The state, the activists and the islanders : language policy on Corsica / Robert J. Blackwood.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blackwood, Robert J.

Series:

Language policy ; v. 8.

Language policy ; v. 8

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language policy--France--Corsica.

Language policy.

France--Corsica.

Physical Description:

xi, 161 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

[Dordrecht] : Springer, [2008]

Summary:

This analysis of language policy on Corsica provides the first study of the three levels of language policy existing on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. It focuses on the key participants - the State, the language activists and the islanders - in the language debate that has taken place across the island since its purchase by France. This book is informed by recent work on language planning, both theoretical and relating to specific case studies. At the same time, it engages with trends in sociolinguistics over the past decades, which have included language planning in their investigations of languages in contact, language obsolescence and language death. A central premise of this book is that the three discrete categories of participants in the language debate are closely interrelated and that the status and position of Corsican in relation to French cannot be understood without a thorough exploration of these three strands. This volume will appeal to researchers and students in French Studies, sociolinguistics, and especially language policy.

Contents:

1.1 Corsica, the Poor Relation 1

1.2 Defining Language Policy 2

1.2.1 Manipulation and Intervention 2

1.2.2 The Principal Actors 3

1.2.3 Motivation 5

1.3 Reversing a Language Shift 7

1.4 The Warp and the Weft of Language Policy on Corsica 8

2.1 Corsica, a Genoese Island 11

2.2 Corsica and the Ancien Regime 12

2.3 The Revolution of 1789 14

2.3.1 The Revolution on Corsica 14

2.3.2 The Revolutionaries and Language Attitudes 15

2.4 Language Management in a New France 16

2.5 Post-revolutionary Language Management - a Corsican Perspective 18

2.6 Empire and the French Century 20

2.7 Language-in-Education Planning in the Nineteenth Century 22

2.7.1 The Napoleonic Era 22

2.7.2 The July Monarchy and the Second Empire 24

3.1 The Third Republic and a New Century 27

3.2 Ferry and Language-in-Education Policies 28

3.2.1 The National Stage 28

3.2.2 The Corsican Dimension 29

3.3 Corsica's Linguistic Landscape 30

3.4 Extra-linguistic Factors in Language Beliefs and Practices 31

3.5 Language Activism and the Seeds of Regionalism 34

3.6 Language Beliefs and the Spectre of Mussolini 37

3.7 War, Occupation and the Myth of a Latin Brotherhood 39

3.8 The Post-war Period 43

3.8.1 Language Management from the French Republic 43

3.8.2 Post-war Language Activism 44

3.8.3 The Islanders' Response 45

4.1 The Loi Deixonne - Language Management Against the Grain 47

4.2 Language Activism Influencing Language Management 49

4.3 Decolonisation and the Growth of Regionalism 51

4.4 The Overshadowing of Language Activism 54

4.5 Language Management to Defend French 55

4.6 Language Management to Cloister Corsican 56

4.7 Aleria 58

4.8 Language Activism in the 1970s 59

4.9 Three Strands of Language Management 61

4.10 Language Activism and Reversing the Language Shift 63

5.1 The Final Decades of the Twentieth Century 67

5.2 Decentralisation for France, Devolution for Corsica 68

5.3 Language Activists Within the Administration of Corsica 71

5.4 La Collectivite Territoriale de Corse 73

5.5 Language Management to Defend French 74

5.6 New Agents in Language Policy 76

5.6.1 The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages 77

5.6.2 The French State's Response to the Charter 78

5.6.3 The Charter in a Corsican Context 81

5.6.4 The Local Implications of the National Impasse 82

6.1 Language Beliefs Influencing Language Management 85

6.2 Interpreting Language Management from Paris 87

6.2.1 The Circulaire Bayrou on Corsica 89

6.3 The Matignon Accords - Another Threshold Crossed 91

6.4 Evaluating the Progress of Corsican Language Education 94

6.5 A New Plan for Language Management 96

6.5.1 An Acknowledgement of Language Realities 96

6.5.2 Language Management Beyond the School Precincts 97

6.5.3 Action Plans for Language Management 98

7.1 The Islanders - A Longitudinal Study 103

7.1.1 Procedures 104

7.1.2 Types of Question 105

7.1.3 The Profiles of the Respondents 105

7.2 Results 106

7.2.1 Basic Language Practices 107

7.2.2 Corsican Spoken in Families 109

7.2.3 Non-corsophones Learning Corsican 112

7.2.4 Corsican as a Marker of Identity 113

7.3 The Response to Language Management 115

7.4 Mother-Tongue Transmission 120

7.4.1 The First Stage - Language Beliefs 120

7.4.2 The Second Stage - the Evolution of Beliefs into Practices 123

7.4.3 The Distribution of Responsibilities According to Personal Ability 128

8.1 The Conclusions - Two Languages, Two Language Policies? 131

8.2 The Language Activists 133

8.3 The State 138

8.4 The Islanders 142.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781402083846

140208384X

1402083858

9781402083853

OCLC:

227033874