Acceso usuarios
Jean-Marie Woehrling
French constitutional law does not guarantee recognition or protection to regional languages and limits their use to the private domain. This situation is anomalous and is not in line with that of other European states, who do recognize and pass legislation regarding minority languages.
This legal situation has got worse since 1980. Up until that time, there was practically no standard to regulate the use of regional languages, but neither was there any legislation regarding the official nature of French. Over the last few years, this situation has changed. In 1992, French was declared the language of the Republic. In 1994, the French language was declared a key element of the French character (the Toubon Act) and a law was passed reconciling freedom of expression and the mandatory use of French in public life.
This legislation is based on Article 2 of the French Constitution, which guarantees the equality of all citizens. If all citizens are equal, there are no minorities. It would be discriminatory to differentiate in any manner. Consequently, language diversity cannot exist. The term «nation» becomes imbued with ethnic and language content and draws distant from the traditional political concept of the term that has characterized France.
Under its current constitutional law, France is unable to ratify the European Charter on Regional Languages. It would have to modify its constitution in order to adapt it to European standards. France cannot continue to defend language diversity throughout the world while marginalizing the regional languages of its own territories by shielding itself behind reactionary legislation.
