Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b95js Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-24T23:40:46.439Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The linguistic landscape of Brittany and Corsica: A comparative study of the presence of France's regional languages in the public space1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2010

ROBERT J. BLACKWOOD
ROBERT J. BLACKWOOD*
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
*
Address for correspondence: Robert J. Blackwood, French Section, School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies, Chatham Street, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Merseyside, L69 7ZR, UK e-mail: robert.blackwood@liverpool.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The linguistic landscape (LL) is emerging as a method by which to examine language practices of multilingual communities. Based on empirical research, carried out in Brittany and on Corsica in the summer of 2007, this project seeks to examine the extent to which two of France's regional heritage languages mark the public space. In categorising the signs recorded, it is possible to detect trends in the use of Breton and Corsican for different purposes within the LL. Given France's recent language management strategies, we are able to differentiate between the way in which cityscapes are marked by those in positions of authority and those with limited power. It is also practicable to examine the differences in multilingual signs within the survey areas. Collectively, these approaches to the LL of Brittany and Corsica will provide an overview of language practices and the relationships between these languages of France.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of French Language Studies , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , July 2011 , pp. 111 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

I am grateful to the British Academy for a Small Research Grant in order to undertake the fieldwork necessary for this study. All translations in this text are my own.

References

REFERENCES

Adamson, R. (2007). The Defence of French: A Language in Crisis? Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Backhaus, P. (2007). Linguistic Landscapes: A Comparative Study of Urban Multilingualism in Tokyo. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Ben-Rafael, E., Shohamy, E., Hasan Amara, M. and Trumper-Hecht, N. (2006). Linguistic Landscape as Symbolic Construction of the Public Space: The Case of Israel. In: Gorter, D. (ed.), Linguistic Landscape: A New Approach to Multilingualism. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp.7–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackwood, R. (2004). The Gallicisation of Corsica: the imposition of the French language from 1768 to 1945. Language Policy, 3: 133–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackwood, R. (2008). The State, the Activists and the Islanders: Policy on Corsica. Amsterdam: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, Jasone and Gorter, Durk. (2006). Linguistic Landscape and Minority Languages. In: Gorter, D. (ed.), Linguistic Landscape: A New Approach to Multilingualism. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp. 67–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, L. (2009). What's in a name? Classification of proper names by language. In: Shohamy, E. and Gorter, D. (eds), Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery. London, New York: Routledge, pp.141–154.Google Scholar
Judge, A. (2000). France: “One state, one nation, one language”? In: Barbour, S. and Carmichael, C. (eds), Language and Nationalism in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 44–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Judge, A. (2007). Linguistic Policies and the Survival of Regional Languages in France and Britain. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reh, M. (2004). Multilingual writing: A reader-oriented typology – with examples from Lira Municipality (Uganda). The International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 170: 1–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scollon, R. and Wong Scollon, S. (2003). Discourses in Place: Language in the Material World. London, New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shohamy, E. and Gorter, D. (eds). (2009). Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery. London, New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Spolsky, B. and Cooper, R. L. (1991). The Languages of Jerusalem. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tufi, S. and Blackwood, R. (in press). Trademarks in the linguistic landscape: methodological and theoretical challenges in qualifying brand names. International Journal of Multilingualism.Google Scholar