The online presence of standard and non-standard Breton

Presented on 4 July 2017, at theReies an 4 a vis Gorefen 2017, ort an 58th Annual Conference of the Society for French Studies, University ofpednscol Durham, 3–5 Julya vis Gorefen.

Abstract

Berrscrif

The French state has historically been unfavourable to the use of regional languages. However, the increasing availability of the internet has potentially created a space for their speakers to interact without the restrictions normally imposed by state structures such as the education system.

This paper focuses on the case of Breton. Its speaker population of around 200000 can be divided into two distinct categories: older, rurally domiciled native speakers, versus younger, often well-educated and mobile speakers who tend to have chosen to learn Breton through formal instruction. As a minority language with historically little official use, Breton has been less subject to standardisation and the control of central authorities than has French, and significant linguistic variation within Breton means that descriptions of the language still typically divide it into four dialects. However, the last century has seen the development of a standardised variety, often called ‘néo-breton’, which is used in education and in a majority of publications.

Breton is visible in various online domains, including websites specifically dedicated to learning, hearing or practising it, publicly visible interactions in Breton on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, and more official spaces such as the websites of the Conseil régional de Bretagne and its designated regulatory body, the Office public de la langue bretonne. This paper investigates the presentation and use of Breton in such contexts, focusing on the distribution of standard and non-standard varieties. While the unregulated nature of the internet theoretically permits divergence from prescribed standards, pressure to reflect traditional French attitudes regarding language standardisation is likely to curtail such divergence; investigating the online contexts in which different varieties of Breton are used will reveal the level on which this operates, and illustrate the effect of language standardisation on the multilingual landscape of France.

References

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