Law aims at saving the French language

Will the French language remain one of the most beautiful languages in civilization to have ever blossomed on the planet? Or, Graecized by pedants, anglicized by snobs and Americanized by merchants, will it become an Atlantic jargon?

The government considered the threats weighing upon the French language and, in particular, the intrusion of a host of foreign words, mostly English and American, called for a reaction. The latter takes the form of a law containing a repressive clause. It was adopted by Parliament in the middle of 1994.

The Minister of Culture and Francophonie (or the Community of French-speaking countries), Jacques Toubon, headed a crusade in favor of defending the French language, which has been made a "national cause". The spirit of his law, which originally was to ban "any borrowing from another language when a French expression or term with the same meaning exists" was to enable France to "ensure her responsibility towards a language of which it is the source and that nearly 50 countries have chosen to share".

Foreign words are now banned in advertising, job offers, instruction notices for products or appliances, internal regulations and notices in firms. Any contract which is not written in French can be declared null and void. The organizers of scientific or other discussions have to provide a French version of their reports etc.

In all, some 3,500 words, considered as unsuitable, were threatened with the chop by the new French law. Hence words which have been in current use have to be replaced by a French equivalent. "Listing" thus become listage, "air-bag", sac gonflable and "bulldozer" bouteur. Caddie, which describes a supermarket trolley becomes a cadet, "pins" eplinglette and "walkman" baladisque.

The French now have to dine in a restovite instead of in a "fast food" before going to see a film in a cine-parc (drive-in), and end the evening by attending a solo (formerly "one-man show") of a fashionable singer. A journalist no longer tries to get a "scoop" but a primeur. Football (still accepted) players no longer shoot a "corner" but a jet de coin and a tennis player has to give up his "passing shot" in favor of a tir passant. The word "lifting" (a face-lift) can still be applied to people but not to cars.

Those governing France have always been tempted to intervene in the fate of the French language. It began in 1539 when King Francis 1st forbad magistrates to pass judgment in Latin, by the law of Villers-Cotterets. A century later, Richelieu, Rouis XIII's minister, founded the Academie Francaise and gave it the mission of "giving rules to the language and making it pure and eloquent". The members of the Academie set about writing the Great Dictionary and they are still working on it today, although they have been warned by their precursor Vaugelas, an expert on the matter, that "one must be mad to dictate laws in a living language".

In the 19th century, further attempts were made by the state to control the language through the creation of a "Reform Commission". This happened again after the Second World War. The government of General De Gaulle (who was also a writer with a dazzling style) set up a Supervision Committee. His successor as head of state, Georges Pompidou, a former teacher of literature,, created a Higher Committee in charge of watching over the French language.

In 1977 Prime Minister Raymond Barre had a charter for French adopted. In 1985, President Mitterand enjoyed the Academie to "protect the union of the Community of French-speaking countries against the wave of competitors" and he put the question "Does a country, which is able to build Ariane, have the right to lose its language?"

Today, the state does not content itself with making decrees and recommendations. It also sanctions. Officers of the judiciary police are invited to fife offenders, and associations for the defense of the French language have the right to refer such matters to a judge. The Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel (Higher Council of the Audiovisual), which was already on the look-out for mistakes in syntax and grammar on the radio and on television, is also keeping an eye out for terms banned by law.

Fines for offenders can amount to 10,000 francs (US$1,600). Moreover, conference organizers who do not conform to the law can be deprived of their grants. And the head of a firm who refuses to be checked by a works inspector risks six months in prison.

Nobody would disagree that a stop had to be put to "verbal libertinage" and to the degradation of the language. After all, France's language cousins in Quebec, in Burkina Faso and in Mauritius often speak a purer language than that practiced on the banks of the Seine.

But some people considered it unnecessary to take legal action to clean up the language. First of all, because a language cannot be decreed, "It is usage which dictates its law and not the opposite", some members of parliament stressed. Others pointed out that a living language attests its vitality by its ability to assimilate and (knowingly) make combinations with outside contributions. A few deplored that the image of the national language was "associated with a policeman armed with a big truncheon".

For most of those who voted for it, the advantages of the new law will come from a proper application of its articles. By putting the spotlight on misused French, it contributes to making its rules better known and brings out the need to take care of the language. Between giving in to an invasion of English and closing in on French alone, it could be the best way to give French a new breath of life.

-- AFI