The European Charter for Regional Or Minority Languages and the French Dilemma

Download or read book The European Charter for Regional Or Minority Languages and the French Dilemma written by Council of Europe and published by Council of Europe. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages has been in force since 1998, but in France it has caused a heated debate and it has not been ratified. The questions raised include: should French regional languages be afforded protection? Is there a danger that their protection could lead to an assertion of regional identity that could threaten the cohesiveness of the state? Is there a threat to the official language? Can applying the principles of the charter, without going through the ratification process, effectively protect regional or minority languages? This colloquy sought to provide answers to these questions.