The results of a nascent language emancipation in France: perceptions of the status and future of Gallo in the context of its inclusion in Brittany’s language education policy

Abstract

This paper sheds light on the attitudes that eastern or Upper Breton school pupils have toward their heritage language, Gallo, in the context of recent favourable changes to its socio-political status. Gallo is Brittany's Romance language and, more precisely, its Oïl language variety. Situated in the application of language emancipation and in considerations regarding attitudes and ideology and their importance to language policy, this is an analysis which provides an example of how the Gallo sociolinguistic situation is a case of ‘nascent’ language emancipation. This is done through a study of how the status and the future of Gallo are perceived in the context of its inclusion in Brittany’s language education policy. This comparative attitudinal study suggests that although there continues to be negative language attitudes towards Gallo, there are clear indications of a favourable generational alteration in respondent attitudes with regard to it. This is indicative of a certain limited success enjoyed by Gallo promotional organisations, and is testimony to their role in the language policy environment as a bottom-up force of some tangible worth with potential in the future.