Francoprovençal as social practice: comparative study in Italy, France and Switzerland

Natalia Bichurina

doi:10.1515/ijsl-2017-0044

Article

Francoprovençal as social practice: comparative study in Italy, France and Switzerland

Natalia Bichurina

Published/Copyright: November 23, 2017

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From the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language Volume 2018 Issue 249

Abstract

A series of legal acts have transformed what used to be considered a group of “patois” at the borderland of Italy, France and Switzerland into a “minority/regional language”: the Francoprovençal language (FP). A trans-border language policy is being developed, based on the assumption that structural unity of FP would imply similarity of social issues linked to its use. At the same time, although extensive research has been carried out on linguistic features of FP, none of the approaches developed so far examine FP as it is used in interaction. Hence, the central question of this article is: what do people actually do with FP and what does it mean for them? The findings are based on fieldwork in the three countries (participant observation and 60 interviews). I argue that the FP space comprises two types of linguistic situations: the diffuse type is where FP is spoken in daily communication, and its borders, be they linguistic, geographical or social, are uncertain for speakers. Problematic issues concern outdated negative sociopolitical connotations of its use. The focused type is where FP is neither spoken in everyday interactions nor transmitted in families, but emerges, discursively and politically, as a language in its own right.

Keywords: language ideologies; Francoprovençal; diffuse language; focused language

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Published Online: 2017-11-23

Published in Print: 2017-12-20

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2017-0044

Keywords for this article

language ideologies; Francoprovençal; diffuse language; focused language