Date:  Wed, 16 Mar 1994 12:16:28 CST

From:  Mike Picone <MPICONE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UA1VM.BITNET>

Subject: French Linguistic Legislation



Some more thoughts in reaction to previous comments on this subject:



Contrary to popular belief, linguistic legislation in not always an

exercise in futility. This is one of the things that Claude Hagege argues

forcefully. The present English-only controversy in America certainly

has serious implications for administration and education in various parts

of the country, and the policies set will have real consequences. This is

the first time modern America is having to face this kind of situation.

In most parts of the world, however, the presence of competing languages

is a longstanding reality that, like everything else that is social,

inevitably enters into the political arena and becomes

the target of legislation. As in

many other things linguistic, American myopia leads many of us to dismiss

linguistic legislation, but the truth is it has been around for a very long

time and has changed the course of many a language.



Now, as to the efficacy of attempting to inforce specific vocabulary

replacements in a modern, international environment where it is hard to keep

English out, success will be, at best, mitigated. Even here, however, there

are more successful cases than some would make us believe. It depends, too,

on the register one is operating in. Computer specialists in France continue

to use a lot of English vocabulary, but replacement terms like _informatique_

`computer science', _logiciel_ `software', _materiel_ `hardware', _lecteur_

`drive', etc. have been quite successful in popular usage.



The French can be very rude to Americans who don't speak French well. True

enough. They can also be equally rude to fellow Frenchmen who speak French

most eloquantly. The point is that rudeness can be misinterpreted to be a

means of singling out Americans for abuse when this may not be the case at

all. My situation in France was not typical of the tourist because I speak

French well and resided there for almost nine years. It should be noted,

however, that during that entire period of time, I can count on one hand the

number of times that I was given any kind of abuse for being an American.

Still, it cannot be denied that the French feel (and have been taught to feel)

that there language has special merit. It is more than just a utlilitarian

means of communicating. For a period of about ten years, the most widely

watched TV show in France was "Apostrophe," a sort of forum for authors of

books to get together and talk and debate (it finally went off the air, still

at the pinacle of the ratings). People didn't watch it just because they were

interested in books, but because they took such pleasure in witnessing

the skillful manipulation of the language and the artful exchange of

conversation that was almost always a hallmark of that show.



Mike Picone

University of Alabama