Victor Guset
Associate Professor of Public Law at the University of Rouen
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is an international treaty whose exclusive purpose is the protection and promotion of the linguistic diversity present on the European continent. The need to promote linguistic diversity is explained by the vulnerable situation of regional or minority languages. Several factors explain this vulnerability. On the one hand, some States, such as France, had adopted a policy aimed at the eradication of minority languages on their territories. On the other hand, even in the absence of such a ‘repressive’ policy (Moutouh, 1999: 223), social and economic factors may well have rendered these languages vulnerable (Kymlicka & Patten, 2007: 38).
These different factors are taken into account by the Charter. In order to protect and promote regional or minority languages, the Charter requires the State to establish a language public policy in their favour. The Charter is therefore the framework of national language policies. This influence of the Charter has two consequences. Firstly, through this policy, a State party to the Treaty must direct the linguistic behaviour of individuals in favour of the practice of regional languages. In doing so, it takes the form of a “Propulsive State” (Morand, 1999) that not only legally authorises the use of these languages but also “propels” their use. If the Charter requires such a propulsive State intervention, this intervention is necessarily flexible. It adapts to the characteristics of these languages as well as to the States’ specificities (Guset, 2017).
Secondly, the deployment and success of these public policies required by the Charter presuppose that States recognise the linguistic diversity present on their territories. The identification of languages benefiting from language public policies amounts to an indirect recognition of culturally ‘situated’ (May, 2016: 30) individuals, which is a feature of the ‘multiculturalist’ thought movement (Taylor, 2019).
Guset V. (2017), L’interprétation de la Charte européenne des langues régionales ou minoritaires, Thèse dactylographiée, Université de Bordeaux.
Kymlicka W., Patten A. (2007), « Introduction. Language Rights and Political Theory : Context, Issues and Approaches », in Kymlicka W., Patten A. (dir.) (2007), Language Rights and Political Theory, Oxford, OUP, 2007, 1-51.
May P. (2016), Philosophies du multiculturalisme, Paris, Presses de Sciences Po.
Moutouh H. (1999), « Vers un statut des langues régionales en droit français ? », in Guillorel H., Koubi G. (dir.) (1999), Langues et droit – Langues du droit, droit des langues, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 221-249.
Morand C-A. (1999), Le droit néo-moderne des politiques publiques, Paris, L.G.D.J.Taylor C. (2019), Multiculturalisme. Différence et démocratie, Paris, Flammarion.
Keywords: European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, language public policies, regional or minority languages, language rights