La pluralité normative du français ou: en quoi consiste l’exception francophone?

Abstract

The present contribution seeks to shed light on the normative situation of French as an international language, spoken on three continents as a mother tongue or as a second language. With respect to the expansion beyond its original territory French presents some peculiarities, which set it apart when compared with other widespread languages such as Spanish, English or Portuguese. First, outside “l’Hexagone”, there is no constellation where French is used both as a mother tongue and a national language; it thus lacks one of the prerequisites which are claimed to be essential for the formation of differing language norms.

Second, with the exception of Quebec in the 1960s and 1970s, the expansion of French and its diversification have never given rise to discussions about a possible breakup of the speech community (sometimes referred to as babélisation in French). Again, this seems to be a hindering factor for linguistic emancipation, in that debates of this kind may eventually contribute to a more serene view of language variation and the acceptance of new language norms.

Third, there is a patent disequilibrium in terms of demographics and symbolic weight between France and the territories outside France where French is spoken as a mother tongue. Despite the efforts undertaken to release the tension between a centralised linguistic model and emerging national norms, it is obvious that in the French speaking world the trend is towards a reinforcement of the traditional model for linguistic norms, whereas globalisation has clearly favoured centrifugal forces over centripetal ones in other speech communities.