Lionel Meney, Le naufrage du
français, le triomphe de l’anglais. Enquête, Québec-Paris, Presses de l’Université
Laval-Hermann, 2024
Choice
of title
A
deliberately provocative title, perhaps a little catastrophic, although, as
you'll see, I don't have good news... Several objectives:
1)
To paint a clear picture of the real situation of the French language, far from
the "jovialism" (1) of the International Organization La Francophonie (OIF), according to which,
with 343 million French speakers worldwide, French is "in great shape"
(2) ;
2)
To contribute to an objective analysis of the phenomenon by discarding
subjective, counterproductive explanations (Anglomania, snobbery, ignorance, etc.);
3)
To raise public awareness of the threats to our language (especially in France;
in Quebec, we are already aware);
4)
To put forward proposals to counter the erosion of French in France and Europe,
drawing inspiration, in particular, from the Canadian and Quebec models.
Two
types of surveys
I
conducted two types of surveys:
1.
A
physical survey, on the ground (sur le terrain), in French cities.
Why
France? Because this is where the phenomenon of anglicization is most evident. Because,
if France abandons French, this will have repercussions on other
French-speaking countries, including Quebec.
2.
A
survey by browsing numerous French websites: Institutional websites, websites
of major French companies, major French media (and also numerous queries in the
Eureka.cc database (3), to assess the competition between English and French
terms), official websites of the European Union (because this is where the fate
of French is largely being decided).
Three
angles of analysis
I
analyzed the state of French (i.e., its corpus, lexicon, and grammar) and its
use (i.e., its status) from three perspectives, hence the division of my book
into three parts:
1)
The omnipresence of English in the audio and visual environments of the French
(Part One);
2)
The penetration of English into the domain of the French corpus (Part II);
3)
Competition from English in the domain of the status of French (Part III).
In
Conclusion, I present a series of measures that could help, if not reverse the
situation, at least stabilize it.
Part
One: "The Tip of the Iceberg"
1)
On
the ground, I walked the streets of major French cities (mainly Paris and
Nice). I noted the names of the shops. I entered grocery stores (Carrefour,
Monoprix, etc.), fast-food and ethnic restaurants (McDonald's, O'Tacos, etc.),
clothing stores (Camaïeu, IKKS, Levy's, Undiz, etc.), bookstores (FNAC, etc.),
hair salons, barber shops, etc.
Unlike
what we see in Quebec, everywhere I went, I encountered store signs, product or
service names, advertising campaign slogans, and billboards in English or in a
hybrid form, in Franglais.
For
example: On Avenue Jean-Médecin in Nice, 33% of the store signs were in English
or in Franglais (a hybrid form) during my survey in 2022. I thought
about the struggle of Quebecers to give their cities a "French face".
In France, the heart of cities now has a "Franglais face".
2)
On
the web, I browsed the websites of major French companies (Renault, Peugeot,
Air France, etc.), as well as institutional websites (presidency, ministries,
regions, municipalities, universities, business schools, etc.).
I
noticed the presence of English everywhere: in the names of companies, their
divisions, their brand slogans, the names of their products and services, those
of public buildings, events, etc.
An
example: Le groupe Renault became
Renault Group in 2021. The truck division is called Renault Trucks;
the product division, Renault Retail Group; the after-sales service, Renault
Care Service; the vehicle rental division, Renault Share Mobilize, the
used vehicle reconditioning division, Refresh Service by Renault Care.
I
don't want to overdo the examples. I have dozens in my book. I will conclude
this aspect of the tip of the iceberg with three other characteristic examples.
A
fast-food example: In France, all McDonald's services and "dishes"
are registered in English American trademarks: McDelivery, McChicken,
McPancake, Filet-o-Fish, Iced Tea... In Quebec, even McDonald's has made a
major effort to Frenchify: McLivraison, McPoulet, McCrêpes, Filet de
poisson, Thé glacé...
A
particularly ridiculous example: OceanSpray, an American cooperative, sells canneberges
in Quebec and cranberries in France, yet they are the same berries…
An
example of a territorial brand: That of Angers Loire Métropole (the
urban area of Angers on the Loire River = a syntactic anglicism) is "Angers Loire Valley", an
anglicism justified as follows: "From the outside, the Loire Valley [in
French: la vallée de la Loire] is a strong identifier [...]. However,
whether we like it or not, English has become modern Esperanto. Anglicism has therefore become established,
with the desire to present a unique brand both in France and abroad”. It's
clear: French doesn't suit foreigners, but English suits the French, even on
their own territory.
Conclusion:
in France, 1) English is everywhere in the audio and visual environments (I haven't mentioned the songs
played in stores: They are almost always English songs); 2) the French
themselves systematically use it to name their companies, (even) their (small)
businesses, their products, their services, their events. In people's minds,
English has become the language of the superstratum (4); 3) There doesn't seem
to be any strong political will to abandon this practice.
But
the tip of the iceberg is only a symptom of something even more serious. If we
dig deeper, we discover two more worrying phenomena: the pressure that English
exerts not only on the corpus of the language, but also on its status, its
use...
Part
II: The Pressure of English on the Corpus of French
I will not go into detail about the
penetration of English into the French corpus. In the book, I provide a lengthy
description based on an analysis of the language used in the French media (from
their websites or from the Eureka.cc database of press articles) (5). To raise
awareness, I emphasize that the pressure of English on the French corpus is
manifested not only: 1) in lexicon, but also: 2) in grammar; not only: 3) in
the form of borrowings of English words, but also: 4) of English meanings; not only: 5) in morphology,
but also: 6) in syntax. In fact, all categories of the language are affected,
except for phonology (although with one caveat: the phoneme /ŋ/, as in marketing:
/maʁ.ke.tiŋ/, can be considered a loanword from English), at least in Central
French.
All
these phenomena have a single cause: the pressure of English on French. We are
witnessing a process of hybridization (6) between English and French, a reverse
movement, but similar to the one that produced modern English from the
Anglo-Norman invasion (1066) (Roman languages: Latin and French, and Germanic
Language).
The
result is what I have called "New
French", a new term to indicate that we have reached a further
stage in Anglicization since the Franglais described by Étiemble in 1964
(7). By New French, I mean a French in a process of hybridization,
strongly marked by lexical, phraseological, morphological, and syntactic
interferences from English.
1.
Pressures on lexicon
1.1
Borrowed words from English: These are the ones we most easily notice and
combat (see websites of France Terme, Office québécois de la langue française,
etc.) because of their English form (signifier). There are
thousands of them: simple words like box, kit, set, pack, etc., compound
words like business plan, call center, check-list, etc., phraseological
turns of phrase like business angel, low profile, open bar, etc. I was
particularly interested in about forty recurring adjectives that I declared "in the process of naturalization": arty,
cozy, easy, flashy, friendly, happy, hard, healthy, punchy, soft, vintage,
etc. These common adjectives raise the question of the difference between a
xenism and a borrowing.
1.2
Borrowed words with an English meaning (signified): These are French
words to which an English meaning has been added. They are also very numerous, such as
conventionnel (vs classique, traditionnel), dédié (vs consacré
à, destiné à), éligible à (vs ayant droit à, admissible à),
initier (vs lancer), opérer (vs assurer, exploiter),
questionner (vs contester), réhabiliter (vs restaurer,
rénover), sanctuaire (vs refuge), etc. These
are the Anglicisms that are least noticeable because the English meaning (the
signified) is hidden under a French form (the signifier). But
they are the consequence of the same pressure English exerts on French.
2.
Pressure on grammar
2.1
It is exerted not only on morphology, such as the prefix e- (e-commerce);
the suffix -ing (franglicisms: brushing, footing...); the
lexical suffixes -gate (= the scandal of), -land (= the country
of), -man (man); the initialisms (SUV); acronyms (PIN); truncations
(after, bachelor, basket, drive); portmanteau words (podcast =
iPod + broadcasting) and all its derivatives (podcaster, podcastable,
podcasteur).
2.2 but also on syntax, such
as changes in part of speech: Paris, ville monde (vs ville mondiale,
ville de rang mondial); changes in construction: jouer une équipe (vs
jouer contre une équipe), signer un joueur (vs embaucher/engager/recruter
un joueur); inversions in word order: Macron compatible (vs compatible
avec Macron), Sorbonne Université (vs Université de la Sorbonne);
non-idiomatic verb + complement combinations: adresser un problème
(vs s’attaquer à un problème) ; construction calques: le
deuxième plus important (vs le deuxième en importance); accumulations
of prepositioned adjectives and adverbs. Example: "Le très médiatique
et controversé professeur marseillais, Didier Raoult…" ["The
highly publicized and controversial Marseille professor, Didier Raoult"…]
(lematin.ch, 03-09-2020).
Competition
between French and English words
Competition
in the language market between English and French words is not uniform. Some
French words resist the pressure (for example grille-pain vs toaster)
(8), others collapse. Some neologisms prevail (jardinerie vs garden
center), others don't "take off" (camion-restaurant vs food
truck). Sometimes, the competition is tight, giving a slight advantage to
French (stimuler vs booster) or to English (phishing vs hameçonnage).
In the book, I give many examples of competition between English and French
words.
Example:
the phrase serial + noun has generated a large number of combinations
such as serial + (negative noun) agresseur, cambrioleur, menteur
(Trump...), gaffeur (Biden...), violeur, voleur; serial + (positive
noun) auteur, buteur, entrepreneur, séducteur... An example of competition
in the French press: cambrioleur en série (73% of occurrences) / serial
cambrioleur (27%).
However,
while competition from English in the French corpus can be irritating, even
insecure, it is not the greatest threat to our language.
After all, English has borrowed more French words than French has English
words. As a Germanic language, English now has only 25% of words of Germanic
origin, compared to 28% of French origin (all dialects and periods combined)
and 28% of Latin origin (9). This hasn't prevented it from achieving its
well-known status as the world's leading language of communication.
French
is not yet anglicized to this extent. I estimate its lexical borrowings from
English at between 8% (5,000 after Weismann) (10) and 13% (8,000 after Gilder) (11),
if we limit ourselves to the general language (60,000 words). However, the
percentage is much higher if we take specialized vocabulary into account.
There
is a more serious threat than anglicisms: this threat is English itself and its
increasingly frequent use. This is the subject of my Third Part.
Part
III: Competition from English for the Status of French
This
is what I have called, inspired by the title of a famous book (12), the "Lost
territories of the French language" (in French, "Les
territoires perdus de la langue française"), that is, the
reduction of territories where the French language is used, whether physical
territories (in Europe, Africa) or fields of use, intellectual territories (in
diplomacy, commerce, education, scientific research, etc.).
I
have already spoken of the deterioration of the presence of French in the audio
and visual environments in France, of the supplanting of French by English in
the names of companies, businesses, their products and services, buildings,
events, etc. These are lost territories, but there are others, even more
serious.
Criticism
of the OIF's "jovialism" (undue optimism)
I
criticize its definitions (the very notion of "Francophone"), its
calculation methods (the lack of reliable direct data), and its figures.
Contrary to what the OIF claims (13), there are certainly far from 343 million
of us (14) speaking French on the planet. Admittedly, we are often the second
language after English. But a second language that is far, very far behind it.
1.
Loss of influence of French as a language of international communication
1.1
The language of diplomacy:
Global
institutions: at the UN in New York, in 2017, 84.86% of texts were written in
English, 2.44% in French.
European
institutions: in Brussels, at the General Secretariat of the European Union, in
2017, 92.46% of documents were written in English, 2.07% in French.
Politics
at the European Union level is conducted in English. EU directives and websites
are written in English and often simply machine-translated into the 23
other official languages of the Union (with the caveat that these
translations have no legal value).
Example:
The Renew Europe group (social-liberal) in the European Parliament. In
2024, it comprises 77 MEPs from 24 countries and 24 different languages. The President,
Valérie Hayer, is French. How can they avoid to use English as a language of
communication?
1.2
French as a language of communication in Europe:
Mother
tongue: 1) German (90 million), 2) French (72 to 75 million, or 15% of the
European population).
Second
language: 1) English (44%), 2) French (20%).
1.3
French as a choice for foreign language learning in Europe: 1) English (96% of
students learn it as a second or third language), 2) French (22%), declining,
closely followed by German (18%) and Spanish (17%), which are on the rise.
1.4
Virtual disappearance of French in scientific publications:
In
1880, three languages, English (36%), French (27%), and German (24%) (15),
dominated scientific publications. In 2006-2015, English accounted for 97% of
publications indexed by the Science Citation Index Expanded (6,500
journals, 150 disciplines), while French accounted for 0.4%.
1.5
The true share of French on the Internet:
The
share of content by language on the Internet is as follows: 1) English (60%),
5) French (4%), after Chinese (16%), Spanish (8%), and Arabic (5%). In 2023,
French ranked 8th on the Internet by language used, representing 3% of users.
2.
The
shrinking of physical French territories
2.1.Loss of influence of French in Africa in the face of
competition from national languages and English. The OIF is in denial in this
regard, speaking of a "partnership" between languages rather than "competition".
A
very low proportion of African populations speak French as their first language
or even as a second language.
2.2.
Loss of political influence aggravated by the anti-French and pro-Russian coups
of 2020-2022 (Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger).
2.3.
Decline in the status of French in several African countries: In 2008, Rwanda
abandoned French as the language of education and administration. In 2014,
Burundi integrated English into its education and administrative system. In
2022, Gabon and Togo became members of the Commonwealth. In 2022, Algeria
integrated the teaching of English from the third year of primary school alongside
that of French. In 2023, it decided to ban French curricula in private schools.
In Morocco, younger generations would prefer English to replace French in
education...
The
"Clash of Legislation"
What
I have called "the clash of legislation" (in French, "Le choc
des législations"), an allusion to the famous book by Samuel
Huntington (16), is a major obstacle in the defense of the French language.
European
texts (Treaty of Rome, court decisions, and various "directives")
effectively prohibit EU states from imposing the sole use of one language,
their national language, in the name of the free movement of goods and
services. This indirectly favors English, the only language considered to be
understood by a majority of people.
The
French law (called "Toubon Law") for the defense of
French clashed with European legislation, much like the Quebec Charter of the
French Language clashed with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and
the decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada. Moreover, its very application is
rarely respected, and the penalties incurred are rarely enforced.
Using
the example of a tube of Colgate toothpaste, I showed that French language was
better protected in the labeling of consumer products in Canada than in France.
Conclusion
As
we can see, contrary to what the OIF claims, the French language is not doing
very well. In fact, it's doing badly. Should we give up?
Certainly,
the obstacles are enormous: the globalization of the economy, the need to
increase exchanges between speakers of different languages, English becoming
the lingua franca of the 21st century, the economic and cultural power
of the Anglo-Saxon world (the United States and Great Britain), the
internationalization of the economy and politics at the European level, what I
called "the clash of laws" in France, the priority given to other
issues (declining living standards, dilapidated public services, rising debt,
uncontrolled immigration, Russian aggression in Ukraine), etc.
However,
while it is difficult to imagine reversing the situation, reversing the trend
toward anglicization, it is still possible to stabilize it in certain areas.
This is why I propose taking measures in France and Europe similar to those
already implemented in Canada and Quebec.
This
may seem shocking in Quebec, but we must create a culture of coexistence
between French and English in French-speaking Europe to regulate the use of
these two languages, rather than the current complacency that only favors the
expansion of English. Here is a list of actions and measures to improve the
situation:
- Initiate
a fundamental debate on the place of languages at the French and European
levels;
- Review
European legislation concerning the use of languages to remove the unfair
advantage enjoyed by English;
- Initiate a "Grenelle Forum" (an open multi-party debate) on Languages in
France;
- Establish
an effective French language policy;
- Review
the "Toubon Law" (the law relating to usage of the French language) and enforce the new law;
- Create
a language ombudsman position;
- Create
a legal aid fund for French language associations to sue companies that do not
comply with the language law;
- Introduce
questions on language knowledge and use in censuses in France;
- Fund
research programs on language use and competition (at work, etc.);
- Promote
the dissemination of the work of terminology commissions;
- Prioritize
education (teaching of/in French) with the billions France spends on
development, particularly in French-speaking Africa.
A vast program! As General de Gaulle would have said.
***
(1) Jovialism: (Quebec) (Pejorative) Exaggerated
optimism blind to reality (Wiktionnaire).
(2) This is also the position of the Linguists
Atterrées. See "Le français va très bien, merci" ("French
is doing very well, thank you"), Paris, Tract, Gallimard, 2023. I
wrote a response to this pamphlet under the title "La sociolinguistique
entre science et idéologie" ("Sociolinguistics between science
and ideology"), Lambert-Lucas editions, Limoges, 2024 .
(3) Eureka.cc (a Cision Inc. company). This database
of newspaper and magazine articles provides access to almost all articles in
the French press. For the period in question (2018-2023), it contained 45
million articles.
(4) "A set of new linguistic facts (phonetic,
grammatical, or lexical) in a language, attributable to the influence of
another language." In this case, language B exerts its influence on
language A in a given territory, without supplanting it. Eventually, speakers
of language B end up adopting language A." (Wikipedia).
(5) I have also established a typology of anglicisms
in Quebec French. While the borrowings may be different (although increasingly
less so), the same categories apply. See "Le français
québécois entre réalité et idéologie. Un autre regard sur la langue",
Québec, Presses de l’Université Laval, 2017. ("Quebec French Between
Reality and Ideology. Another
look at the language").
(6) Hybridization: In linguistics, the process of one variety blending with another variety, in this case, English
and French.
(7)
René Étiemble, Parlez-vous franglais? Paris, Gallimard, 1964.
(8) I studied the balance of power between Anglicisms
and French words and meanings in the European French-speaking press using the
Eureka.cc database of journalistic texts for the period 2012-2022.
(9) Distribution established in 1973 by Thomas
Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff, based on the 80,000 words of the Shorter
Oxford Dictionary (3rd edition).
(10)
Weisman, Peter, Dictionnaire étymologique et critique des anglicismes, Paris:
De Boccard, 2020.
(11)
Gilder, Alfred, En vrai français dans le texte: dictionnaire
franglais-français, Paris: Cherche-Midi, 1999.
(12)
Emmanuel Brenner (ed.), Les territoires perdus de la République, Paris:
Pluriel, 2016.
(13) "Lionel Meney's critiques provide valuable
insight into the OIF data and highlight the need for a more rigorous and
nuanced approach to measuring the use of French on a global scale. His
perspective invites reflection and a broader debate on the place of French in a
world undergoing linguistic change." (chatGPT, interviewed on
09/22/2024).(14) OIF, La langue française dans le monde (2019-2022). In 2024, with a further increase, it announces the
figure of 343 million French speakers.
(15) Rounded figures.
(16) Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations
and the Remaking of World Order, Simon & Schuster, 1996.
***
Key words: Language contacts, French, English, language
competitions, corpus, language interferences, anglicisms, typology, lexicon,
morphology, syntax, phraseology, status, Lionel Meney, Le naufrage du
français, le triomphe de l’anglais.
