Angela
Elite member
- Messages
- 21,823
- Reaction score
- 12,329
- Points
- 113
- Ethnic group
- Italian
That's the claim made by Graham Robb in his book "The Discovery of France". Of course, one man's language is another man's dialect. Still...
Also interesting is his claim that at the time of the Revolution only 11% of the population spoke French, and even in 1880 the total was only 1 in 5.
Given the centralization of French governance, the lack of legal protections for minority "languages", and the dominance of Paris, it's a testament to the importance of one's "cloche" to the French (a concept similar to the "campanilismo" of the Italians) that these languages survive at all.
He also discusses in it the cultural divisions in France, particularly the south/north one which is so obvious if one has ever spent any time there. Of course, these distinctions are lessening with increasing mobility.
The distinctions are genetic as well, but there are very few papers that address it.
Anyway, here's a review of it. It's available on amazon.
http://www.edwest.co.uk/uncategoriz...france-and-the-most-amazing-horse-in-history/
Also interesting is his claim that at the time of the Revolution only 11% of the population spoke French, and even in 1880 the total was only 1 in 5.
Given the centralization of French governance, the lack of legal protections for minority "languages", and the dominance of Paris, it's a testament to the importance of one's "cloche" to the French (a concept similar to the "campanilismo" of the Italians) that these languages survive at all.
He also discusses in it the cultural divisions in France, particularly the south/north one which is so obvious if one has ever spent any time there. Of course, these distinctions are lessening with increasing mobility.
The distinctions are genetic as well, but there are very few papers that address it.
Anyway, here's a review of it. It's available on amazon.
http://www.edwest.co.uk/uncategoriz...france-and-the-most-amazing-horse-in-history/