News
Concerning the debate on regional languages at the French National Assembly: a law to ratify what is being done and a possible amendment to the Constitution
On the past 8th of May, 2008, regional languages were the topic of a debate at the National Assembly, following a declaration by the Government. Did this constitute a historic debate? It is true that it is the first time since 1958, since the birth of the 5th Republic, that this subject is debated.
The Minister of Cultural Affairs and Communication declared that it was so and led the debate. She promised a law in support of languages for 2009 at the latest. Importantly, there had only been one law in France, the law on the Teaching of Languages and Local Dialects in 1951, known as the Deixonne Law (see http://www.gipuzkoaeuskara.net/albisteak).
Let's see why this legal initiative should not change much and why -and this would be worse still- the current law could be a pretext not to go any further, in particular for not ratifying international and European texts supporting regional or minority languages.
The first point is that during the debate, Christine Albanel, the Minister of Cultural Affairs and Communication, said that there would be no modification to article 2 of the Constitution of 1958. The amendment to this article ratified in 1992 stipulates that "The language of the Republic is French". As it is, this amendment to article 2 has become today the mail legal obstacle to regional languages, with the Conseil d'Etat (State Council) and the Conseil Constitutionnel (Constitutional Council) using it to impede the progress of these languages. For example, on 15 June 1999, the Constitutional Council stated that the European Charter of regional or minority languages clashed with the Constitution, after making a restrictive reading of the article 2 amendment. The Charter was therefore not ratified even though France had signed it. Along this line, the Minister has said that there would be no attempt to ratify the Charter, affirming that France was not going further than its objectives.
Let's now examine what would be, according to the Minister, the content of this new law. «What we therefore need is a reference point. The Government will propose to you a text of law (…) which may summarise the existing law and enter into the concrete realm, in the media, (…) in education, in public signalisation, or in toponymy. This is the approach of the Government to increase the role of regional languages on our territory and guarantee their validity: to allow rather than constrain, to incite and develop rather than to impose». (Declarations and complete debate: www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/cra/2007-2008/153.asp, 2nd part).
It will be necessary to take into consideration that this new law will still not challenge article 2 and, therefore, that there will be no progress either on the legislative or concrete actions front. The fate of regional languages will remain as before in the hands of local public administrations and associations that work to their benefit. The immersion teaching method will always be contrary to the Constitution, as a result of a debate held by the State Council on 29 November 2002, even if the state now pays for teaching appointments in the immersion sector. However, the law will offer a framework and a basis for reference that didn't exist previously.
The same linguistic policy has not been applied to each regional language throughout France. And, as a consequence, these languages are not all in the same situation. Basque is that which benefits from the most advanced policy, in particular in teaching, linguistic planning, and bilingual road signs. When all is said and done, it is not clear in what way this new law would benefit the language, further than merely legalising what is already being done. This is the inevitable conclusion: the regional languages of France would remain unofficial and without legal status.
However, on the 22nd of May -and this is surprising news- the deputies, after a proposal by the Laws Commission and with a favourable opinion on the Government's part, have voted in favour of following amendment to article 1 of the Constitution: "Regional languages belong to [France's] heritage". The Senate then, at the end, the two houses of the Congress (the National Assembly and the Senate jointly) have yet to vote on the text. If it were to be approved, and without knowing what the future reading of articles 1 and 2 of the Constitution by Constitutional Council and the State Council might be, this would be a true step forward. For the first time, the French constitution would mention regional languages.
This year (2008) is the international year of languages. As it takes on July 1st the presidency of the European Union, France wants to take a small step to boost regional languages. The country which presents itself as "the country of human rights", is still not the "country of linguistic rights!"
Jean-Baptiste Battittu Coyos
Linguist.
