Symbolic crusades in Lusatia and Brittany? An analysis of minority language movements from the perspective of status politics
Résumé
This paper proposes to analyse mobilizations for regional minority languages in Lusatia and Brittany from the perspective of "status politics". In a post-modern context, where traditional speech communities are fragmented by territorial and social mobility, speaking a minority language seems to be a matter of personal choice, structured through engagement and activism. Assuming that languages are part of a linguistic economy shaped by power conflicts and struggle for classifications, this article approaches the promotion of regional and minority languages as a struggle for social recognition of particular cultures, styles of life and collective prestige. By using the tools of political sociology, our ambition is to examine actions for Upper and Lower Sorbian, Breton and Gallo as symbolic ones, aiming at influencing the distribution of social prestige in Lusatia and Brittany, thus exceeding mere language issues. Today, campaigners for minority languages of Lusatia and Brittany participate in "revitalization movements" which also assert visions of the social world. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with language activists and on participatory observations, the idea is to consider to what extent linguistic mobilizations can be qualified as "symbolic crusades", and in what ways this sociological notion could be useful to understand the mechanisms at work in linguistic collective action in general.
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