‘We have met the enemy, and he is us’: Reversing Language Shift in Brittany

• Main Author: Le Coadic, Ronan
• Other Authors: Centre de recherche bretonne et celtique (CRBC), Université de Brest (UBO)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: [SHS.SOCIO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Sociology; [SHS.LANGUE]Humanities and Social Sciences/Linguistics; Filippova; Ronan; Yakoutsk
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02908263; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02908263/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02908263/file/We%20have%20met%20the%20enemy,%20and%20he%20is%20us%20-%20English%20Translation.pdf

This is the unpublished English translation of an article published in Russian in 2013 and in French in 2015:•Le Coadic Ronan (2013). « Мы столкнулись с врагом, и он - это мы ! Бретонский язык вчера, сегодня, завтра » In : Filippova Elena (ed.), Языки меньшинств. Юридический статус и повседневные практики. Российско-французский диалог [minority languages. legal status, daily practices. Russian-French dialogue], Moscou, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, p. 104-124.•Le Coadic Ronan (2015) « Nous avons rencontré l’ennemi, et c'est nous », in E. Durot-Boucé, Y. Bévant et I. Borissova (éd.), Les sociétés minoritaires ou minorisées face à la globalisation : uniformisation, résistance ou renouveau ? Actes du colloque de Yakoutsk, 16-19 octobre 2012, tome 2, Rennes, Tir, p. 223-247. The alarming statistics concerning the continuing collapse in the use of the Breton language contrast strangely with the consistent results of surveys revealing the attachment that Bretons feel for that language: these show a substantial and increasing commitment to conserve this language. The two contradictory examples suggest a scissors effect taking shape. However, these forms of evidence do not represent realities of a comparable nature: the data concerning the linguistic practice reflects deep, demographic, evolutions, while the data concerning the attachment to the Breton language concern expressions of feeling. To understand properly the relationship of the Bretons to their language, it is appropriate to present a detailed analysis which shows not only what this language represents to them, in general terms, but, furthermore, the correlations between attachment to the Breton language and social origins, geographic locations and types of identity. In this article, we construct such an analysis, referring to evidence gathered by both quantitative methods (surveys) and qualitative methods (interviews). The relation of the Bretons with their language has been shaped by their recent history and by the authority structures that ...