encouraged ridicule towards them. The suppression of Breton in education resulted in a decline of inter-generational transmission of the language, as the younger generation were shamed into forsaking their regional linguistic heritage. Such attitudes are reflected in the cultural representation of Bretons in contemporary popular culture. An example is the children's comic strip Bécassine, published from 1905 to 1962. The protagonist and eponym of the series is presented as the archetype of Breton stupidity, peasantry and anachronism. Pierre Carron's 1940 film adaptation equally presents a characterisation of Bécassine, and paradigmatically of the Breton people, as regressive and unintelligent. Back from the brink CLARION CALL A 1911 poster with the Breton slogan Burzudus eo! ('It's miraculous!')

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