L’Académie française and Anglophone language ideologies

Dominique Estival, Alastair Pennycook

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    19 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The notion in popular linguistic discourse that French suffers from a narrow and prescriptive tradition of language policing, with the Académie Française (AF) as the central player, is frequently contrasted with an image of English as a democratic, borrowing language, better suited to its global role. This misrepresents the role of the AF in the regulation of French while overlooking the role of language ideologies, most evident in the two great dictionary projects (OED and DAF). This paper examines the actual role of the AF and other institutions in French language policy. Exploring popular linguistic representations of the AF and reiterated discourses about the relative numbers of words in English and French, we emphasize the dangers for language policy generally of reinforcing triumphalist views about English.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)325-341
    Number of pages17
    JournalLanguage Policy
    Volume10
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

    Keywords

    • English language
    • French language
    • L’Académie française
    • ideology
    • language policy

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