The Nominoë
Study of the Breton Language
Compiled From Field Research
The Background to the
Reversing Language Shift Theories of Joshua Fishman
by Marcel Texier and Diarmuid
Ciarán ÓNéill
February 2000
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Introduction Return
to Top
The background to this study is the 1991 prizewinning work of Joshua Fishman
titled Reversing Language Shift. This work attempted to put forth a
more methodical manner in which endangered languages could be strengthened as
opposed to the often haphazard and not well planned and often emotionally
laden efforts of many language movements which more often than not fell short
of success in tackling this very difficult and challenging problem. Joshua
Fishman is regarded as one of the more pre-eminent authorities in this field.
The actual book itself included case studies of Irish-Gaelic, Basque, Frisian,
Catalan, Yiddish (both secular and religious), Hebrew, Québec French, Maori,
Navajo, Spanish in the United States, as well as the Aboriginal languages of
Australia. These case studies are revisited by the same author in a new book
being released in the fall of 2000 entitled Reversing Language Revisited;
Can Threatened Languages Be Saved? published by Multilingual Matters of
England.
The central theme of this work was that the most important facet of language
renewal or restoration was the role of the family and the community in
maintaining the critically important element of intergenerational mother
tongue transmission of the language in question. What ever other factors went
into the equation this was the one that would make or break the success of the
language movement in question. In his work Joshua Fishman outlines an
eight-stage process which must be tackled by any language movement or agency
concerned with this process in order to achieve lasting success.
The eight-stage process is used in this analysis into the state of Breton
today - that is in the year 2000. The year 2000 is an appropriate milestone to
undertake such a study of the Breton language marking as it does the beginning
of the 17th century of the history of the language. Breton itself was
introduced into Brittany by British immigrants and refugees during the 400's
during the tumultuous period of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain (from
Denmark and Germany). It is to be hoped that efforts to rejuvenate this
language which is an important part of the cultural heritage of European
civilization in the new millenium will bear fruit.
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Breton: What Will The Future Be? Return
to Top
Historical Background
The language we turn our attention to is like Irish and Welsh a Celtic
language and also like Irish, Frisian, Basque and others an endangered
language. Breton with it's 500,000 or so speakers on the edge of the Armorican
peninsula is also a rather obscure language to many North Americans and
Europeans. Suffice to say that this "language of Arthur" as it is
sometimes known does indeed have its roots in the distant mists of Celtic
Britain as we shall see. Among other things the Arthurian legends of old
promise a return by Arthur himself and a restoration of the British Celts of
Wales, Cornwall and Brittany to their rightful patrimony and presumably an
improvement in the fortunes of their much maligned culture and British Celtic
speech. Breton RLS partisans might do well to ask themselves; failing a return
by Arthur is there anything they can be doing in the here and now to
strengthen the Breton tongue and to better grasp the nature of the problems
facing Breton today? To help answer these questions let us take a closer look
at Brittany and Breton.
The official Region of Brittany consists of the four departments of Finistère,
Morbihan, Côtes d'Armor, and Ille et Villaine with a total population of
2,885,349 as of January 1, 1996. The administrative capital of Brittany is the
eastern Breton city of Rennes. A more inclusive and traditional definition of
Brittany also includes a fifth department, Loire Atlantique which contains the
historic city of Nantes or Naoned in Breton. The population of the five
departments of Brittany was 3,945,249 as of January 1, 1996. Loire Atlantique
was partitioned from the rest of Brittany in 1941 by the Vichy régime of
Marshal Pétain partly in retaliation for the large numbers of Bretons who
were supporting the Free French National Council of Charles de Gaulle in
London and partly also as a reproach to mainstream Breton nationalists as well
who had long been advocating a separate Breton state. This administrative
designation is still being contested however by Bretons both in the four
official Breton departments and those living in the department of Loire
Atlantique itself who continue to regard themselves as Breton (62% in a recent
poll). This is hardly surprising since for a thousand years the city of Nantes
in Loire Atlantique was one of the seats of the Breton parliament and de facto
capitol of the independent Duchy of Brittany. There are today probably about
400,000 Breton speakers in western Brittany with another 50,000 to 100,000 in
eastern Brittany. They constitute roughly a quarter of the population of
western Brittany and about 15% of the official region's population. As
virtually all Breton speakers are bilingual in both Breton and French with the
exception of elderly monoglots, in Brittany we have arrived at a state where
Bretons living via Breton are still very much a part of the scene but where
virtually all Bretons are also Bretons via French as well. In addition the
spread of English is creating a new class of Bretons via English. One trait
which Breton does not share with Frisian, Basque, Catalan and certain other
threatened languages, is heavy net immigration from the dominant
ethno-cultural group. Relatively few French migrants have been attracted to
historically under industrialised Brittany, rather the reverse, Paris and the
centre have in the past drawn and continue to draw Bretons away from the rural
regions of Brittany. Hence the threat in Brittany is Bretons who have
relinguified and gone over to French, not intrusive Frenchmen in search of
employment. Frenchmen have however for long been on the scene in Brittany of
course. Since the union of Brittany and France in 1532 a significant stream of
French speaking outsiders arrived to serve as administrators, teachers,
merchants, clergymen who although not great in numbers were clearly the
vanguard of the first real challenge to Breton by French on it's home
territory. Their impact would only grow over the next four centuries.
The efforts on behalf of Breton RLS are both similar and dissimilar to the
other case studies examined in this volume. As one might expect in a highly
centralised state such as France up until very recently virtually all efforts,
both organisational and financial being expounded on behalf of the Breton
language came from voluntary and not state sources. As we shall see this
situation has changed somewhat over the past quarter century as local
municipalities and departments not to mention the Regional Council of Brittany
itself have increasingly played a role in funding Breton medium schooling as
well as more Breton in administrative matters as well as other initiatives
such as the new Ofis ar Brezhoneg/Office of the Breton Language which
presently has branches in both Rennes and Carhaix and which will soon have an
office in Nantes. Increasingly the French Government itself has begun to match
rhetoric with action and has begun to provide funding for Diwan the main
Breton medium school organisation by agreeing to pay the salaries of the
majority of Diwan teachers. In addition on May 7 1999 the French Government
signed the European Charter of Minority Languages in Budapest. Ratification
will inevitably follow. While many language activists (on behalf of other
minority languages in France such as Corsican, Occitan, Basque, Catalan,
Alsatian and Flemish not merely Breton) would argue correctly that there is
still a long way to go France's accession to the Charter is of great symbolic
value and hopefully heralds a new era of better relations between Paris and
the regional languages.
The majority of Reversing Language Shift initiatives today have their origins
in local voluntary agencies, increased public funding notwithstanding. However
the increased role of the Cultural Council of Brittany and the agencies it has
created such as Ofis ar Brezhoneg indicate that Breton RLS efforts are no
longer on the fringes and are backed not only by Breton public opinion but
also the official institutions of the region not to mention the obvious
implication that Paris itself has itself given a type of de-facto recognition
to RLS efforts in the region. As we shall also see while no one would deny the
obvious limitations which still come to bear on Breton language agencies and
organisations this has not necessarily prevented their effectiveness to a
great degree and the Breton RLS scene is a particularly dynamic one in the
first year of the third millenium despite the hurdles and obstacles it has had
to face. So many new undertakings from Télé Breizh the Breton language
television network to the Dudi (after-school activity in Breton) association
are being and have been launched that it is difficult to say which ones are
working and which ones are not, and if they are working how far reaching is
their effect. Perhaps most promising is Ofis ar Brezhoneg/the Office of the
Breton Language itself which is a body which can at last provide the necessary
status and corpus planning that the Breton RLS movement can no longer do
without. To some extent these tasks were carried out in the past by Skol Uhel
ar Vro/The Cultural Institute of Brittany but there is no question that Ofis
ar Brezhoneg represents a new departure and a greater sense of professionalism
on the part of language planners in the Breton RLS movement.
Breton is also the only Celtic language still spoken on the European
continent. It is not however a derivative of ancient Gaulish, the Celtic
tongue of ancient France and much of central Europe. Breton is rather as it's
name implies an import from Britain having being brought to what is now
Brittany by various waves of refugees and immigrants from Britain in the fifth
and sixth centuries who were dislocated by the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain
during this period. Breton remains closely related to Welsh and Cornish and
more distantly related to Scottish-Gaelic, Irish and Manx.
The French census does not record linguistic minorities such as Breton so
those agencies working for the language must rely on surveys such as that
carried out by the French language daily Le Télégramme of Brest on the
number of Breton speakers in western Brittany in March-April 1997. Breton also
does not have official status in Brittany or in France. Nor do the other
minority languages of the state. Again this is also unlike the other Celtic
languages which either enjoy official status as with Irish, or quasi-official
status such as Manx, Welsh and Scottish-Gaelic, (Cornish being the exception
as it has yet to achieve significant recognition). The legal basis for this is
article 2 of the French constitution which declares explicitly that French is
the language of the Republic. The continuing triumphal march of English as
"the" world language has done nothing to assuage French fears that
the French language itself must be safeguarded in France itself from
encroachments by English. In Brittany too, knowledge of English is now
widespread, further complicating the linguistic situation. Henceforth in
Brittany we must also take into account the growing numbers of Bretons via
English. The policy of centralisation and assimilation of linguistic
minorities in France which has been both policy and practice for the past two
centuries ironically has it's roots to a great extent in the era of the French
Revolution which began in 1789. This was to a certain extent inevitable as it
is estimated that at the time of the French revolution only 40% of the
population of France understood French.
However long before the French Revolution in 1789, and even before the
annexation of Brittany by France in 1532 there were forces at work in Brittany
and France which were bound to lead to the weakening of Breton and the
strengthening of the role of French in the very heartland of Brittany itself.
During the Middle Ages even when Brittany was entirely independent much of the
Breton nobility and clergy adopted French because of its greater currency in
Europe at this time. From this period also many of the towns became largely
French in speech though not exclusively because Breton retained it's hold on
the agricultural hinterland and urban merchants and tradesmen could not ignore
this.
In addition it must be remembered that a significant part of eastern Brittany
had never been Breton speaking. The early British immigrants established
political control over what would become the Duchy of Brittany but the
Gallo-Roman population in eastern Brittany (particularly in the two very
important cities of Rennes/Roazhon and Nantes/Naoned) retained it's Latin
speech which eventually evolved into Gallo, a language which should be
regarded as a parallel development with French and not a dialect of French.
Like standard French it would appear that Gallo is a derivative of Late Latin
which has been heavily influenced by Gaulish. Gallo, like the dialect which
eventually evolved into Parisian French, is one of the Langues d'Oil of
northern France which include Picard, Normand, Angevin, Manceau and Poitevin.
From about the year 1100 onwards Breton slowly yielded ground to Gallo and
retreated westwards. It is estimated that by 1881 about 2,000,000 people out
of 3.2 million in Brittany spoke Breton. By 1914 it is estimated that out of
3.1 million inhabitants of Brittany at least 1,300,000 were still Breton
speaking. In addition, several hundred thousand Breton speaking emigrants were
to be found in Paris, northern France, Belgium, Canada and the United States
so that the Breton speaking world at this time probably encompassed some two
million souls, and it is clear that Breton was the most widely spoken Celtic
language in 1900.
Few would have predicted in 1900 that the twentieth century would witness the
most massive erosion ever experienced in the sixteen century long history of
the language. It is estimated that 90% of the population of Basse Bretagne or
western Brittany (Breizh-Izel in the Breton language) was Breton speaking in
1900. In 1945 it is estimated that 75% of the population of western Brittany
was Breton speaking. In 1997 a survey considered to be reliable, carried out
by Le Télégramme the French language daily of Brest it was determined that
only 25% of the population of western Brittany or some 240,000 persons
virtually all above the age of fifty were still Breton speaking. The same
survey determined that a further 125,000 persons in western Brittany had a
more limited command of the Breton language for a total of 365,000 persons
with varying degrees of fluency in the language not including the thousands of
Breton speakers in eastern Brittany and Paris.
What could have wrought such thorough-going socio-linguistic dislocation in
such a relatively short period of time? In the case of Breton many theories
abound but several facts can be deduced with relative certainty. Firstly the
critical period in question lies during the postwar era, broadly speaking from
about 1945 to about 1960 when Breton parents virtually ceased raising their
children in Breton and the critical cycle of intergenerational mother tongue
transmission broke down. The suddenness of Breton language collapse in and
around 1960 while long in the making was somewhat of a surprise to many.
Despite the continued encroachments of French, Breton had maintained it's hold
over family and community life among all age groups into the postwar era just
as Welsh, Basque and others had in spite of the adversities in question.
It would appear there are two main reasons for the accelerated shift from
Breton to French during this period. One reason was economic, the drift from
the land to jobs in the towns and the cities as mechanisation reduced the need
for farm labour during the 1950's clearly weakened Breton particularly in
southwestern Brittany where industrialisation and urbanisation were more
marked and where the tourist industry attracted a steady stream of monoglot
French speaking outsiders.
The second reason the position of Breton was sharply undermined in this period
was a political and ideological one. Postwar France was forced to come to
terms with the phenomenon of widespread collaboration with the Nazi régime.
Some Breton nationalists had worked with the Germans in the hope of
establishing a separate Breton state. Little came of this. What in fact
happened was an incredibly severe postwar suppression of virtually all forms
of cultural expression of the Breton language, from journals to newspapers, to
lessons in Breton to use of Breton in the schools, limited as that had been.
The negative impact on the morale of the Breton people and their attitude
towards their language caused by postwar rhetoric which often labeled Breton
as a patois and even worse as a language championed by the enemies of France
(such as those right wing Breton nationalists who had sought to reach an
accommodation with the Nazi administration between 1940 and 1944) cannot be
overstated. In fact a very high percentage of the Breton population seems to
have sided with the Allies from an early point in the war. In addition it
should be noted that a position of neutrality was taken by mainstream Breton
nationalism particularly the BNP (Breton Nationalist Party). Suffice to say
that the divisions caused by the Second World War still haunt Breton society
as they do French society.
The situation began to ease somewhat in the 1950's as Breton was reintroduced
into the schools by a new socialist government. Breton had been officially
barred from the schools in 1947. The "Loi Deixoine" of 1951 however
specifically permitted Breton at all levels of education including the
university level but the goal of this legislation was really to permit use of
Breton in order to make acquisition of French that much easier for children
not to strengthen the position of Breton and other minority languages in the
schools. Ironically through the 1950's and 1960's it was increasingly the
parties of the left including both the French socialists and communists who
now began to speak up for regional languages and greater decentralization as
opposed to the parties of the French right who were now more opposed to any
concessions than ever. Within Brittany itself in the immediate postwar years
it is important to note that much of the opposition to Breton in the schools
or anywhere else in society came from Bretons, even native speakers who viewed
French as the language of the future and a tool to better the lives of the
people. It was precisely during these years that Breton began to lose its hold
on community life. Breton/French bilingualism was a necessary milestone on the
road to a unilingual French speaking society. By the 1940's at the latest
bilingualism was well advanced in Brittany and the stage was set for the
showdown between Breton and French. Now during the 1950's the critical break
began to occur. Succumbing to the various pressures of modernisation and even
French government rhetoric against the use of Breton, parents began to exclude
Breton from their homes and use only French with their children. Breton
however continued in use more strongly in certain areas such as the northwest
and central Brittany and hence the advance of French was an uneven one which
in the end did not succeed in eradicating spoken Breton.
By the 1960's in addition a new activism began to take hold which often
expressed itself through music such as that of Alan Stivell but which proved
effective in rejuvenating pride in the language and stimulating new literature
and other activities which expressed themselves through Breton. It was this
new activism which led to various protests carried out in the 1970's and to
the establishment of Diwan in 1977. A further important outcome of the
activism and lobbying of the 1960's and 1970's was the Cultural Charter for
Brittany which was signed in 1978 between central government and local
representatives. The articles of the Charter while somewhat ambiguous did
expound on the need for the greater teaching of Breton culture. While not
exactly an endorsement of greater Bretonization of society the Charter was
clearly a watershed in that both central and regional officials were
acknowledging that the Breton language and culture could no longer be ignored
even if different parties read different interpretations into the nature of
the agreement.
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The State of Breton Today Return
to Top
Maps of France and Brittany
As with all minority languages, Breton has both factors working in its favour
and other factors working against it. A recent survey carried out by the
French language daily Le Télégramme in Brest in March to April of 1997;
covering western Brittany the traditional Breton-speaking region helps to give
us a clear picture of the real state of the spoken language today.
It is estimated that in 1881 about 2,000,000 people or 64% of the population
spoke Breton. As mentioned previously in 1914 about 1.3 million people out of
3.1 million in Brittany as a whole were estimated as Breton-speaking. Of these
about 500,000 are estimated to have been monoglot Breton speakers. This drops
to about one million Breton speakers in 1945 out of a population of three
million. Today all the evidence points to a catastrophic fall to about 240,000
fluent speakers and another 125,000 semi-speakers for a total of 365,000 in
western Brittany and between 50,000 and 100,000 in eastern Brittany out of the
four million inhabitants of Brittany. The survey of March to April 1997 in
Basse Bretagne or Breizh Izel the traditional Breton speaking region of
western Brittany (which is considered reliable) indicates a sharp drop over
previous surveys. This region had been 90% Breton speaking in 1900 and 75%
Breton speaking in 1945 and appears to have dropped to about 25% in 1997. A
survey carried out in 1987 determined that there were about 550,000 Breton
speakers in this area. Of these, those above 65 were 73% Breton speaking while
of those over 35 all age categories exceeded the 50% mark. This can reasonably
be construed as evidence that up until about 1960 intergenerational
transmission of the language continued in most households but soon began to
decrease very sharply.
The survey of March to April 1997 indicated a sharp deterioration in the
situation with only 240,000 Breton speakers in the same region of western
Brittany with an additional 125,000 classified as able to understand Breton
but with a diminished ability to speak Breton for a total of 365,000 speakers
and semi speakers in western Brittany. Of these 18% speak it occasionally, but
only 5.5% daily. Those who can speak it well range from 45% of those over 75,
42% of those in the 60-74 age group, 20.5% of those aged 40-59, 5% of those
aged 20-39 with less than 1% of those under 20. Another survey in 1991 had
corresponding figures of 35.5%, 39%, 30%, 8%, (and omitted the under twenty
group). The 1997 survey revealed some geographic patterns also. Due to more
intense economic and industrial development in the southwestern coastal region
of Morbihan 14% of the population at present speaks Breton. In the western
department of Finistère/Penn ar Bed 22.5% of the population is now
Breton-speaking while in the northwest in Côtes-d'Armor/Aodoù an Arvor 30.5%
of the population is at present Breton-speaking.
Clearly the Breton language possesses an unhealthy age pyramid in it's
demographic composition and the annual attrition rate of lost speakers as the
elderly pass away is not being matched by comparable numbers of new learners
in the younger age groups. On the other hand the expansion of enrollment in
the Breton medium school networks has proceeded to the point that in parts of
western Brittany 3% and more of primary students are now being educated in
Breton and appear to be acquiring a fair fluency not to mention literacy in
the language. Further than that the present annual growth rate of enrollment
in the Breton medium schools is about 23% indicating that the percentage of
Breton-speaking children will shortly be in the 5% to 10% range. Already the
1997 survey is out of date regarding the under 20 age group, so fluid is the
situation. As we have learned in Ireland and elsewhere however Irish speaking
youths do not add up to Irish speaking communities, a fact that Breton RLSers
must bear in mind.
Despite the massive erosion which has taken place over the past 120 years and
which is still ongoing as older native speakers are lost every year, in the
past quarter century RLS efforts on behalf of Breton have overcome some
herculean obstacles and are clearly making a difference in the battle to save
this Brythonic Celtic tongue.
Breton language activists have established a network of Breton medium schools
across Brittany which are expanding rapidly. They have launched a Breton
language television service. They have launched several Breton language radio
stations. Numerous new periodicals and books in Breton are now being published
to serve a clearly increasing market. Plans are proceeding to launch a Breton
language university within the next five years. A concerted effort to
strengthen both youth and adult literacy in the language has been mounted.
Municipality after municipality in Brittany has adopted a policy of
Breton/French bilingualism. A region wide agency Ofis ar Brezhoneg/the Office
of the Breton Language has been established to carry out and monitor both
status and corpus planning for the language in the future.
Ofis ar Brezhoneg is only a year old at the time of writing and the exact
limits of it's jurisdiction and just how far it's mandate permits it to go in
pursuit of greater Bretonization are still a matter of debate among both
Bretons and the central administration in Paris. What remains to be seen is
whether or not Breton RLS efforts can reach a large enough segment of the
population to achieve the critical mass that is necessary. What also remains
to be seen is whether Breton can regain it's hold on family and community life
- something which it had retained until very recently in sharp contrast with
most other Celtic languages. The battle is not yet lost because when all is
said and done a quarter of the population of Lower Brittany the traditional
stronghold of the Breton tongue is still Breton speaking. However time is
running out as the Breton speaking population ages and nothing less than a
continuation of the present herculean efforts on the part of language
activists - and a simultaneous realisation by Breton RLSers that some less
dramatic areas of endeavour such as family life and community life must be
conquered as well can in fact turn the tide for Breton. It is in this last
area mentioned that the achilles heel of the Breton movement may lie for
efforts at rebuilding home, family and community life in Breton are few and
far between indeed as we shall see. The realisation that such efforts are a
necessity not a luxury and their incorporation into the Breton RLS agenda will
come not a moment too soon.
Breizh-Izel: The Traditional Breton Speaking Region Return
to Top
Any discussion of the linguistic state of affairs in Brittany has had for
centuries to take into account two linguistic realities in Brittany - Lower
Brittany or western Brittany and Upper Brittany or eastern Brittany. Breizh
Izel, which means Lower Brittany in the Breton language, lies west of an
invisible demarcation line traditionally used to differentiate between the
Breton speaking west and the Gallo speaking eastern parts of Brittany. It
includes all of the department of Finistère and the western parts of the
departments of Morbihan and Côtes D'Armor. Upper Brittany or Haute Bretagne
in French includes the departments of Loire Atlantique, Ille et Vilaine and
the eastern parts of the departments of Morbihan and Côtes D'Armor.
Despite the undeniable setbacks already mentioned it is clear that Breizh Izel
remains the stronghold of the Breton language. About a quarter of it's
inhabitants can still speak the language. More understand it. Many rural
farming regions and small fishing villages still contain Breton-speaking
networks that contain members of most generations and where the language is
still in daily use. Here, Breton can still be heard in use by the fishermen,
by farmers at work in the fields and on market day. It is also in Breizh Izel
that enrollment in the Breton medium schools is highest, enthusiasm for the
language greatest.
As alluded to earlier these same rustic traits are also what have
traditionally led to past and present outmigration from the region to the
industrial areas of northern France as well as to Canada and the United
States. Such outmigration has both sapped the strength of the language in it's
heartland and also led to accelerated Francisation as returning emigrants (and
soldiers in the cases of both the first and the second world wars) brought a
greater fluency in French with them which they were not about to relinquish.
The annual tourism along the southwest coast and greater industrialisation in
the same area has clearly weakened Breton in this region in a more severe
manner than other districts of Breton speaking Brittany. Never the less there
is also growth in the region not only among the growing numbers of youth in
Breton medium schools but also among older individuals who are undertaking to
learn or relearn the language. While Breton today could no longer be called
the dominant language in Breizh Izel it could not be called a thing of the
past either as it is still a presence in that it is spoken and understood by
between 25% and 35% of the population and in addition about 75% of the new
Breton medium schools are to be found here. In addition most adult classes in
Breton such as those run by Skol an Emsav and in truth the bulk of other
cultural endeavours in Breton are to be found here and it is also in Breizh
Izel that the ongoing policy of Bretonization is most visible in the increased
public signage being posted in Breton. Whatever technocrats in Paris may think
on the subject the locals and that includes local officials have clearly
adopted a policy of Breton/French bilingualism as far as social policy is
concerned and also at the municipal and departmental levels of administration
as far as circumstance allows.
Eastern Brittany Return
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Eastern Brittany known as Upper Brittany or Haute Bretagne in French is the
section of the country with the weakest Breton-speaking tradition. Although
most of eastern Brittany was at one time Breton-speaking (until about the 12th
century), the two cities of Nantes and Rennes lie in a strip of territory
which never became Breton-speaking. The two centres were however incorporated
into the Duchy of Brittany but remained Latin-speaking as did their
hinterland. The local dialect of Latin speech, which was not far removed from
the other northern French dialects, evolved into what became known as Gallo.
It was during the Middle Ages that Gallo began to advance westwards at the
expense of Breton at a time when Brittany was still independent. This
situation bears an ironic similarity to the relationship between
Scottish-Gaelic and the local variant of Anglo-Saxon - Scots or Lallans which
began to advance to the west and north at the expense of Gaelic during the
14th century. With the advent of more generally available public education in
the late nineteenth century Gallo began to yield ground to standard French
just as did Breton. The Breton language however has come to be regarded as the
national possession of all Bretons whether in Lower or Upper Brittany. This
attitude has undoubtedly contributed to the spread of Breton medium schools in
the towns of eastern Brittany and even the introduction of bilingual
Breton/French signage in many municipalities in eastern Brittany - usually the
harbinger of more bilingualism in the future.
Geographically Upper Brittany encompasses just over half the land area of
Brittany. It contains the entire departments of Ille et Vilaine, Loire
Atlantique and the eastern parts of the departments of Morbihan and Côtes
d'Armor. Although the Breton medium schools of Diwan, Div Yezh and Dihun
remain most strongly represented in the west enrollment in the east is
presently expanding by about 30% per annum and is clearly catching up with
rates in western Brittany.
While it may not at once be apparent eastern Brittany is in many ways just as
important for the future of the Breton language as is western Brittany. Due to
it's greater urbanization in centres such as Nantes and Rennes about 2.5
million of Brittany's 4.1 million people are now to be found in eastern
Brittany as opposed to the 1.6 million inhabitants of western Brittany today.
This is in contrast to the situation a century ago when about 60% of the
population lived in the Breton speaking west. In the long run Breton must
establish a foothold for itself in such places as Rennes and Nantes if Breton
is really to put itself on an equal footing with French in the everyday life
of Brittany. Just as Irish cannot ignore urban centres such as Dublin or
Belfast, and Basque cannot afford to ignore Bilbao or San Sebastian in its
ongoing RLS efforts, neither can Breton afford to ignore the two largest
cities in its midst. The importance of Montréal for the French language in
Québec or of Barcelona for Catalan can hardly be overstated and language
policy for both cities is given careful reflection by the respective language
agencies in question (L'Office de la langue français in Québec and the
Directorate General of Language Policy in Catalonia). That said the time may
have come to acknowledge that different strategies are required for RLS in
western and eastern Brittany. In western Brittany clearly there still exists
the option (long since lost in most of Scotland and Ireland and Navarre) of
strengthening Breton among younger sectors of the population as Breton is
still a presence among older segments of the population. Eastern Brittany
clearly is another story altogether as spoken Breton died out here in the
middle ages and in the farthest reaches of eastern Brittany was never spoken
at all. Breton RLS in the east will be a matter of eventually trying to reach
all age groups without the benefit an existing Breton speaking population in
place. Hence the expansion of family and community life in Breton here is all
the more critical. It could be said that the challenge facing RLSers in
eastern Brittany more closely approximate those that once were faced by
activists on behalf of Hebrew in Palestine or those facing activists on behalf
of Cornish and Manx today - how to build family and community life in Breton
when Breton has been dead for many generations in the very environment in
which it cannot afford to lose out.
________________________________ ________________________________
A Stage By Stage Analysis of
Current RLS Efforts on Behalf of Breton and Their Prospects for the Future Return
to Top
Stages 8 and 7: Reassembling the language and
bringing it to adults, some of whom once learned it and still remember it
marginally and others of whom never accquired it before.
The fact that Breton is still today a living language in Brittany with roughly
500,000 speakers and semi-speakers in both Lower Brittany and Upper Brittany
makes Breton a more widely spoken language than many other endangered
languages in Europe. The apparent strength of numbers never the less cannot
mask the perilous situation of the language today. Breton speakers are in
addition concentrated overwhelmingly in western or Lower Brittany and also
among the over 40 age groups. Today however many opportunities exist for
adults to acquire Breton either for the first time or polish up a rusty
knowledge of it.
Since the vast majority of native speakers of Breton are illiterate in the
language and also usually only conversant in their own local dialect efforts
to teach adults to read and write the language also are an exercise in
standardisation since the universally accepted standard KLTG is almost always
the dialect employed. As early as 1932 the OBER correspondence school was set
up free of charge to teach literacy in the language to adults. Ober is still
in existence and demand is as strong as ever. Many other correspondence
courses are now in existence with plenty of textbooks, cassettes and other
teaching aids such as the minitel and the internet now available to isolated
learners. Since the war KEAV or Kamp Etrekeltiek ar Vrezhonegerien has brought
people together for several weeks in July to practise their knowledge of
Breton in a near holiday environment. Other organisations offering courses in
Breton to adults include Skol an Emsav, Ar Falz, An Oaled, Spered ar Yezh,
Roudour, Stumdi and many others. In addition on a local district level several
cultural organisations have formed which also offer evening courses in Breton
for both youth and adults such as Mervent in southwestern Brittany, Sked in
Brest and Emglev Bro An Oriant (Lorient).
Clearly what is required in Brittany is greater scale. Many thousands of both
native and non-native speakers have acquired both greater fluency and literacy
through the various courses and organisations already in existence. Such
organisations have already proved their worth. They also may have served their
purpose in the sense that what is required now are greater numbers of literate
adults to supplement the increasing numbers of young people who are emerging
from the schools literate in Breton and hence buy time for the language in the
short run and build a more solid foundation for the language in the long run.
Stage 6: Establishing the vital linkage with
youth, family, neighborhood and community. Return
to Top
It may be tempting for Breton RLSers to sense victory due to the impressive
and beyond a doubt important achievements in Breton language schools,
publishing, radio and television. However the danger is as great as ever that
the need to rebuild stage 6 in Breton may be overlooked and that RLS advocates
in Brittany may become complacent with the string of eye catching successes
being achieved. Indeed it is here at the stage 6 level of the RLS scale that
the weaknesses of the Breton language movement are most glaring. Whatever may
be achieved in improving the image and status of Breton by launching new
television and radio services in Breton and by increasing the number of Breton
medium schools, securing official status for the Breton language none of this
can substitute for the creation or rather recreation of young Breton speaking
families and authentic Breton speaking communities where Breton is an everyday
medium of communication for all generations. The higher order functions
mentioned above all rest solidly on the foundation of family and community
life and if that foundation is solidly French speaking than what is being
built on top of it in Brittany is a house of cards. True languages can be
strengthened in a secondary role. This is already the case in Canada where
over a million Anglophones have acquired French as a second language, in
Ireland where several hundred thousand people have acquired Irish-Gaelic as
their second language, in the Netherlands where over 80% of the population
have acquired English as a second language but Bretons must ask themselves; do
they want a French speaking society where Breton is reserved for schools and
road signs or do they want a Breton-speaking society where Breton is a living
language used as an everyday vehicle of speech whether it's for buying milk or
cashing a paycheque at the bank? It may seem hard to believe but a mother
insisting on raising her children in Breton or the inhabitants of a small
hamlet or town insisting on employing their rusty Breton can be as devastating
to the further encroachment of French as any activity undertaken on the part
of language activists or militants.
As we will see Breton language activists seem to be tackling every field but
this one although there are some isolated cases where Breton at the stage 6
level has been addressed in Brittany but with very limited results. There is
no avoiding the crux of the issue. Family and community life are the
cornerstone of any language restoration efforts. Belated recognition of this
fact is taking place in Scotland and Ireland (where new Irish speaking
communities are in fact becoming a reality) not to mention the social programs
instituted by the Basque Government geared towards young families and the
younger sectors of the population.
Media, education, and administration are important, but more important is the
family-home-neighborhood context. The question that must be asked is; Where
are children growing up with
Breton-at-home-and-in-the-child-and-adult-community? Before school? Out of
school and after school? If there are no such communities, then Breton is an
icon, not a naturally living and breathing language-in-culture. Twenty Breton
speaking families living and raising their children in proximity to one
another are worth more than twenty poets, politicians, musicians and school
principals "advocating". Who wants to build stage 6? Who is doing
it? Who is helping them? How can more young adult speakers of Breton as a
second language be prepared to raise their soon-to-be-born children with
Breton as a first language? These are the questions that Breton status
planners and language activists should be asking themselves.
Young adults have to be taught "Parenting skills in Breton: poems, games,
routines, prayers, riddles, songs, reading readiness, etc.".
Grandparenting in Breton is another crucial course that needs to be offered
without charge everywhere. It is also one that could utilise the large number
of over forty Breton speakers who still have a solid command of the language.
Linking kindergartens to grandparents, linking parents to grandparents,
linking elementary and secondary schools to out of school clubs (sports,
choruses, hobbies), old age homes, theatre groups in Breton, etc. Community
organization and community building in Breton. These are key. Breton language
agencies such as Ofis ar Brezhoneg and Skol Uhel ar Vro must focus on
exemplary instances of such linkages so that they can be nurtured and
financial support can be planned for them.
Dudi Return to Top
Dudi is an after-school centre where children in the 6-12 age bracket are
immersed in Breton and engage in sports, crafts, arts and music and go on
field trips together. It was founded in 1985 by Lena Louarn as a branch of
Skol an Emsav. Lena Louarn is presently the editor of the Breton language
magazine Bremañ and the President of Ofis ar Brezhoneg. The initial branch
was opened in Sant Brieg/Saint Brieuc but several others are now in operation
in Rennes, Lannion and Vannes. Riwall Le Meen is the present director. Dudi is
an excellent example of the kind of backup support which must be provided to
the Breton medium schools but in order to be effective as far as Brittany as a
whole is concerned Dudi or something very similar to it must be available in
all communities in both Lower and Upper Brittany. Dudi must be held up as an
example of what is needed and planning carried out to increase its
availability on a larger scale.
K.E.A.V. - Kamp Etrekeltiek ar Vrezhonegerien Return
to Top
K.E.A.V. was founded shortly after the war and is, as its name implies, a
summer camp where Breton speakers gather annually. Initially it took place for
only one week but now operates throughout most of the summer. One of the
conditions is that only Breton be spoken and that French be avoided as much as
possible. The present director is Anna ar Beg. We examine it here because
although it does so only on a temporary basis KEAV does in fact recreate a
Breton speaking society even if only for an annual summer period. Hundreds of
people are brought together every year in a near holiday environment to
practise their use of Breton at the six KEAV centres all located in western
Brittany. While such an undertaking is useful at reinforcing the Breton of
those who already have a knowledge of the language, KEAV and other existing
summer camps where Breton are spoken are essentially only episodic backups
which buy time for the language. Never the less K.E.A.V. does have an
important role to play in disseminating the Breton language to both youth and
adults.
The fact of the matter is that at present there are no efforts underway in
Brittany to launch new and authentic Breton speaking communities or even
Breton speaking networks. Such new Breton speaking communities and networks
are a necessity in both Lower and Upper Brittany if Breton is to be
strengthened at its foundational level. The already established Irish speaking
community in Belfast and the planned Irish speaking communities in Dublin and
Galway are pertinent examples here. Also extremely relevant are efforts
underway since 1979 by the Basque and Catalan Governments to strengthen Basque
and Catalan in areas where Xish is still spoken but has lost ground among
younger age groups. This is because Breton is still widely spoken throughout
western Brittany among the older generations hence Breton language agencies do
have the Basque option of targeting younger age groups particularly new
families for Bretonization through social planning. Such a two tiered strategy
may be what is required in Brittany, that is both new Breton speaking
communities in areas where the language has been lost (eastern Brittany) and
the strengthening of the language in communities where the language is still
spoken but has been weakened among younger age groups (western Brittany). The
key word here is "community" in some shape or form. Whether or not
such efforts geared specifically towards such community life in Breton will
prove crucial to the success or failure of the survival of Breton as a spoken
language.
Stage 5: The attainment of literacy, independent
of the public education system. Return
to Top
In Brittany as elsewhere in western Europe literacy began with Latin. Writing
in Breton began in the late fifth century. Although the Church favoured Latin,
it was in fact the clergy who nurtured literacy in Breton through the
centuries, not only translating most of the significant religious works into
Breton but also in ensuring that the language was taught to those seeking an
education, usually aspiring clergy or the children of the nobility who could
afford an education. As French became more widespread in the middle ages among
the upper classes and mercantile classes it was again the clergy, eager to
ensure that the peasantry received a proper catechism and could understand the
mass saw to it that priests in Lower Brittany were fluent - and literate in
Breton. (The catechism was published in the four main Breton dialects). This
remained the case even after French had become the dominant language of the
Breton parliament and polite Breton society. In the period following the
annexation of Brittany by France in 1532 and even following the French
Revolution in 1789 it was again the Breton clergy, ever concerned to protect
their flock from the supposedly decadent concepts of Paris, continued to
favour Breton and continued to preach the mass in it, dispense catechism in it
and keep church records in it. The great conflict between church and state in
France in the early 1900's did little to change this pattern and the Breton
clergy like the French clergy at large used the pulpit to criticise the
socialist governments of the day. They didn't plan to, but they became
guardians of Breton literacy. It is a little known fact today but because
children in western Brittany were to taught to read and write the catechism in
Breton until well into this century there were in fact several hundred
thousand people at one time who were literate in Breton. Today the figure
probably does not exceed 40,000.
For the greater part of recent history literacy in Breton had to be acquired
outside of the school system. The various courses for adults such as OBER,
KEAV, Mervent, Skol an Emsav, etc. have been mentioned. Despite the fact that
Brittany is a part of France virtually all of her schools are and always have
been manned by Breton born teachers. Never the less they almost exclusively
use and have used French as their language of instruction. Even though
Frenchmen were thin on the ground in Brittany the schools were controlled by
Bretons utilizing French. With the advent of Diwan in 1977 for the first time
a divide now existed between type 4a and type 4b schools. Diwan and the
subsequently organised Breton medium schools of the public and Catholic
systems are in effect schools of the type 4a model, Bretons instructing
through Breton. The remaining French medium schools are in effect type 4b
schools with Bretons instructing through French. They may be staffed by
Bretons but they are run under the auspices of Frenchmen.
The various organisations in place are already well distributed enough that
anyone who wishes to learn to read and write Breton in addition to speaking it
can do so. Those thousands of adults who have already acquired literacy in
Breton could not have done so without these organisations. The time may have
come however to recognise that adult literacy in Breton and the social and
language planning necessary to achieve this on a wider scale is a necessity if
Breton is to survive on a viable scale into the next century.
Stage 4: Education in Breton and learning Breton
at school. Return to Top
Education in Brittany underwent a revolutionary change in 1977 with the
establishment of Diwan, the first Breton medium school network. Diwan is of
great symbolic importance to Bretons. It represents the embodiment of their
hopes that their language can somehow be saved. Its current president is an
Englishman, Andrew Lincoln, who took over his post in 1997. Inspired by both
the Basque medium Ikastolak schools of the Franco era and the Welsh medium
Meithrin of the 1960's Diwan was the first concrete example of a 4a type
school to appear on the Breton scene. Breton is the only language of
instruction for the nursery and primary students until the age of seven when
French is gradually introduced as a medium of instruction. Beginning at age
ten English is also introduced as a language of instruction and a fourth
language usually either Spanish or German is introduced as a subject. Diwan
students not only match the academic performance of students in type 4b
schools they quite often exceed it. Diwan has continued to expand to this day
in all five departments of Brittany. It provides Breton medium education at
the nursery, primary and secondary levels. One of its most important goals for
the future is to establish a Diwan school in every canton in Brittany and
thereby make access to Breton medium education available to all who desire it.
Presently the organisation is involved in negotiations with the French
department of education to secure a public statute recognising Diwan as a
public service. This would entitle the organisation to full public funding. At
present the status of Diwan is of a private organisation. Its greatest
difficulty is lack of such proper public funding particularly in regard to
secondary schools. It's annual budget as of the school year 1999/2000 was
about 13,000,000 French Francs. Of this about 4.75 million francs was provided
by regional, departmental and municipal governments. In addition the French
department of education pays the salaries of the majority of Diwan teachers
both primary and secondary. Although the annual contribution to Diwan's budget
from these various sources is rising by about 1,000,000 francs per annum at
least 5 million francs every year must be raised through private fundraising.
A training centre for new Diwan teachers has been established in Kemper/Quimper. In addition another training centre for Breton language
teachers for both Diwan and Div Yezh exists in Sant Brieg. Dihun the Catholic
Breton medium organisation has it's own training courses for Breton language
teachers. Due to the various financial difficulties recruiting of secondary
teachers is more difficult due to the fact that only short term contracts with
Breton language teachers can be signed. In it's negotiations with the French
Government Diwan has often joined forces with other minority educational
groups such as SEASKA the Union of Basque language teachers in France, (the
counterpart of Unvaniezh ar Gelennerien Brezhoneg -the Union of Breton
language teachers). Further expansion is planned in the future at the
university level, with plans for a Breton language university at Carhaix/Karaez. In general Diwan takes an optimistic viewpoint of future
developments, although it has a realistic view of the struggles that still lie
ahead. Increasing European integration and federalism is seen as a good thing
by Diwan.
Due to parental demand both the National Education (public) system and the
Catholic schools in Brittany introduced bilingual Breton/French streams in the
1980's, Div Yezh and Dihun respectively. Although the intensity of exposure to
Breton is not quite as intense as with Diwan, Dihun and Div Yezh are
essentially type 4a schools. While absolute numbers are at present still
modest - some 6,554 students out of some 796,000 primary and secondary
students in Brittany (or at the primary level 1.8% of all Breton students as
of September 2000) - it is clear from the annual growth rate of over 20% that
Breton medium schools are likely to continue their expansion to a point where
they account for a far higher percentage of Breton students perhaps in the
range of a quarter to a third of Breton students sometime within the next two
decades.
Also on the scene in Brittany are type 4b schools where Breton is offered as a
subject but the language of instruction is French. At present an indeterminate
number of students are taking Breton as a subject. However the exposure of
students in the National Education System with the exception of the Div Yezh
bilingual streams can be at best described as fleeting and certainly not
intense enough to impart a good knowledge of Breton let alone fluency in the
language.
Breton medium students themselves seem to recognise the importance of the role
they are playing in the survival of Breton culture and have even formed their
own union - Dazont - which means future in English. Those Bretons who are
committed to ensuring their children acquire a solid fluency and literacy in
Breton put little faith in the non Breton medium schools and usually strive to
have their children enrolled in Diwan, Div Yezh or Dihun classes. Nevertheless
the increased availability of Breton even as a subject in the National
Education System is also widely seen as an improvement over the previous state
of affairs prevailing until the 1970's where Breton was almost entirely absent
from schools and was present only as a tool with which to aid children in
acquiring a knowledge of French more rapidly.
The percentage of Breton students who are now taking Breton as a subject is as
mentioned difficult to determine. The percentage of Breton students who are in
schools where Breton is present neither as a subject nor as a medium of
instruction is probably still well over 90%. Clearly Breton medium education
must achieve greater mass to have a significant impact on Breton society in
the long run. It would appear that this is beginning to come to pass as in
parts of western Brittany over 3% of primary students are already enrolled in
Breton medium schools and it would appear that in Brittany as a whole probably
between 5% and 10% of Breton students will within the next decade be enrolled
in such schools.
BRETON MEDIUM EDUCATION FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 1999/2000 DIWAN
(PRIVATE), DIHUN (CATHOLIC) AND DIV YEZH (PUBLIC)
2000/2001 |
Penn-ar-Bed/
Finistère |
Aodoù-an-Arvor/
Côtes d'Armor |
Mor-Bihan/
Morbihan |
Il-ha-Gwilhen/
Ille et Vilaine |
Liger Atlantel/
Loire Atlantique |
Totals |
Diwan (Prim+Scnd) |
1,424 |
397 |
325 |
87 |
181 |
2,414 |
Div Yezh (Prim+Scnd) |
730 |
635 |
570 |
306 |
48 |
2,289 |
Dihun (Prim+Scnd) |
642 |
192 |
937 |
34 |
46 |
1,851 |
BILINGUAL - BRETON/FRENCH EDUCATION IN BRITTANY NUMBER
OF STUDENTS IN BRITTANY 2000/2001
2000/2001 |
Penn-ar-Bed/
Finistère |
Aodoù-an-Arvor/
Côtes d'Armor |
Mor-Bihan/
Morbihan |
Il-ha-Gwilhen/
Ille et Vilaine |
Liger Atlantel/
Loire Atlantique |
Primary |
87,408 |
53,351 |
66,782 |
92,491 |
120,245 |
Secondary |
77,090 |
48,836 |
59,456 |
81,826 |
107,450 |
DIFFERING LEVELS OF ENROLLMENT IN THE DEPARTMENTS OF BRITTANY
2000/2001 |
Penn-ar-Bed/
Finistère |
Aodoù-an-Arvor/
Côtes d'Armor |
Mor-Bihan/
Morbihan |
Il-ha-Gwilhen/
Ille et Vilaine |
Liger Atlantel/
Loire Atlantique |
Primary |
2,368 (2.709%) |
1,001 (1.87%) |
1,679 (2.51%) |
374 (0.404%) |
275 (0.22%) |
Secondary |
428 (0.876%) |
223 (0.45%) |
153 (0.25%) |
53 (0.06%) |
0 |
|
Primary |
Secondary |
TOTAL |
4 Departments |
300,148 students
5,422 (1.806%) |
267,204 students
857 (0.32%) |
567,352 students
6,279 (1.106%) |
5 Departments |
420,381 students
5,697 (1.35%) |
374,658 students
857 (0.228%) |
795,039 students
6,554 (0.824%) |
Stage 3: Breton in the worksphere. Return
to Top
Many trades still function in Breton, but this depends on how prevalent Breton
is in the area. Fishermen often prefer Breton off the coast of the Bigouden
country, but this isn't the case everywhere in the fishing industry. Breton
fishermen operating off the coasts of Britain, Ireland and Spain often make
use of Breton in radio communications which cannot be understood by anyone
listening in. In central Brittany, in Brasparts and Gourin the farmers use
Breton both at work and at home. Breton is also still widely used at the
markets on market day. With so many bilingual Bretons, the use of one language
or the other is largely dictated by circumstances. Breton can also it turns
out be spoken in the workplace outside of Brittany. In Paris, one of the
subway terminals was manned mostly by Bretons from Lower Brittany in the
1970's, and as a result, the messages, the communications, the conversations
were all in Breton.
At the turn of the century many commercial enterprises in Lower Brittany
posted their signs and literature in Breton as well as French. This was a
tacit admission, not only of the dominant role still played by Breton as a
spoken language in society, but also of the existence of Breton literacy among
sectors of the Breton population. By the 1930's and 1940's French became much
more dominant in this area. By the 1960's French was close to being almost the
only language in the commercial field. This situation has changed today with
local enterprises in particular now often employing Breton on signage as well
as for advertising purposes. To a lesser extent this is also true of larger
national and even multinational companies such as Volkswagen and Intermarché.
In general however it is accurate to say that the dominant, almost exclusive
language of the work place is now French more than ever. As the Breton
speaking population ages and leaves the work force the previous situation of
an essentially bilingual workforce is being replaced by an even more
exclusively French speaking one. At one time while middle and upper management
avoided use of Breton even though many such people could speak it the language
continued to perform a function among the lower order members of the work
force itself. Clearly the work place is one important arena where RLS efforts
in Brittany have to be focused as no language can afford to allow itself to be
ousted from this area which is so critical in shaping a people's assessment of
the actual importance of Breton in society. As we shall see below plans are in
fact afoot to strengthen Breton among small businesses and by definition in
the workplace but again the question of critical mass arises and whether or
not Breton RLSers can make an impact in this important field in the next
generation will be part of the equation of whether or not Breton can retain a
place for itself in society and then build on that.
Stage 2: Local governmental services and media. Return
to Top
At the local level the Regional Council of Brittany has played over the last
twenty years an increasing role in supporting both media in Breton and local
governmental services in Breton. In 1999 the Ofis ar Brezhoneg/Office of the
Breton Language was established with branches in both Rennes and Carhaix to be
followed by a future branch in Nantes. This new institution, an offshoot of
Skol Uhel ar Vro/The Cultural Institute of Brittany is intended to be a means
of promotion, observation, and development of new terminology in the Breton
language. It also carries out public opinion polls and collects data on
developments concerning the Breton language. It is the chief body in Brittany
with regards to both status planning and corpus planning for the Breton
language. It operates in close liaison with the Regional Council and receives
its entire budget from the Council.
National and even local administration is carried out almost exclusively in
French. While increasingly Breton municipalities are posting signage in both
Breton and French and in so doing they are receiving guidance from Skol Uhel
ar Vro, Servij ar Brezhoneg and Ofis ar Brezhoneg actual provision of services
to the public in Breton is not guaranteed by law. Hence while Breton is in
reality used with the public by local officials this is a strictly off the
record undertaking.
There has been a great deal of activism since the 60's and 70's to get Breton
officially recognized by the French administration. As a result, Breton is now
legally admissible in court, but since there is little funding for Breton
interpreters, and since only activists have tried thus far to enforce use of
the language in court (and often been told by the judge to speak French), it
is hard to tell what would happen today if a monolingual Breton elder appeared
in court. The same activist struggle also covered the ability to write checks
in Breton, which has also been found admissible by the French courts. In
practice if a Breton speaker shows up at a government office, and cannot be
understood by the clerk, it is not unusual for the clerk to go and find
someone who knows Breton. However such accommodation is by no means guaranteed
by law.
In the towns, particularly in Finistère, a phenomenon common to all minority
language regions can be encountered; government workers, doctors, nurses,
shopkeepers, lawyers, etc. actually often either know Breton or know some of
it. If they are dealing with a Breton speaker, who is not really fluent in
French, the language they will speak is a mixture of both. The main words will
be Breton, the grammar mostly French, the order of the words very close to
Breton. Unfortunately this is also a trait of languages in their later stages
of decay, where the speech of the endangered language is being corrupted by
more and more intrusions both grammatically and vocabulary wise from the
dominant language.
The media story is somewhat more successful than other areas. At present there
are three government run television stations operating in Brittany. Only one
of these however, FR3 broadcasts in Breton and only for four hours a week.
However on August 4 of 2000 Télé Breizh, the first all Breton language
television service is set to begin broadcasts. This project was launched at
the initiative of the Cultural Council of Brittany. One of the goals of Télé
Breizh is to coordinate its programming so as to assist the Diwan schools.
Such broadcasts will try to serve as a link between Breton-speaking children
and non Breton-speaking parents. This strategy attempts to draw on the
experience of S4C the Welsh language television service with which Rozenn
Milin the new director of Télé Breizh worked for several years. About 50% of
this new service will be funded by the Agricultural Credit Union of Brittany
with the remainder of the funding coming from private sources. The success of
both Syannel Pedwar or S4C and Telefís na Gaeilge, television services in
Welsh and Irish-Gaelic respectively augur well for Télé Breizh but as with
other minority language television services it must be remembered that Télé
Breizh will be always be surrounded by an ocean of French language television
programming and that while a television service is an invaluable and important
tool in the rehabilitation of the image and status of Breton, RLSers must not
rely on it as a substitute for parenting and preschool infant care in Breton.
The Breton language is present on 13 different radio stations broadcasting in
Brittany. This includes two public service radios, Radio Bretagne Ouest /Radio
Breizh Izel (12 hours a week in western Brittany) and Radio France Armorique/Radio Arvorig (2 hours per week in the Rennes area) as well as two
associative radios; Radio Kreiz Breizh and Radio Bro Gwened (both for 18 hours
a week). This expansion in the use of Breton over the airwaves is a
revolutionary success story in itself as the language was not heard on radio
until the 1940's and remained virtually absent from this area throughout the
1950's and 1960's. Breton language radio too, however, at least in the initial
stages of RLS, cannot hope to compete with the ocean of French language
broadcasting available to the public in every part of Brittany.
The two daily newspapers of Brittany are Le Télégramme of Brest and Ouest-France. An attempt several years back to launch a Breton language daily
failed. Both existing dailies are in French but carry weekly columns in Breton
mostly about learning the language rather than actual news coverage.
Publishing activity in the Breton language today is intense despite the
obstacles of a limited readership (about 30,000 to 40,000 estimated Breton
readers) and little state support. While there is as yet no daily newspaper in
the Breton language, weekly, monthly and quarterly newsletters, newspapers and
magazines are numerous. These include An Here, Al Liamm, Bremañ (circulation
1,000), Mouladurioù Hor Yezh, Brud Nevez, Hor Yezh, Al Lañv, Imbourc'h,
Sterenn and others. At the same time publications in Gallo are on the rise
with for example the literary review Le Lian. Several publishers have entered
the professional and commercial field. These include Coopérative Breizh,
Keltia, Skol Vreizh, and Al Liamm. The bulk of publishing they handle be it
magazines or books is in French but the percentage of output in the Breton
language and also in Gallo has clearly expanded in recent years. With annual
sales of 30,000,000 francs and 60% of the Breton market Coopérative Breizh is
the leading publisher in Brittany followed by Ouest-France which is really a
French publisher rather than an exclusively Breton one as Coopérative Breizh.
About 10% of the books it publishes are in Breton with the remainder being in
French. Of those books published in Breton about 60% are related to learning
the language and only about 40% are novels or other titles in Breton. In
addition while the number of Breton dictionaries and learning aids being sold
annually is rising both absolutely and proportionately, ordinary titles in
Breton are remaining stable in sales, evidence that the number of Breton
language readers also is apparently remaining stable.
Also worthy of mention is the great tradition of Breton language theatre with
it's travelling troupes. Through theatre based satire political commentary and
activism was and still is expressed just as it often is by Breton musicians.
Stage 1: Breton in the higher spheres of work,
education and government. Return
to Top
Here at the higher order level functions we can see most clearly how severely
Breton has been dislocated in the higher echelons of society and it's very own
traditional heartland at that. The four universities of Brittany, Brest,
Rennes, Lorient and Nantes all use French as their administrative language and
their main language of instruction. The one minor exception being that some
courses are now taught through Breton at Rennes university. The Université de
Haute Bretagne-Rennes II probably has the strongest program of Breton medium
instruction. All classes in its Celtic department are taught through Breton
and this includes not only such subjects as history, geography and linguistics
but will soon extend to Breton medium instruction of technical and engineering
subjects. It had 335 students studying Breton (69%) out of a total of 485 in
the 1999/2000 academic year. The Université de Bretagne Occidentale in Brest
had 53 students or 11%, the Université de Bretagne Sud in Lorient also had
11% or 34 students studying Breton as a subject and the Université de Nantes
had 9% or 30 students studying Breton.
At Brest university Breton is taught only as a subject and is not utilised as
a language of instruction at all. The University of Nantes in the department
of Loire Atlantique now supposedly no longer a part of Brittany does at least
offer Breton as a subject if not a language instruction. Perhaps the most
promising development are the plans of Diwan to develop a new Breton language
university at Carhaix/Karaez which is envisaged to begin operation about 2005.
It is envisaged that the new facility will accommodate the rising number of
Breton speaking graduates from the secondary level schools of Diwan, Div Yezh
and Dihun. Of course many obstacles and hurdles remain to be overcome before a
Breton language university becomes a reality and it will likely be sometime
before the new university establishes it's credentials academically but it is
yet another sign that the Bretonization goals of the language movement for
Breton society at large are real and with every passing year are becoming a
reality.
In the administrative arena local civil servants often use Breton in their
dealings with the public as they always have but this is entirely the
prerogative of the individual official although sometimes the attitude of
local municipal authorities can have a bearing. In general however it is safe
to say that Breton plays no significant role or function at the higher levels
of government administration. Not only has Breton no official status in
Brittany. It has no status in France or at a European level (for example in
dealings with bodies representing the European Community such as its
parliament or various agencies). Not since the early 1700's (when the Breton
parliament still sat) has Breton exercised or dispensed any of the higher
order functions of a language in government administration . True official
status for Breton is a goal of all the agencies presently labouring on behalf
of the Breton language including Ofis ar Brezhoneg but it is a goal which
seems as far off as ever.
In the economic sector the present situation while not what it should be has
changed slightly for the better. National and foreign companies operating in
Brittany rarely if ever carry out operations in Breton let alone publish
literature or commercial advertising in the language. Some notable exceptions
are Volkswagen, Leclerc, Intermarché, Carrefour and some airline companies
which have begun to use Breton in their advertising, (although Breton was
recently banned on Air France). Local smaller enterprises of course do have
recourse to use Breton but only in a secondary role to French and usually only
when absolutely necessary - as when dealing with the decreasing number of
Breton monoglots. Never the less here too the situation is changing as local
businesses and shops have increasingly begun to post signs in Breton and are
increasingly printing commercial advertising and leaflets in Breton. Perhaps
most promising is a project underway by André Lavanant to set up an
association of businesses who use Breton in the workplace. As Mr. Lavanant is
one of the individuals who helped found Diwan and is one of those who launched
Télé Breizh there is reason to be optimistic about this project as well. It
should be noted too that speaking Breton on public occasions, once taboo,
whether for religious, cultural or civic occasions is also on the rise,
another sign of the times.
In summary it can at least be said that Bretons are aware of the need for
Breton to make a breakthrough in all three of these areas hence the ambitious
and well thought out plans to establish more Breton speaking businesses, to
establish a Breton medium university, and to push for official status for the
Breton language. Broadly speaking however at the time of writing Breton has
not secured a significant place for itself in any of these domains and it
remains to be seen how successful Breton will be in establishing a foothold in
the universities, the upper management levels of the economy, finance, and the
higher levels of government.
________________________________ ________________________________
Language Planning in Other
Countries Return to Top
Québec
Of the languages examined here Québec French is perhaps the most secure in
the field of community and family life. (French is spoken in the province of
Québec by about 7.5 million people and in the provinces of Ontario and New
Brunswick by another 2 million persons while about 10 million persons in
Canada out of a total population of 31 million are of French ancestry). These
are areas from which it was never ousted however due to the dominant role
which English had come to assume in certain fields of Québec life by the
1960's (the economic, educational and increasingly even cultural) Francophones
accurately began to perceive English as a threat to the survival of French if
steps were not taken to safeguard the language in it's home base. Almost from
the start these efforts were mainly effected through legislation beginning
with Bill 22 in 1974 passed by the Liberal Party. This was followed by the
much more thorough going Bill 101 of 1977 introduced by the new Parti
Québecois Government. The new government also established a new language
agency - the Office of the French Language/L'Office de la langue français -
in order to monitor and enforce the francisation of the workplace and other
areas of Québec life. Besides the workplace long-term strategies designed to
strengthen the demographic basis of the Francophone population are pursued
through the deliberate encouragement of immigration from Francophone countries
and the enrollment of immigrant children in Francophone schools. The final
political status of Québec itself is still undecided but about the question
of language policy there is no disagreement among Francophones. They aspire to
a French speaking and unilingual society at least for internal purposes. This
is quite unlike the Bretons and the Irish for example who aspire to bilingual
societies not merely for external relationships but even for internal
purposes.
Wales Return
to Top
Welsh is the language most closely related to Breton and while its
circumstances are certainly not identical to those of Breton they are
comparable. The chief language agency in Wales is the Welsh Language Board/Bwrrd Yr Iaith Gymraeg established in 1988. The Board has recently
published a five-year plan for the period 2000-2005 entitled; "The Welsh
Language: A Vision and Mission For 2000-2005". Broadly speaking the
policy of the Board is to plan and carry out Acquisition Planning, Usage
Planning, Status Planning and Corpus Planning on behalf of Welsh. The climate
in favour of Welsh has improved somewhat recently in no small measure due to
political developments within Wales itself such as the 1998 vote by the Welsh
electorate in favour of greater autonomy leading to the establishment of a
Welsh Assembly/An Cynulliad. Thus Welsh, unlike Breton, is an official
language on its home territory and has a status Breton language planners can
only dream of. In addition Welsh has suffered less erosion then Breton in the
postwar period although it has suffered losses. In 1900 Welsh was spoken by
977,000 people or about 50% of the population. By 2000 about 580,000 or 20%
were still Welsh-speaking about double the number of Breton speakers.
In general it can be said that the Welsh aspire to language maintenance and to
arrest the decline of the language in the Welsh speaking heartland, that is to
say northern and western Wales rather than to any more ambitious plans to go
on the offensive and reestablish the language in parts of Wales where it has
died out. It remains to be seen how successful this fairly conservative policy
will be since the situation of the Welsh language today is more serious than
many realise. Only about 6% of Welsh children are still being raised in Welsh
even though about 20%-25% of the population can be considered Welsh speaking.
Efforts to combat the decline of Welsh in family life are being made through
publicity campaigns stressing the benefits of bilingualism to young couples
who are embarking on starting new families. In addition Welsh medium education
has expanded to the point where about 22% of primary school children are being
educated either entirely or partly through the medium of Welsh. However as
Ireland has proved language initiatives which are based too heavily on the
school system are not likely to succeed. While the present strategy of
maintenance is probably well suited for northern and western Wales which are
still largely Welsh speaking it is clear that a more ambitious and
family-community oriented policy is necessary to deal with the heavily
Anglicised east and southeastern regions of the country containing the larger
urban centres such as Cardiff which cannot of course be ignored by language
planners. Here more Welsh medium schools and television are not enough. The
reestablishment of community and family life in Welsh are not merely necessary
but of critical importance.
Ireland Return
to Top
Ireland is the only independent Celtic nation and as such it's linguistic
policies are often scrutinised by other Celtic language activists. Irish has
enjoyed official status since 1921 but the efforts to restore the Irish
language itself have obtained mixed results. Spoken by about 4 million people
in 1840, Irish today probably is spoken by about 300,000 people in both the
Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. Since 1960 language planning has
undergone some significant changes. The old goal of pursuing an all
Irish-speaking Ireland has been set aside in favour of the pursuit of a
bilingual society. One encouraging and somewhat unexpected development which
began in the late 1970's has been an increasingly more assertive and pro-Irish
attitude among the public which has increasingly put pressure on the Irish
Government to provide more Irish medium schooling as well as television and
radio services in Irish. Hence it is apparent that public opinion in Ireland
is by no means reconciled to an English only society contrary to what has
often been said on the subject. Needless to say the Irish medium schools or
Gaelscoileanna have expanded to the point where about 8% of Irish children are
now being educated in Irish only and this figure is rising every year. In
addition Radio na Gaeltachta and Radio na Life now provide full radio service
in the language while Telefís na Gaeilge (since 1999) does the same for
television. The pro Irish attitude of the Nationalist population in Northern
Ireland is even more marked and has led to some important developments for the
Irish language. These include increased publishing in Irish, increased Irish
medium schooling, an Irish language newspaper - An Lá, greater use of Irish
on radio and television and perhaps most important the successful
reestablishment of urban community life in Irish with a new Irish speaking
community in Belfast. The chief Irish language body in Northern Ireland has
been the Ultach Trust a voluntary body.
One of the articles of the peace agreement reached in Northern Ireland was the
establishment of a new language agency for both Northern Ireland and the Irish
Republic - Foras na Gaeilge. It is meant to supersede Bord na Gaeilge the
former government agency in the Irish Republic as well as the Ultach Trust in
Northern Ireland and to establish a united language strategy for the island in
regards to status planning as well as corpus planning for the Irish language.
The chief voluntary language body in the Irish Republic - Comhdháil Násiunta
na Gaeilge remains in existence and this is probably a healthy thing as it is
not entirely under government control, thus it will continue to bring a more
independent viewpoint to the language debate. While it is probably true that
the number of people able to speak Irish is rising moderately due to both
increased Irish medium education and adult learners it is clear that greater
community use of Irish has yet to be tackled. It is encouraging to note
however that activists seem to recognise this and are pursuing the
establishment of new Irish speaking communities in both Dublin and Galway in
the next few years to be followed by others. Those families in urban areas
such as Dublin, Cork and Belfast which employ Irish as the language of the
home are also an important development which must be encouraged and built
upon. While the government language agency has not yet backed the plans for
new urban communities it is clear that the future of Irish as a spoken
language lies in just such a community approach. One other point that also
might be made about the language question in Ireland and it is a point that
applies to Brittany and the other Celtic countries as well is that it is
increasingly clear that a large percentage of public opinion do not accept the
establishment viewpoint often pandered to by the government that Irish (or
Breton in the case of Brittany) has no place in the modern life of the
country. It is probably more accurate to say that while public opinion is
divided on the language question a large number of Irish citizens do want to
see Irish being spoken in everyday life and by their children hence the rates
strikes to force the Irish Government to establish first an Irish language
radio station in the 1970's and an Irish language television service in 1999
not to mention the ongoing pressure to open more Irish medium schools - even
in the face of opposition from the government and the Roman Catholic Church -
to the point where about 10% of children in the Irish Republic are now being
educated in Irish not English medium schools - something the Irish Government
had to be forced into doing.
Catalonia Return
to Top
Catalan is today spoken by some 7 million persons in Spain, Andorra, southern
France and even the island of Sardinia. The vast majority of these reside in
the Catalan Autonomous Community in Spain which was established in 1979 but
also in the equally autonomous region of Valencia in Spain as well as another
250,000 people in southern France, 10,000 or so in Sardinia and about 25,000
in Andorra.
Catalan like Basque was openly suppressed by the Franco régime in Spain to a
great extent because heavily industrialised and Socialist Catalonia staunchly
supported the cause of the Republic during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939
however Castilian chauvinism would probably still have been on the scene in
the 1950's and 1960's even if Catalonia had supported Franco. Since 1983 the
Directorate General of Language Policy has coordinated all status and corpus
planning in regards to Catalan as well as other language initiatives in what
is termed the policy of "Normalization" for Catalan.
Catalan although it had suffered reverses under Franco remained far more
widely spoken in 1979 when efforts at it's revitalisation came to the fore
than other disadvantaged languages such as Basque or Breton or Irish. True
literacy in the language had taken a beating during the Franco administration
when the language was all but barred from the schools but the challenge which
really faced Catalan language planners was somewhat more like that facing
French in Québec during the 1970's; how to reintroduce Catalan into the
higher order functions of government administration, the media and education
which it had once exercised.
Ironically similar to the situation of French in Montréal too was the
position of Catalan in Barcelona faced as it was with the large number of
Spanish speaking migrants attracted to the city in search of employment.
Montréal too had long attracted English speaking immigrants for similar
reasons.
Friesland Return
to Top
It is a little known fact that Frisian is the language most closely related to
English. The Frisian territories which once stretched from the Netherlands and
northwestern Germany to Denmark were the homeland in the fifth century of the
ferocious Anglo-Saxons, Jutes and other Germanic tribes who coming under
pressure from peoples to the east such as the Huns, the Slavs and the Magyars
began to look in other directions for new farmland and more secure homes.
Their eyes turned to the prosperous Roman villas and the vibrant urban economy
of Roman Britain. Early seaborne raids in the 300's gave way to full scale
revolt of Saxon mercenaries in Britain in 442 and all out war between the
British and the Anglo-Saxons. Although London and most of Britain successfully
defended themselves Colchester and other eastern cities were destroyed. The
result was a stalemate in which Britain was partitioned with the Anglo-Saxons
remaining in control of much of eastern Britain. The shock of the war led many
Britons to depart for what are now Brittany and Normandy in search of safer
homes. Hence the Breton tongue of today.
During the middle ages Frisian gradually lost ground to languages such as
Dutch, German and Danish. Partly this was due to the greater social status of
these languages but was also due to some extent to the great floods of the
thirteenth century which drowned much of the coastal population in the
traditional Frisian speaking areas and led to the dispersal of many others.
Suffice to say that today Frisian is spoken in three well-defined areas; the
province of Friesland in the northern Netherlands (400,000 speakers), the
Saterland in Germany (10,000 speakers) and on the west coast of
Schleswig-Holstein in Denmark (4,000 speakers).
A Frisian Language Board/Berie Foar It Frysk has been in existence for some
years now to promote efforts to maintain and strengthen the Frisian language.
While it is true that Frisian is an endangered language, in many ways its
demographic heartland - rural Friesland - is still much more intact and much
more Frisian-speaking than say Ireland is Irish-speaking or Wales is
Welsh-speaking. Mixed Dutch/Frisian marriages and rural migration to cities
such as Leeuwarden or Amsterdam or Rotterdam almost always lead to loss of the
language. Some 73% of the population remained Frisian speaking as recently as
the 1980's. In addition Dutch migrants to Friesland usually do not have too
much difficulty in acquiring the language because of its closeness to Dutch
which is a sister Germanic language. Where the real danger for Frisian may lie
is in the fact that (like Breton, Welsh, Irish-Gaelic and others) virtually to
a man all Frisian speakers are bilingual and able to speak Dutch. In addition
it is clear that Frisian has already lost control of urban centres in
Friesland itself while the workplace also has become almost entirely Dutch
speaking. In addition there is no autonomous government body as there is
Wales, Euzkadi or Catalonia to provide funding in critical areas which need to
be addressed such as more publishing in Frisian not to mention the almost
total lack of Frisian in the school system. A great deal will depend over the
next decades on how successful Frisian language activists are in securing
language legislation in their favour not to mention mobilizing public opinion
in Friesland to a greater extent than has previously been the case.
The Basque Country/Euzkadi Return
to Top
Among other things the ancient Basque language is the only surviving Neolithic
and possibly Mesolithic language in western Europe and is of non Indo-European
origin. Links with the ancient Iberian language as well as the Hamitic and
Semitic languages and even the Caucasian languages have long been suspected.
Suffice to say this very mysterious language is today spoken by about 800,000
people in Spain and France. More recently the Basque language was openly
persecuted by the Fascist Franco régime. With the death of the dictator and
the establishment of an autonomous Basque Government in 1979 a new and more
hopeful chapter in the history of the language began. Since 1982 efforts to
strengthen the Basque language in society have been coordinated by the
Secretariat of Language Policy. Today in 2000 we can look back upon many solid
achievements; the establishment of a Basque language University, the
establishment of a Basque language daily newspaper, the establishment of
Basque language television and radio service, the extension of financial and
logistical assistance to Basque language agencies in Navarre and France, the
expansion of literacy in the language and the dramatic expansion of Basque
medium education to the point where a majority of Basque children (in Spain)
are now being educated in primarily Basque medium schools. However it does
seem that the stage 6 level of demographically concentrated family and
community life in Basque is not being tackled to the extent that it might be.
Much of rural and small town life is still Basque speaking so the present
policies which amount to language maintenance or damage control may be
appropriate in this setting but how appropriate can they be in tackling the
question of Basque language use in urban life in the heavily Spanish speaking
cities such as Bilbao and San Sebastian? Or in reestablishing Basque in
regions from which it has been ousted such as Alava province and most of
Navarre? Clearly Basque language planners are in earnest and are aggressively
pursuing the reestablishment or rather establishment of Basque at all levels
of society but like the Welsh and the Irish they may be overlooking some
critically important and key areas of family and community life in areas where
it must be reestablished.
________________________________ ________________________________
The Sum Total; Lower Order and
Higher Order Functions of Language Use by Minority Languages Return
to Top
In summary it can be said that various diverse strategies are being attempted
at present in the above mentioned countries not to mention Brittany itself as
well as the other Celtic nations (Scotland, Cornwall, and the Isle of Man). At
present great emphasis is placed on media such as television, newspapers, and
government administration. At the time of writing only the Québecois, Welsh,
the Catalans and the Basques are making serious efforts at strengthening
community use of the languages in question although efforts in this area are
coming to the fore in Ireland also. Nevertheless even these cases leave a fair
bit to be desired in this field. Although perhaps it was inevitable that
language agencies in these countries would be drawn towards such higher order
and status oriented functions for their languages and less so towards family
and community life in their languages which are so difficult to regulate and
control.
It may also be true to say that if language status is partially dependent on
political status then none of the above countries has yet successfully
resolved it's own national question in say the manner that Estonia or Latvia
or Slovakia or Macedonia or other smaller nation states recently has. In these
other newly formed and independent nations the primary status of the native
language and independence are both unquestioned and mutually intertwined
tenets of the state.
This is not so in the Celtic nations or in Québec or Euzkadi or Catalonia.
Québec has largely solved its language question but has not resolved it's
final political status. Ireland has also not solved it's own political
question since two million people remain under British rule in Ulster and the
language question though coming to the fore once again in public debate in
Ireland also remains unresolved. Wales has partly addressed its language
question but its final political status is unresolved. The same remark could
be made of Catalonia, Scotland and Euzkadi. The point being that the political
status of a nation and the power relationship of its language to the dominant
state language cannot in reality be ignored. In short the political status of
Brittany though at present unresolved is in fact highly relevant to efforts to
promote Breton in Brittany itself in the long run and extremely relevant to
how the Breton people themselves perceive the Breton language and its
importance in Breton society. In other words, yes Bretons must pay more
attention to Breton in the family and in the community than has previously
been the case but they cannot ignore the political status of their language
either.
Concluding Remarks Return
to Top
Breton has achieved a number of successes since the mid 1970's which are
clearly of great importance for the future of the language; it's introduction
into the school system as a medium of instruction on an ever increasing scale,
(the annual rate of increase in children who are enrolled in Breton medium
schools is presently about 23% per annum), the establishment of a Breton
language television network, increased publishing in the language, it's
increased use in other media such as radio and the theatre and by
municipalities all over Brittany. A new generation of not only Breton-speaking
children but Breton literate children - something unprecedented in Brittany -
is being turned out by the schools in ever-increasing numbers. A wide range of
programs from preschool to school to workplace to media are being put into
place at the time of writing. In order however to avoid the pitfall of
"too little, too late" Bretons must achieve more critical mass in
all these areas if their efforts are to be crowned with success. Preschool in
Breton, primary school in Breton, radio, books and TV in Breton are all
necessary components of any RLS agenda and they are all present in Brittany
but they must be present everywhere not just in certain towns or areas.
Judging by recent growth rates it would appear that these trends and
institutions will continue to grow. In addition the Breton language movement
is not without goals and direction. As articulated by Ofis ar Brezhoneg,
official status for the Breton language in Brittany as well as it's more
widespread use at the administrative level in dealing with the public whether,
regionally, departmentally or municipally is envisaged. A public statute is
being sought by Diwan to recognise the school system for what it is - a public
service. Increased Bretonization of this society is also evident in the
increasing amount of signage being posted bilingually in Breton/French not
only in western Brittany but also in eastern Brittany. This is an important
development because such increased visibility of Breton does keep the language
in the public eye and consciousness when all is said and done.
Nevertheless the most critical question facing Breton today - it's
reestablishment at the stage 6 level, that of the intergenerational,
demographically concentrated family-home-neighborhood-community level is not
being addressed on any significant level and even worse may not even be
comprehended by most language activists on behalf of Breton today. It is clear
that less than 1% of Breton families are raising their children in Breton and
while this figure is tending to rise slightly as the parents of children in
Breton medium schools often make an effort to speak Breton around their
children these efforts cannot be equated by any means with the reestablishment
of Breton speaking communities. While K.E.A.V. , Skol an Emsav and the other
summer camps are a useful instrument in constituting even if only temporarily
and seasonally "new Breton speaking" communities the proficiency in
Breton they impart to people cannot be maintained from year to year.
There is no dodging the main question. Unless Bretons focus squarely on the
demographic concentration of Breton speakers at the
home-family-neighborhood-community level, particularly in western Brittany
where it is not too late to utilise the 400,000 strong reservoir of native
speakers in the over 40 age group whose Breton can still be reactivated and
who could supplement and strengthen new Breton speaking communities the
erosion of Breton as a community language will continue unabated probably at
the same disastrous rate as prevailing during the past five post-war decades
before the eyes of uncomprehending Breton language activists who will be left
scratching their heads (again like the Irish before them) wondering aloud,
"what went wrong, the schools are full of Breton but nobody speaks
it?". There is no need to labour the point - the schools are not enough.
Diwan is not enough. Language restoration is a complex socio-linguistic
phenomenon which must encompass the involvement of all sectors of the
community and all age groups and it is not only unjust to place the
responsibility for language restoration solely on the shoulders of children it
is also a fatal error.
Community wide social programs in Breton and new Breton speaking
communities.
The strengthening of existing Breton speaking communities.
A new Breton speaking community in each canton?
One possibility in this respect would be for groups of Breton speaking
families to form in clusters around the Breton medium schools, be they Diwan,
Div Yezh or Dihun (Diwan being a more probable candidate for ideological
reasons). Communal and group activities for these Breton speaking families
could be organised. Despite the surrounding French speaking milieu such
communal groups would allow for the establishment of Breton-speaking youth
groups and also for the organisation of Brittany wide programs for preschool
care in Breton (perhaps staffed by elderly native speakers on a volunteer
basis), youth groups in Breton, grandparenting in Breton, instruction for
young families on how to raise their children in Breton and the provision of
instructors as well as parenting aids such as games, riddles, songs, prayers,
reading readiness books in Breton for parents and other forms of guidance for
these new Breton speaking families and communities as well as financial
assistance for them. While financial resources and staff are limited we have
seen in Brittany how much can be achieved at the local voluntary level without
large sums being expended. A realistic and attainable strategy might be the
establishment of a new Breton speaking community in each canton, both in
western and eastern Brittany. Such a strategy would not be out of step with
the Diwan goal of establishing a Diwan school in every canton of Brittany. It
is worth stating that Diwan might also be the most appropriate agency for
ensuring preschool infant care in all of Brittany as well as the coordinator
who in the initial stages at least might help in the formation of new Breton
speaking community life because of it's already widespread infrastructure
which will continue to open new schools in new cantons. Both the existing
schools and those established in the future could become the nuclei of new
Breton speaking networks or communities. While some would probably regard such
a task as operating beyond the mandate of Diwan no other organisation at
present in Brittany possesses the infrastructure or trained personnel capable
of instituting such a social program on any significant scale. The Dudi
organisation and other youth groups are at present too localised and limited
in their scope. One possible solution would be for a new organisation to be
established, working closely with Diwan (but separate from it) Ofis ar
Brezhoneg and Skol an Emsav to attend to the task of organising such new
Breton speaking networks and their support network in the vicinity of all
Diwan schools. It might sound revolutionary and difficult to achieve but
nothing short of this will halt the further erosion of Breton as a spoken
community language - or begin to build up significant numbers of new speakers
among the younger generations. The concept of Diwan, Skol an Emsav and Ofis ar
Brezhoneg collaborating in the establishment of new Breton speaking
communities can of course only be food for thought for the present as such a
wide-scale undertaking would require a consensus among these bodies and others
such as the Cultural Council of Brittany and the Regional Council of Brittany
- the democratically elected and representative bodies of Breton political and
cultural life.
It should be recalled that while any such proposed Bretonization goals like
this or any other may or may not be practicable in the present due to
financial, logistical and even political constraints however this does not
mean that no thought should be given to just exactly what forms of status
planning it will take to reestablish Breton on an equal footing with French as
one of the two major languages of Brittany, a goal which the Breton people
have clearly and unequivocally adopted.
Another problem which must be addressed is the massive illiteracy in Breton
among all age groups and sectors of the population even among native speakers.
Again a Brittany wide policy and strategy would have to be formulated and then
implemented among both Breton speakers and non-Breton speakers. The present
practice of employing the long established KLTG standard dialect should be
continued with any new literacy initiatives. Again it has to be recalled that
present circumstances may or may not be expeditious for expanded programs of
adult literacy but this should not prevent such issues from discussed openly
and frankly.
While the agencies working for the Breton language such as Ofis ar Brezhoneg,
Servij ar Brezhoneg, and others are only establishing themselves and are still
at a very formative stage (as opposed to the somewhat older Skol Uhel ar Vro)
the formulation and the eventual implementation of such programs (free of
charge and available to all) in the community at large and indeed throughout
all of Brittany will probably make or break the revival of the Breton
language.
Western Brittany today despite the massive erosion of the past century still
possesses a pool of about 400,000 native Breton speakers and semi-speakers who
constitute about a quarter of the population. They are almost entirely
confined to the over 40 age groups never the less they still constitute a
reservoir which could be utilised over the next two decades for the
implementation of such social programs because in effect these native Breton
speakers constitute ready trained social workers who because they are in the
older age brackets would have more time on their hands for volunteer work than
younger people, but their Breton speaking abilities must be utilised rapidly
for every passing year more and more elderly native speakers pass away. In the
Autonomous Basque Region in Spain the policies of the Deputy Ministry For
Language Policy have demonstrated since 1979 that it is possible to strengthen
use of the weakened language (Basque) among younger sectors of the population
through social programs instituted for specifically this purpose. It is worth
noting that by 1979 Basque (like Breton today) had largely retreated to the
older sectors of the population. This is no longer the case today as Basque
has clearly made inroads among young families and other sectors of the under
40 population. As much of this progress was made by utilising older native
speakers as well as overt government social programs, there is little reason
to suppose that the same principle does not apply to Breton. Ofis ar
Brezhoneg, Skol Uhel ar Vro and other Breton language agencies could establish
direct liaison with the Deputy Ministry For Language Policy in the Basque
country of Spain and the Directorate General of Language Policy in Catalonia
in order to benefit from what Basques and Catalans have learned about what
works and what does not work in regards to strengthening a weakened language
among younger sectors of the population because both Euzkadi and Catalonia are
examples of where like in Brittany the challenge is to arrest language decline
in very specific age groups. This is particularly true of western Brittany.
Other bodies which could prove to be useful because of their similar role are
Bwrrd Yr Iaith Gymraeg/The Welsh Language Board, Foras na Gaeilge/The Irish
Language Board and Comhdáil Násiunta na Gaeilge/The National Association of
Irish. With regards to eastern Brittany the same broad principles apply
despite a somewhat different linguistic history. Here no pool of native
speakers has existed since the middle ages but unless Breton-speaking
communities are formed, particularly in urban centres such as Nantes/Naoned
and Rennes/Roazhon and indeed on a canton wide basis than there can be no
question of establishing Breton as a widespread vehicle of communication on a
par with French. Here too, just as in western Brittany programs encompassing
the wider community must be implemented among all age groups not merely school
age children. Breton speaking families have to be encouraged to cluster
together as much as is possible so as to facilitate joint social and communal
activities coordinated for them. As Basque has proved during the 1980's and
1990's it is possible to strengthen a weakened language among younger sectors
of the population and indeed within the family even after that language has
been confined to older sectors of the population (as Breton now is in western
Brittany).
During the past quarter century between 1975 and 2000 Breton has made
phenomenal progress. Relying largely on local initiative and resources, though
to a significant extent inspired by Welsh, Basque and even Canadian
initiatives in bilingualism and bilingual education, Bretons have in effect
reestablished the infrastructure of a Breton speaking society. Breton medium
schools are a reality and it is clear that their growth will continue, very
probably to the point where a quarter or more of Breton primary and secondary
students are being educated primarily through Breton. Also in media Breton is
already a modest success story, Télé Breizh the Breton language television
network, Radio Kreizh Breizh, and Radio Arvorig with their increasing
influence, the large and increasing number of newspapers and magazines in
Breton.
In addition the climate has changed favourably on behalf of Breton. Breton
public opinion solidly supports the hard won gains by Breton in the schools,
municipal administration and elsewhere. France too has changed to some extent
for the better in its position on minority languages and signed the European
Charter of Minority languages in Budapest on May 7 of 1999. Ratification of
the treaty by the French Government will inevitably follow. French public
opinion has also grown somewhat more tolerant on this issue as 67% recently
stated in a poll that they supported the use of regional languages in schools.
Clearly France too, not just Brittany is changing. The new pro-active attitude
towards the Breton language by the Breton people themselves however probably
is more important than any change in state policy. The old stigma of Breton as
a language for farmers, fishermen and old people is gone, replaced by a new
pride in Breton as a modern language, a Celtic language and a desirable
element of the Breton heritage. Without this change of heart on the part of
the Breton people towards their language none of the very considerable
achievements which have been attained in the past quarter century could have
taken place.
Nevertheless it is difficult not to see the strong parallel between Breton and
her sister Celtic language Irish. Much has been achieved yet the main problem
facing Breton has not been addressed - the reestablishment of the language at
the family-home-neighborhood-community level on any scale whatsoever. Time
will tell - probably within the next generation - whether Bretons can 1;
recognise this fact and 2; successfully meet the challenge.
In addition those who are working for the Breton language have to bear in mind
the complexities of the Breton identity itself. Many Bretons regard themselves
as only Breton, others as only French while the majority appear to fall
somewhere in between. This strong attachment to the French language, to French
culture and indeed to France itself - demonstrated during two world wars by an
almost fanatical devotion to France as evidenced by the fact that in both
world wars the Breton level of enrollment in the French armed forces was
higher than for other sectors of the French population. The fact that 85% of
the Free French naval forces were Breton during World War II is only one
example of this. Nationalism has long been on the scene in Brittany but thus
far the majority of Bretons have rejected independence and even autonomy hence
it would appear that Bretons are still pursuing a more pluralistic and federal
France which they can call home while at the same time pursuing cultural
autonomy for their region. True, the more robust Celtic nationalism of
Ireland, Scotland and Wales has not gone unnoticed in Brittany and despite the
relatively mild aspirations of Bretons today Breton nationalism has yet to
take on the stronger dimensions that nationalism has assumed in Scotland and
Québec for example. That said it should be noted that nationalism is a
reality in Brittany with a recent poll taken in Brittany indicating that 23%
of the population did in fact support independence while 42% opposed it with
the rest of those surveyed lying somewhere in between.
So clearly while Bretons are stubbornly determined to keep their ancient
Celtic tongue they are also equally keen to retain French as a valuable tool
in the modern world hence it is clear that what Bretons are really pursuing is
bilingualism unlike those activists who have laboured on behalf of Québec
French in the present (in pursuit of French only) or Hebrew in Palestine
during the the 1920's (in pursuit of Hebrew only) and made no secret of their
aspirations towards a unilingual Hebrew speaking society. Regionalism and
nationalism have affected Brittany just as the other smaller nationalities of
Europe but the future result will be one tailored to suit Breton needs and
desires not those dictated by others.
It is clear to anyone who has spent time in Brittany that there is a vast
undercurrent among the people to see their language live. The reverses
suffered by the language in this century are deeply regretted by the people
and they truly wish to see it survive, even if they are sometimes at a loss to
say how this may be done. Just how the various challenges of formulating and
implementing policies geared towards greater Bretonization of the schools, the
family, the community, the various media, the civil service, effectively
mobilising public support and participation in such programs not to mention
the need to work with and sometimes around a largely centralised French
bureaucracy - are met, will determine what the future holds for Breton.
________________________________ ________________________________
Proposals and Suggestions of the
Nominoë Study and How They Fit Into the Different Stages of Reversing
Language Shift Return
to Top
The main thrust of the proposals is a two-stage policy or approach to
Bretonization for Brittany:
The first stage is a policy of Bretonization in Breizh Izel or western
Brittany beginning in 2002 or thereabouts so as not to overextend the limited
financial resources of the Breton language bodies such as Ofis ar Brezhoneg,
Diwan, Skol Uhel ar Vro, the Cultural Council of Brittany etc. and also in
order to immediately address the issue of the declining Breton speaking
population in Breizh Izel whose Breton speaking ability must be used as soon
as possible.
The second stage would be the extension of a policy of Bretonization to
eastern Brittany beginning about 2010.
Bretonization Incorporating The Principles of Reversing Language Shift
This policy of Bretonization should ultimately entail:
1.) |
The establishment of new Breton-speaking
communities in each canton, (initially the cantons of western Brittany
but later to be followed by the cantons and towns of eastern Brittany).
New Breton speaking communities are the most central tenet of stage 6. |
2.) |
The continued establishment of new Breton medium
schools in each canton by the Diwan, Div Yezh and Dihun organisations
with priority being given to Breizh Izel during the next decade. This
corresponds to the Stage 4 level but is necessary for stage 6 to take
root. |
3.) |
The establishment of a new organisation to assist
young families who wish to raise their children in Breton. Existing
language agencies are already overtaxed and such a new body whose
mandate is the establishment of new Breton-speaking communities would
signify an unequivocal commitment and link to stage 6 efforts. |
4.) |
The mounting of a publicity campaign aimed at young
parents to raise their children in Breton and to use Breton at home. The
Welsh Language Board is presently doing so and what is good for the
goose is good for the gander. Again priority should initially be given
to western Brittany. (also stage 6) |
5.) |
Learning aids and counseling must be provided to
young families who opt to raise their children in Breton. Booklets on
parenting skills in Breton, poems, games for children in Breton,
prayers, riddles, songs, reading readiness in Breton, etc. Such services
and supplies so necessary in any serious attempt to rebuild family and
community life in Breton could best be provided by the new organisation
recommended above - to coordinate the rebuilding of Breton language use
at stage 6. |
6.) |
Grandparenting and babysitting in Breton free of
charge is another crucial course which must be made available all over
western Brittany while there is still time to utilise the large numbers
of older Breton speakers. Such a service might be coordinated by Skol an
Emsav because of it's links with adult learners or even Ofis ar
Brezhoneg but however linkages are established with older native Breton
speakers they provide valuable backup for stage 6 efforts in general. |
7.) |
The expansion of the Dudi Breton-speaking youth
groups to every community. Youth groups in Breton are not merely backup
for stage 6 but are an actual part of the process of providing a
Breton-speaking environment for youth outside of school. |
8.) |
The establishment of a Breton medium University.
Diwan aspires to establish one at Carhaix/Karaez in 2005 but it cannot
be overstressed how important it is to have such an institution whether
at Carhaix or anywhere else. Efforts to expand Breton at University
level fall within the range of stage 1 and hence are greatly dependent
on the success of earlier efforts at the stage 4 and stage 6 levels. |
9.) |
The expansion of the K.E.A.V. organisation to every
community so that Breton language learners everywhere in Brittany have
access to summer facilities where they can practice their Breton. (this
is at the stage 5 level but again is necessary backup). |
10.) |
The establishment of a daily newspaper in the
Breton language perhaps subsidised by the Cultural Council of Brittany.
(stage 2) |
11.) |
The continued expansion of Breton on radio and
television. Télé Breizh which began broadcasts on September 1, 2000 in
Breton for 17 hours a day was a major victory in the battle to save the
Breton language. An increase in Breton language broadcasts on other
television and radio stations should continue and can help reinforce the
position of the language in the media. (stage 2) |
12.) |
A policy of Bretonization must be extended to the
workplace. Ofis ar Brezhoneg is already assisting organisations,
municipalities and private companies that ask for guidance regarding
terminology in the Breton language. The project by André Lavanant to
launch new Breton speaking business enterprises is a good example of
what must be undertaken. (stage 3) |
13.) |
The campaign to secure official status for the
Breton language in all five departments of Brittany must be increased
and intensified. Only then can Breton language use be extended with the
civil service at all levels of administration whether on a municipal or
a departmental or a regional level. Indeed all of the efforts and
recommendations mentioned above will be fortified when official status
for Breton becomes a reality. Unfortunately language is a political
issue and long-term efforts to strengthen Breton cannot in reality
ignore the legal status of the language (or lack thereof). |
14.) |
The planned establishment of more Skol an Emsav
classes for adults in more Breton communities to help expand adult
literacy in Breton. At present about 9,000 adults across Brittany are
enrolled in Breton language classes. (In Wales there are about 23,000)
(stages 8 and 5) |
15.) |
A publicity campaign be mounted to attract Breton
speakers in Paris, northern France and Belgium back to the new Breton
speaking communities in Brittany. Financial and political constraints
are a consideration here it is true but the present and past efforts by
the Irish Government to attract Gaelic speakers back to western Ireland
did in fact have some success and increasing the Irish speaking
population. Hence such a strategy may also secure some success for
Breton. (stage 6) |
Marcel Texier
Diarmuid Ciarán ÓNéill
Return
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________________________________ ________________________________
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