Despite the “anti-French sentiment” currently sweeping Africa and suggesting that France is losing its appeal[1], we anticipate a renewed dynamism of the French language worldwide. The best proof will be when it regains its colours outside the institutions and funds responsible for its “defence”.
One month before the inauguration of the Cité de la Langue Française in Villers-Cotterêts[2], a brief look at the issues, challenges, obstacles and strengths of the French language offers some particularly interesting perspectives on the future of the world in general.
Villers-Cotterêts: a history that makes sense
In the 16th century, at Villers-Cotterêts, in 1539 to be exact, François I promulgated the Guillemine decree[3], making French the official language of the administration in place of Latin. The aim, of course, was to oblige the Church and the State to communicate in a language that everyone could understand, a key step in the process of creating a French nation (in the human sense of the term) distinct from the Christian empire. Interestingly, the assertion of the French language against that of the Pope went hand in hand with the recognition of the family of French “patois”[4].
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