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One only has to understand the history of France itself. The French language itself and "French identity" is the sole unifying factor tieing together a plethora

One only has to understand the history of France itself. The French language itself and "French identity" is the sole unifying factor tieing together a plethora of distinct cultures and languages that you recognize today as being part of France. Consider that in addition to French, you will also find the following spoken languages: Arabic, Norman, Picard, Poitevin-Saintongeais, Franco-Provencal, Occitan, Catalan, Auvergnat, Corsican, Basque, French Flemish, Lorraine Franconian, Alsatian, and Breton. The idea behind fighting to protect the French language is to protect the unifying institution binding these groups of people together in a harmonious society. France is a melting pot and the government defines France as an inclusive nation with universal values -- advocating assimilation through which immigrants are expected to adhere to French values and cultural norms. Speaking the French language and declaring yourself to be French is what counts. The government thus has an interest in defining exactly what being French is. French citizens still equate their nationality with citizenship as does French law.

mmarq 4y ago
France is historically much more uniform than countries like Italy, Spain or the United Kingdom. To give you an example of the Italian language diversity, I don’t understand my mother’s dialect and she was born 30 kilometres from where I was. France having to defend French because it is a melting pot is a fantasy. The Parisian intellectual elite, in lack of a better expression, has a weird fixation on language tradition and a strong contempt for the English language.
JPLeRouzic 4y ago
I am French, born in Brittany. France/Parisians has a long history of repression against people from province. Read again what some "great" French writers, like Flaubert, Victor Hugo, Balzac wrote about Breton people in IXX century. "Il est interdit de cracher par terre et de parler Breton" An academy inspector wrote in 1956 in Vannes that a small Breton had half the QI of a Parisian. I was born in 1956 near Vannes.
random314 4y ago
Yes, the concept of nationalism and national language is a modern phenomenon. It is helpful in having subjects treat their governments as correct and moral by default and develop a distrust of their neighbors. Noam chomsky has an informative interview. He seems to think the concept of guardianship of a "pure" language is conceptually silly https://youtu.be/hdUbIlwHRkY https://youtu.be/hdUbIlwHRkY

mmarq 4y ago

France is historically much more uniform than countries like Italy, Spain or the United Kingdom. To give you an example of the Italian language diversity, I don’t understand my mother’s dialect and she was born 30 kilometres from where I was. France having to defend French because it is a melting pot is a fantasy. The Parisian intellectual elite, in lack of a better expression, has a weird fixation on language tradition and a strong contempt for the English language.

JPLeRouzic 4y ago

I am French, born in Brittany. France/Parisians has a long history of repression against people from province. Read again what some "great" French writers, like Flaubert, Victor Hugo, Balzac wrote about Breton people in IXX century. "Il est interdit de cracher par terre et de parler Breton" An academy inspector wrote in 1956 in Vannes that a small Breton had half the QI of a Parisian. I was born in 1956 near Vannes.

random314 4y ago

Yes, the concept of nationalism and national language is a modern phenomenon. It is helpful in having subjects treat their governments as correct and moral by default and develop a distrust of their neighbors. Noam chomsky has an informative interview. He seems to think the concept of guardianship of a "pure" language is conceptually silly https://youtu.be/hdUbIlwHRkY https://youtu.be/hdUbIlwHRkY