Abstract
This presentation seeks to question why revitalization movements, overall, fail — even on their own terms. In order to start exploring this vast area of (much needed) research, I will review the types of arguments generally given in the literature to explain failure; I will then draw on several years of fieldwork in Provence to propose an explanation in ontological terms. While scholars have long explained that minoritized languages are languages in the full sense of the term, I will explore the distinction between “language” and “non-language” (in my case, “patois”) to argue that both terms may refer to distinct ontological realities.
Sociolinguists and language advocates generally tell minoritized language speakers that what they speak is, in fact, a language in the full sense of the term. But what if they are wrong? What if the reality indexed by the term “language” does not refer to the same (lived, experience) reality as that indexed by other (lay) terms, such as patois, slang, etc. My talk does not seek to negate language conflict and oppression. On the contrary it proposes to take seriously what speakers have been telling us for decades — and to propose a framework to understand it.
Bio
James Costa is a sociolinguist and linguistic anthropologist. He is currently a professor of sociolinguistics at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris, and deputy director of the LACITO CNRS laboratory, specializing in the linguistic and anthropological study of minority language contexts worldwide. His work at Lyon, Oslo and Paris has focused on questions of language revitalization in Provence, and on language standardization in Scotland. He is currently involved in a project on multispecific participation in the public sphere of the Anthropocene.