Report on the Necessity & the Means of Obliterating Dialects, & Universalizing the Usage of the French Language
1 2021-04-19T17:46:40+00:00 Newberry DIS 09980eb76a145ec4f3814f3b9fb45f381b3d1f02 20 1 plain 2021-04-19T17:46:40+00:00 Newberry DIS 09980eb76a145ec4f3814f3b9fb45f381b3d1f02The Report on the Necessity & the Means of Obliterating Dialects, & Universalizing the Usage of the French Language was commissioned by the National Convention and prepared by the Committee of Public Instruction. The President of the Committee was the Abbot Henri Grégoire (1750-1831), a Jesuit priest of humble origins and a staunch Republican who was elected to the Estates General as a delegate of the clergy. He subsequently served as President of the National Constituent Assembly, of the Constituent Assembly, then as deputy and President of the National Convention. Father Grégoire advocated the suppression of regional dialects and patois in favor of exclusive use of the French language in France, which he and the Committee saw as a unifying force for the people and the Nation. This document details the Committee’s reasoning, providing numerous examples of the impediments of local dialects and the virtues of a universal French language, which they believed would reduce misconceptions, improve interpersonal communication among individuals throughout the land, engender civic pride, and improve the economy by transforming agriculture and trades. The Report presents proposals for implementation, including simplification of vocabulary, more eloquent expression, and preparation of a standardized French dictionary and grammar. The document ends with a decree by the National Convention requesting the Committee of Public Instruction to propose measures to implement a new French grammar, vocabulary and ideas on facilitating the study of the language.
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
REPORT
On the necessity & the means of obliterating dialects, & universalizing the usage of the French language,
BY GRÉGOIRE;
Session of 16 Prairial, year II2 of the first & indivisible Republic3;
Followed by the Decree of the National Convention.
PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE NATIONAL CONVENTION,
And sent to the duly constituted authorities, to the political clubs, & to all the towns of the Republic.
THE French language has gained the esteem of Europe where it has been considered a standard for over a century: my goal is not to identify the causes of such a standing. It has been ten years since, in the heart of Germany (in Berlin), this question was studiously discussed, such that according to one writer it would have swelled the pride of Rome, so eager was she to establish her language as
1. The National Convention (Convention Nationale) was established September 21, 1792 and lasted until October 26th, 1795. It served as the French government after the Legislative Assembly (Assemblée Législative). – TRANS.
2. Revolutionary Calendar date. The Gregorian equivalent is June 4th, 1794. – TRANS.
3. The First French Republic (La première république française) was founded on September 22, 1792. The Republic fell on May 18th,1804 in a coup d’état by Napoleon who then created the first empire. – TRANS.
one of the finest achievements of her golden age. We know about the Roman policy to universalize their language: they forbade the use of any other language in order to communicate with foreign ambassadors in their negotiations with them. Despite these efforts, she only partially managed to earn what is freely accorded to the French language. We know that in 1774 [the French language] was used to draft the treaty between the Turks & the Russians. Since the Peace Treaty of Nijmegen4, it has been prostituted, so to speak, for the intrigues of European ministries. In its clear & methodical usage, thought flows easily; it is this which gives it its character of reason & of integrity, which even the deceitful find more suitable to protect them from diplomatic trickery.
If our language has received such a welcome from sovereigns & courts, to whom the French monarchy has brought theater, adornment, style & manners, what reception should it expect from the people to whom Republican France reveals their rights by opening up the path of freedom for them?
But this language, accepted in political transactions -- used in several cities of Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, in parts of the countries of Liège, Luxembourg, Switzerland, even in Canada & on the banks of the Mississippi -- by what twist of fate is it still unknown to a large number of the French?
Through all its transformations the Celtic language, the first language of Europe, has survived in a remote corner of France & in some cantons of the British Isles. We know that the Welsh, the Cornish & the Lower Bretons understand each other: this indigenous language went through successive modifications. Twenty-four centuries ago, the Phocaeans founded splendid colonies along the Mediterranean coast. Some excerpts in Greek from one of Pindar’s odes about grape harvests were recently discovered in a ballad in the Marseille region. The Carthaginians crossed the Pyrenees, & Polybius5 tells us that many Gauls learned the Punic language in order to talk to Hannibal’s soldiers.
From the yoke of the Romans, Gaul came under the domination of the Franks. The Alans, the Goths, the Arabs & the English, after having each in turn invaded the region, were then driven out, & our language as well as the various dialects used in France still bear the imprint of the passage or the sojourns of these diverse peoples.
The feudalism that then came to divide this beautiful country carefully kept these language differences as a way of recognizing, seizing, & enslaving fugitive serfs. To this day the expanse of territory where certain patois are used is still defined by the former feudal boundaries. This explains the close similarity of the patois of Bouillon & Nancy, which are about 40 leagues’
4. There was a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Nijmegen in 1678-1679 in Latin, French, and other languages, which ended wars among several European countries. – TRANS.
5. Polybius (200-118 B.C.): Greek historian. – TRANS.
If our language has received such a welcome from sovereigns & courts, to whom the French monarchy has brought theater, adornment, style & manners, what reception should it expect from the people to whom Republican France reveals their rights by opening up the path of freedom for them?
But this language, accepted in political transactions -- used in several cities of Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, in parts of the countries of Liège, Luxembourg, Switzerland, even in Canada & on the banks of the Mississippi -- by what twist of fate is it still unknown to a large number of the French?
Through all its transformations the Celtic language, the first language of Europe, has survived in a remote corner of France & in some cantons of the British Isles. We know that the Welsh, the Cornish & the Lower Bretons understand each other: this indigenous language went through successive modifications. Twenty-four centuries ago, the Phocaeans founded splendid colonies along the Mediterranean coast. Some excerpts in Greek from one of Pindar’s odes about grape harvests were recently discovered in a ballad in the Marseille region. The Carthaginians crossed the Pyrenees, & Polybius5 tells us that many Gauls learned the Punic language in order to talk to Hannibal’s soldiers.
From the yoke of the Romans, Gaul came under the domination of the Franks. The Alans, the Goths, the Arabs & the English, after having each in turn invaded the region, were then driven out, & our language as well as the various dialects used in France still bear the imprint of the passage or the sojourns of these diverse peoples.
The feudalism that then came to divide this beautiful country carefully kept these language differences as a way of recognizing, seizing, & enslaving fugitive serfs. To this day the expanse of territory where certain patois are used is still defined by the former feudal boundaries. This explains the close similarity of the patois of Bouillon & Nancy, which are about 40 leagues’
4. There was a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Nijmegen in 1678-1679 in Latin, French, and other languages, which ended wars among several European countries. – TRANS.
5. Polybius (200-118 B.C.): Greek historian. – TRANS.
distance apart & which were formerly subject to the same tyrants, while the dialect of Metz, situated a few leagues from Nancy, differs greatly, because for several centuries the region of Metz was organized in a quasi-republican form & was constantly at war with Lorraine.
There are only about 15 departments where the French language is spoken exclusively. The language is still undergoing some noticeable modifications, whether it be the pronunciation or the use of inappropriate & outdated terms, especially around Sancerre, where one still hears some expressions from Rabelais, Amyot, & Montaigne6.
We no longer have provinces, yet we still have about 30 patois that reflect their names.
It is perhaps not pointless to list them all: Lower Breton, Norman, Picard, Rouchy or Walloon, Flemish, Champenois, Metzian, Lorrainer, Franc-Comtois, Burgundian, Bressan, Lyonnais, Dauphinois, Auvergnat, Poitevin, Limousin, Picard7, Provençal, Languedocian, Velayen, Catalan, Béarnais, Basque, Rouergue, & Gascon. This last one is only spoken in a region covering some 60 leagues in area.
We must also add to this list of patois the Italian of Corsica & the Maritime Alps & the German of Upper & Lower Rhineland, because these two dialects have degenerated in these places.
Also, the Negroes of our colonies, whom you all have declared to be men, have a type of simple language like that of the Hottentots, a sort of Mediterranean lingua franca that uses scarcely more than the infinitive form of verbs.
The truth is that several of these dialects are fundamentally the same. They are based on very similar traits with nuances that are only used in adjacent villages or in neighborhoods in the same town, such as Salins & Commune-Affranchie, for example.
This disparity persists more noticeably in villages located on opposite banks of a river, where for lack of a bridge communications were formerly less frequent. To go from Strasbourg to Brest today is easier than it used to be for certain trips of 20 leagues. In St. Claude in the department of Jura, people still recall wills executed (as they say) on the eve of a long journey8; for it was about going to Besançon, which was then the capital of the province.
Without exaggeration we can state that at least six million Frenchmen, especially in the countryside, do not know the national language, that an equal number is more or less incapable of
6. French Renaissance intellectuals: François Rabelais (1494-1553): humanist, physician and writer; Jacques Amyot (1513-1593): writer, translator and classical scholar; Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592): philosopher and writer known for his Essais [Essays]. – TRANS.
7. “Picard” appears twice in the original text. – TRANS.
8. “long journey” here may refer to “death.” The distance from St. Claude to Besançon is about 95.6 kilometers (60 miles); from Strasbourg to Brest is about 1,070 kilometers (664 miles). – TRANS.
There are only about 15 departments where the French language is spoken exclusively. The language is still undergoing some noticeable modifications, whether it be the pronunciation or the use of inappropriate & outdated terms, especially around Sancerre, where one still hears some expressions from Rabelais, Amyot, & Montaigne6.
We no longer have provinces, yet we still have about 30 patois that reflect their names.
It is perhaps not pointless to list them all: Lower Breton, Norman, Picard, Rouchy or Walloon, Flemish, Champenois, Metzian, Lorrainer, Franc-Comtois, Burgundian, Bressan, Lyonnais, Dauphinois, Auvergnat, Poitevin, Limousin, Picard7, Provençal, Languedocian, Velayen, Catalan, Béarnais, Basque, Rouergue, & Gascon. This last one is only spoken in a region covering some 60 leagues in area.
We must also add to this list of patois the Italian of Corsica & the Maritime Alps & the German of Upper & Lower Rhineland, because these two dialects have degenerated in these places.
Also, the Negroes of our colonies, whom you all have declared to be men, have a type of simple language like that of the Hottentots, a sort of Mediterranean lingua franca that uses scarcely more than the infinitive form of verbs.
The truth is that several of these dialects are fundamentally the same. They are based on very similar traits with nuances that are only used in adjacent villages or in neighborhoods in the same town, such as Salins & Commune-Affranchie, for example.
This disparity persists more noticeably in villages located on opposite banks of a river, where for lack of a bridge communications were formerly less frequent. To go from Strasbourg to Brest today is easier than it used to be for certain trips of 20 leagues. In St. Claude in the department of Jura, people still recall wills executed (as they say) on the eve of a long journey8; for it was about going to Besançon, which was then the capital of the province.
Without exaggeration we can state that at least six million Frenchmen, especially in the countryside, do not know the national language, that an equal number is more or less incapable of
6. French Renaissance intellectuals: François Rabelais (1494-1553): humanist, physician and writer; Jacques Amyot (1513-1593): writer, translator and classical scholar; Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592): philosopher and writer known for his Essais [Essays]. – TRANS.
7. “Picard” appears twice in the original text. – TRANS.
8. “long journey” here may refer to “death.” The distance from St. Claude to Besançon is about 95.6 kilometers (60 miles); from Strasbourg to Brest is about 1,070 kilometers (664 miles). – TRANS.
holding a meaningful conversation, & finally that the number of those who speak it exclusively does not exceed three million. Most likely the number of those who write it correctly is even lower.
Thus, with thirty different patois, we are still in the time of the Tower of Babel where language is concerned, while on the question of liberty we are in the vanguard of nations.
Although there is the possibility to reduce the number of idioms used throughout Europe, the political state of the world banishes the hope of uniting people under a common language. This idea, advanced by some writers, is at once bold & idealistic. A universal language is to its discipline what the philosopher’s stone is to chemistry.
But we can at least standardize the language of a great Nation so that all its citizens can readily communicate their thoughts to each other. Such an initiative, which has not yet been fully achieved by any people, is one that is worthy of the French, who centralize all sectors of society & who must desire to establish as soon as possible, in a one & indivisible Republic, a single & invariable form of the language of liberty.
In the report by the Committee of Public Safety9, the National Convention decreed on 8 Pluviôse10, that elementary school teachers would be designated to teach our language in those departments where it is less commonly used. This measure, very beneficial but not inclusive of all places where patois are spoken, must be supported by the patriotic zeal of citizens. The gentle voice of persuasion can hasten the moment when these feudal languages will have disappeared. Perhaps one of the most effective ways to motivate citizens is to demonstrate that knowledge & usage of the national language is important for the preservation of freedom. For true Republicans, it suffices to show them the benefit of it: we need not command it of them.
The two most useful & neglected sciences are the culture of man & the culture of earth. No one has a better appreciation of the value of each of these than our American brothers, all of whom know how to read, write & speak the national language.
The savage, so to speak, is barely formed. In Europe, the civilized man is worse: he is debased.
The rebirth of France has progressed impressively; she holds herself up with dignity; but it takes morals & enlightenment to return a people to liberty. Let us admit that we have much left to do in this regard.
All members of the sovereign Nation are eligible for all work positions. It is desirable that
9. The Committee of Public Safety (Comité de salut public), whose members were elected by the National Convention, was the de facto government of France from April 1793 to July 1794. – TRANS.
10. Revolutionary Calendar date. The Gregorian equivalent is January 27th, 1794. – TRANS.
Thus, with thirty different patois, we are still in the time of the Tower of Babel where language is concerned, while on the question of liberty we are in the vanguard of nations.
Although there is the possibility to reduce the number of idioms used throughout Europe, the political state of the world banishes the hope of uniting people under a common language. This idea, advanced by some writers, is at once bold & idealistic. A universal language is to its discipline what the philosopher’s stone is to chemistry.
But we can at least standardize the language of a great Nation so that all its citizens can readily communicate their thoughts to each other. Such an initiative, which has not yet been fully achieved by any people, is one that is worthy of the French, who centralize all sectors of society & who must desire to establish as soon as possible, in a one & indivisible Republic, a single & invariable form of the language of liberty.
In the report by the Committee of Public Safety9, the National Convention decreed on 8 Pluviôse10, that elementary school teachers would be designated to teach our language in those departments where it is less commonly used. This measure, very beneficial but not inclusive of all places where patois are spoken, must be supported by the patriotic zeal of citizens. The gentle voice of persuasion can hasten the moment when these feudal languages will have disappeared. Perhaps one of the most effective ways to motivate citizens is to demonstrate that knowledge & usage of the national language is important for the preservation of freedom. For true Republicans, it suffices to show them the benefit of it: we need not command it of them.
The two most useful & neglected sciences are the culture of man & the culture of earth. No one has a better appreciation of the value of each of these than our American brothers, all of whom know how to read, write & speak the national language.
The savage, so to speak, is barely formed. In Europe, the civilized man is worse: he is debased.
The rebirth of France has progressed impressively; she holds herself up with dignity; but it takes morals & enlightenment to return a people to liberty. Let us admit that we have much left to do in this regard.
All members of the sovereign Nation are eligible for all work positions. It is desirable that
9. The Committee of Public Safety (Comité de salut public), whose members were elected by the National Convention, was the de facto government of France from April 1793 to July 1794. – TRANS.
10. Revolutionary Calendar date. The Gregorian equivalent is January 27th, 1794. – TRANS.
all might fill them in turn & then return to their agricultural or technical professions. This state of affairs presents us with the following possibility: if these positions are filled by men incapable of expressing themselves or of writing correctly in the national language, will the rights of citizens be properly assured by decrees written in incorrect terms, vague ideas, or in a word, with all the manifestations of ignorance? If, on the contrary, this ignorance precludes some from these positions, soon we will see rise again the aristocracy that in times past used their patois to demonstrate their solicitous benevolence toward those who were insolently referred to as les petites gens11. Soon, society will be re-infected by gens comme il faut12; the freedom of suffrage will be restricted, conspiracies will be easier to form & more difficult to break, & consequently from two separate classes will emerge one strong, hierarchical class. Thus, ignorance of the language would jeopardize social well-being; it would destroy equality.
The people must understand the laws in order to assent to & obey them; & such was the ignorance of some towns in the early days of the Revolution that, misinterpreting the concepts, connecting incoherent to absurd ideas, they were convinced that the word décret meant a décret de prise de corps13; that as a consequence a decree should follow to kill all those formerly of the privileged class; & in this regard an anecdote was reported to me that would be amusing, if it were not deplorable. In one town, the citizens said, “It really would be quite hard to kill Mr. Geffry; but at least we should not make him suffer.” In this anecdote we see emerge, through the filter of ignorance, the naive sensibility of men who work out in advance a way to reconcile humanity with obedience.
Would you suggest compensating for this ignorance with translations? So you increase costs, & by complicating the political machinery you slow down the process. It should be added that the majority of vernacular dialects do not lend themselves to translation, or these are likely to be inaccurate. If the political vocabulary of our language has barely been created, what can it be in those dialects that frankly, while full of sentimental expressions describing the sweet outpourings of the heart, are absolutely devoid of terms relating to politics? Others consist of cumbersome & crude gibberish with no established syntax, because language is always a reflection of the aptitudes of a people: words only multiply with the progression of ideas & needs. Leibnitz was right: words are the currency of understanding; if it acquires new ideas it will need new terms, otherwise the equilibrium would be ruptured. Rather than relinquishing this process to the whims of ignorance, it would certainly be much better to give them your language. Besides, the man out
11. Les petites gens: term used, sometimes pejoratively, for ordinary people or simple folk. – TRANS.
12. Les gens comme il faut: term used, sometimes pejoratively, for well-bred, or “proper” people. – TRANS.
13. décret: a decree; décret de prise de corps: an arrest warrant. – TRANS.
The people must understand the laws in order to assent to & obey them; & such was the ignorance of some towns in the early days of the Revolution that, misinterpreting the concepts, connecting incoherent to absurd ideas, they were convinced that the word décret meant a décret de prise de corps13; that as a consequence a decree should follow to kill all those formerly of the privileged class; & in this regard an anecdote was reported to me that would be amusing, if it were not deplorable. In one town, the citizens said, “It really would be quite hard to kill Mr. Geffry; but at least we should not make him suffer.” In this anecdote we see emerge, through the filter of ignorance, the naive sensibility of men who work out in advance a way to reconcile humanity with obedience.
Would you suggest compensating for this ignorance with translations? So you increase costs, & by complicating the political machinery you slow down the process. It should be added that the majority of vernacular dialects do not lend themselves to translation, or these are likely to be inaccurate. If the political vocabulary of our language has barely been created, what can it be in those dialects that frankly, while full of sentimental expressions describing the sweet outpourings of the heart, are absolutely devoid of terms relating to politics? Others consist of cumbersome & crude gibberish with no established syntax, because language is always a reflection of the aptitudes of a people: words only multiply with the progression of ideas & needs. Leibnitz was right: words are the currency of understanding; if it acquires new ideas it will need new terms, otherwise the equilibrium would be ruptured. Rather than relinquishing this process to the whims of ignorance, it would certainly be much better to give them your language. Besides, the man out
11. Les petites gens: term used, sometimes pejoratively, for ordinary people or simple folk. – TRANS.
12. Les gens comme il faut: term used, sometimes pejoratively, for well-bred, or “proper” people. – TRANS.
13. décret: a decree; décret de prise de corps: an arrest warrant. – TRANS.
in the countryside, little accustomed to generalizing his ideas, will always lack abstract terms & this inevitable inadequacy of language that weakens the spirit will garble your speeches & your decrees or even make them untranslatable.
This disparity among dialects has often impeded the operations of your representatives in the departments. Those who were in the eastern Pyrenees in October 1792 reported to you that a large number of Basques, a kind & brave people, were susceptible to fanaticism, because their dialect is an obstacle to the spread of enlightenment. The same thing happened in other departments, where some criminals used the ignorance of our language to succeed in their counter-revolutionary conspiracies.
It is above all near our borders that dialects common to the people on opposite sides facilitate dangerous relations with our enemies, while throughout the Republic so much jargon poses just as much impediment to the flow of trade & diminishes social relations. By the respective influences of behavior on language & of language on behavior, this prevents political union & from a single Nation they create thirty. This observation takes on great weight if we consider that, unable to understand each other, so many men have slit each other’s throats, & often the bloody quarrels of nations, like the ridiculous quarrels of philosophers, have been nothing but verbal arguments. It is therefore necessary that unity of language among children of the same family should extinguish the remnants of the prejudices resulting from former provincial divisions, & strengthen the bonds of friendship which ought to unite brothers.
Considerations of a different kind support our reasoning. All errors stand fast, as do all truths: the most absurd prejudices can lead to the most disastrous consequences. In some cantons these prejudices have weakened, but in most of the countryside they still retain their influence on people. A child does not suffer convulsions, contagion does not strike a stable without giving rise to the idea that someone has cast a spell: that is the term. If in the neighborhood there is some scoundrel who is called a soothsayer, gullibility will see that he is paid & personal suspicion gives rise to vengeance. It suffices to go back only a few years to find murders committed under the pretext of witchcraft.
Do ancient misconceptions merely change shape across the centuries? That in the time of Virgil the power to darken the sun & to cast the moon into a well was attributed to the magicians of Thessaly, & that eighteen centuries later it is thought possible to call forth the devil? I see in these only different forms of the same kind of nonsense.
This disparity among dialects has often impeded the operations of your representatives in the departments. Those who were in the eastern Pyrenees in October 1792 reported to you that a large number of Basques, a kind & brave people, were susceptible to fanaticism, because their dialect is an obstacle to the spread of enlightenment. The same thing happened in other departments, where some criminals used the ignorance of our language to succeed in their counter-revolutionary conspiracies.
It is above all near our borders that dialects common to the people on opposite sides facilitate dangerous relations with our enemies, while throughout the Republic so much jargon poses just as much impediment to the flow of trade & diminishes social relations. By the respective influences of behavior on language & of language on behavior, this prevents political union & from a single Nation they create thirty. This observation takes on great weight if we consider that, unable to understand each other, so many men have slit each other’s throats, & often the bloody quarrels of nations, like the ridiculous quarrels of philosophers, have been nothing but verbal arguments. It is therefore necessary that unity of language among children of the same family should extinguish the remnants of the prejudices resulting from former provincial divisions, & strengthen the bonds of friendship which ought to unite brothers.
Considerations of a different kind support our reasoning. All errors stand fast, as do all truths: the most absurd prejudices can lead to the most disastrous consequences. In some cantons these prejudices have weakened, but in most of the countryside they still retain their influence on people. A child does not suffer convulsions, contagion does not strike a stable without giving rise to the idea that someone has cast a spell: that is the term. If in the neighborhood there is some scoundrel who is called a soothsayer, gullibility will see that he is paid & personal suspicion gives rise to vengeance. It suffices to go back only a few years to find murders committed under the pretext of witchcraft.
Do ancient misconceptions merely change shape across the centuries? That in the time of Virgil the power to darken the sun & to cast the moon into a well was attributed to the magicians of Thessaly, & that eighteen centuries later it is thought possible to call forth the devil? I see in these only different forms of the same kind of nonsense.
Is there a more striking example? For 40 centuries the black genie of the Celts, blacker than tar, says Edda; the Ephialtes of the Greeks, the Lemures of the Romans, the incubi of the middle ages, the Sotré near Luneville, the Drac in the former Languedoc, the chaouce-breille14 in some corners of the former Gascony, have all been the subjects of a thousand children’s tales designed to explain what doctors call a nightmare.
The Romans believed that it was dangerous to marry in the month of May. This idea was perpetuated among the Jews; Astruc15 found it in the former Languedoc.
Even today farmers, for the most part, are infatuated with all the superstitious ideas that ancient writers -- admirable ones such as Aristotle, Elien, Pliny, & Columella16 -- have recorded in their writings: for example, a so-called secret way to kill insects, which passed to the Romans from the Greeks & which our heads of country households have repeated. It is above all ignorance of the national language that keeps so many individuals at a great distance from the truth. So if you do not put them in direct communication with men & books, their accumulated errors, deeply rooted for centuries, will be indestructible.
To improve agriculture & all sectors of the rural economy, which are so backward in our country, knowledge of the national language is equally indispensable. Rozier17 observes that, from one village to another, farmers do not understand each other. Given this, he says, how can those who cultivate vineyards claim they will be understood? To strengthen his observation, I will add that in some southern regions of France the same vine has thirty different names. The same applies to nautical skills, the extraction of minerals, agricultural implements, diseases, grains, & especially plants. On this last item, the nomenclature varies not only in neighboring towns, but also over very short intervals of time. The botanist Villars18, who gives several proofs of this, cites Sollier19 -- who more than anyone else has done research in villages on the indigenous names of vegetables -- found only a hundred that were properly named. As a result, the most common books are often unintelligible to citizens in the countryside.
It is therefore necessary, in transforming the trades, to standardize their technical language. The knowledge that is disseminated must light up the whole of the territory of France, similar to those streetlamps that, wisely distributed throughout a city, spread their light over everything. A poet said:
14. The terms in italics refer to various spirits, imps, demons and other mythic beings of ancient civilizations, including those of several regions in France. – TRANS.
15. Jean Astruc (1684-1766): French doctor, professor and author who wrote on subjects of medicine, morality and natural history. – TRANS.
16. Ancient Greek and Roman authors: Aristotle (384-322 BC): Greek philosopher and scientist; Aelian: probably Claudius Aelianus (AD c. 175-235), Roman writer and historian who wrote in Greek; Pliny: either Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), Roman writer and natural philosopher or Pliny the Younger (AD 61-c. 113), Roman writer and magistrate; Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (AD 4-c. 70): Roman soldier and farmer who wrote on agriculture. – TRANS.
17. François Rozier (1734-1793): French botanist. – TRANS.
18. Dominique Villars (1745-1814): French botanist. – TRANS.
19. Hugues de Sollier (16th century): French botanist. – TRANS.
The Romans believed that it was dangerous to marry in the month of May. This idea was perpetuated among the Jews; Astruc15 found it in the former Languedoc.
Even today farmers, for the most part, are infatuated with all the superstitious ideas that ancient writers -- admirable ones such as Aristotle, Elien, Pliny, & Columella16 -- have recorded in their writings: for example, a so-called secret way to kill insects, which passed to the Romans from the Greeks & which our heads of country households have repeated. It is above all ignorance of the national language that keeps so many individuals at a great distance from the truth. So if you do not put them in direct communication with men & books, their accumulated errors, deeply rooted for centuries, will be indestructible.
To improve agriculture & all sectors of the rural economy, which are so backward in our country, knowledge of the national language is equally indispensable. Rozier17 observes that, from one village to another, farmers do not understand each other. Given this, he says, how can those who cultivate vineyards claim they will be understood? To strengthen his observation, I will add that in some southern regions of France the same vine has thirty different names. The same applies to nautical skills, the extraction of minerals, agricultural implements, diseases, grains, & especially plants. On this last item, the nomenclature varies not only in neighboring towns, but also over very short intervals of time. The botanist Villars18, who gives several proofs of this, cites Sollier19 -- who more than anyone else has done research in villages on the indigenous names of vegetables -- found only a hundred that were properly named. As a result, the most common books are often unintelligible to citizens in the countryside.
It is therefore necessary, in transforming the trades, to standardize their technical language. The knowledge that is disseminated must light up the whole of the territory of France, similar to those streetlamps that, wisely distributed throughout a city, spread their light over everything. A poet said:
14. The terms in italics refer to various spirits, imps, demons and other mythic beings of ancient civilizations, including those of several regions in France. – TRANS.
15. Jean Astruc (1684-1766): French doctor, professor and author who wrote on subjects of medicine, morality and natural history. – TRANS.
16. Ancient Greek and Roman authors: Aristotle (384-322 BC): Greek philosopher and scientist; Aelian: probably Claudius Aelianus (AD c. 175-235), Roman writer and historian who wrote in Greek; Pliny: either Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), Roman writer and natural philosopher or Pliny the Younger (AD 61-c. 113), Roman writer and magistrate; Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (AD 4-c. 70): Roman soldier and farmer who wrote on agriculture. – TRANS.
17. François Rozier (1734-1793): French botanist. – TRANS.
18. Dominique Villars (1745-1814): French botanist. – TRANS.
19. Hugues de Sollier (16th century): French botanist. – TRANS.
Is a parish cantor or a village mayor?20
The progress of genius will testify to this truth & prove that great men are above all found among men of the countryside.
The accounts of foreign travelers insist on the inconvenience that they experience in being unable to obtain information in the parts of France where the people do not speak French. They compare us malevolently to the Icelanders, who, in the midst of the wintery weather of the wilderness, all know the history of their country, in order to point out to us our shortcomings in comparison. An Englishman, in a writing which often admits of jealousy, has some fun with the story of a merchant who asked him if there were trees & rivers in England, & whom he persuaded that the distance from here to China was about 200 leagues. The French, so formidable to the English with their bayonets, must still prove that they are as superior to them in intelligence as in loyalty: it is enough for them to want it.
Some objections have been raised regarding the usefulness of the plan I am proposing. I will discuss them here.
Do you think, I have been told, that the southern French will easily agree to give up a language that they cherish out of habit & emotion? Their dialects, appropriate to the spirit of a people who think passionately & who express themselves in the same way, have a syntax which has fewer irregularities than our language. By their richness & their striking versification, they rival the softness of Italian & the gravity of Spanish. If Paris, the center of government, had been situated on the left bank of the Loire, we would probably be speaking the language of the Troubadours, instead of the language of the Minstrels.
No doubt those who raise this objection do not claim that D’Astros & Goudouli21 will measure up to Pascal, Fénelon & Jean-Jacques22. Europe has spoken in favor of this language which, by turns embellished at the hands of the Graces, instills in hearts the charms of virtue, or which, by causing the proud accents of liberty to ring out, drives fear into the dens of tyrants. Let us not insult our brothers in the South by thinking that they will reject any idea that may be useful to their country: they have renounced & fought against political federalism; they will fight with the same energy that of language. Our language & our hearts must be in unison.
However, the knowledge of dialects can shed light on some legacies of the Middle Ages. History & languages help each other out when it comes to judging the customs & spirit of a
20. The poet is unknown, but may be Antoine Bourry, a plasterer who was arrested for seditious acts in 1831; the lines of poetry and the arrest are reported in the section Justice Criminelle (Criminal Justice) of the Gazette des Tribunaux (The Legal Gazette) number 1795, dated Sunday 15 May 1831. – TRANS.
21. French poets who wrote in Languedocian dialects. – TRANS.
22. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662): French mathematician, physicist, theologian and writer; François Fénelon (1651-1715): French archbishop, theologian, writer and writer; Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778): Swiss philosopher, composer and writer. – TRANS.
virtuous or a corrupt people, merchants, navigators, or farmers. The relationship of terms leads to that of ideas; by comparing root words, usages, philosophical sayings or proverbs, which are the fruits of experience, we go back to the origin of nations.
The etymological history of languages, says the famous Sulzer23, would be the best history of the progress of the human mind. The research of Pelloutier, Bochart, Gebelin, Bochat, Le Brigand24, etc., has already revealed some astonishing facts that stimulate curiosity & promise great results. The similarity of German to Persian, of Swedish to Hebrew, of the Basque language to that of Malabar, of the latter to that of the wandering Bohemians, of that in the Vaud canton to Irish, of Irish -- which uses the alphabet of Cadmus, composed of seventeen letters -- to the nearly identical Punic, the resemblance of Punic to ancient Celtic, which, traditionally preserved in northern Scotland, has passed on to us Ossian’s25 masterpieces. The similarities between the languages of the Old & the New World, by establishing the similarity of nations by that of their languages, will prove irrefutably the basic oneness of the human family & its language. By combining a small number of known elements, it will bring languages closer together, facilitate their study, & reduce their number.
Thus philosophy, which carries its torch through the entire sphere of human knowledge, will not consider itself unworthy to deign to study patois, & at this moment so propitious to revolutionizing our language, it may uncover some fiery expressions & native turns of phrase that we lack. It will draw especially from the Provençal which is still filled with Hellenisms, & which even the English & especially the Italians have so often drawn upon. Almost all regional languages have works that enjoy a certain reputation. In its directive the commission on the arts has already recommended that these masterpieces, whether printed or handwritten, be collected; it is necessary to look for pearls even in the dung of Ennius26.
A seemingly more serious objection against the destruction of the regional dialects is the fear that customs might change in the countryside. The Haut-Pont just outside St. Omer27 is home to a hardworking colony of three thousand individuals, distinguished by their short tunics in the Gallic style, by their customs, their language & above all by a paternal integrity & that innocence of a simpler time.
As nothing can compensate for the loss of customs, there is no need to weigh the choice between enlightened vice & virtuous ignorance. This objection would have been insoluble under
23. Johann Georg Sulzer (1720-1779): Swiss philosopher. – TRANS.
24. Simon Pelloutier (1694-1757): French historian; Samuel Bochart (1599-1667): French linguist; Antoine Court de Gébelin (1725-1784): French linguist; Bochat: probably Charles Guillaume Loys de Bochat (1695-1754), Swiss jurist and historian; Le Brigand: a Breton linguist, no details found. – TRANS.
25. Ossian: an Irish epic poet whose work was translated in 1762 by a Scottish poet, James MacPherson. – TRANS.
26. The “dung of Ennius”: the author refers here to an expression in popular language. It was said that in his writing the Greek poet Virgil “extracted pearls from the dung of [written by] Ennius,” the early Roman poet and playwright Quintus Ennius. – TRANS.
27. Haut-Pont was a district just outside the French town of St. Omer in the Pas-de-Calais region. – TRANS.
The etymological history of languages, says the famous Sulzer23, would be the best history of the progress of the human mind. The research of Pelloutier, Bochart, Gebelin, Bochat, Le Brigand24, etc., has already revealed some astonishing facts that stimulate curiosity & promise great results. The similarity of German to Persian, of Swedish to Hebrew, of the Basque language to that of Malabar, of the latter to that of the wandering Bohemians, of that in the Vaud canton to Irish, of Irish -- which uses the alphabet of Cadmus, composed of seventeen letters -- to the nearly identical Punic, the resemblance of Punic to ancient Celtic, which, traditionally preserved in northern Scotland, has passed on to us Ossian’s25 masterpieces. The similarities between the languages of the Old & the New World, by establishing the similarity of nations by that of their languages, will prove irrefutably the basic oneness of the human family & its language. By combining a small number of known elements, it will bring languages closer together, facilitate their study, & reduce their number.
Thus philosophy, which carries its torch through the entire sphere of human knowledge, will not consider itself unworthy to deign to study patois, & at this moment so propitious to revolutionizing our language, it may uncover some fiery expressions & native turns of phrase that we lack. It will draw especially from the Provençal which is still filled with Hellenisms, & which even the English & especially the Italians have so often drawn upon. Almost all regional languages have works that enjoy a certain reputation. In its directive the commission on the arts has already recommended that these masterpieces, whether printed or handwritten, be collected; it is necessary to look for pearls even in the dung of Ennius26.
A seemingly more serious objection against the destruction of the regional dialects is the fear that customs might change in the countryside. The Haut-Pont just outside St. Omer27 is home to a hardworking colony of three thousand individuals, distinguished by their short tunics in the Gallic style, by their customs, their language & above all by a paternal integrity & that innocence of a simpler time.
As nothing can compensate for the loss of customs, there is no need to weigh the choice between enlightened vice & virtuous ignorance. This objection would have been insoluble under
23. Johann Georg Sulzer (1720-1779): Swiss philosopher. – TRANS.
24. Simon Pelloutier (1694-1757): French historian; Samuel Bochart (1599-1667): French linguist; Antoine Court de Gébelin (1725-1784): French linguist; Bochat: probably Charles Guillaume Loys de Bochat (1695-1754), Swiss jurist and historian; Le Brigand: a Breton linguist, no details found. – TRANS.
25. Ossian: an Irish epic poet whose work was translated in 1762 by a Scottish poet, James MacPherson. – TRANS.
26. The “dung of Ennius”: the author refers here to an expression in popular language. It was said that in his writing the Greek poet Virgil “extracted pearls from the dung of [written by] Ennius,” the early Roman poet and playwright Quintus Ennius. – TRANS.
27. Haut-Pont was a district just outside the French town of St. Omer in the Pas-de-Calais region. – TRANS.
the reign of tyranny. Under a monarchy the scandal of the palaces insults the misery of the huts, & as there are people who have too much, necessarily others have too little. The luxuries & pride of tyrannical priests, nobles, financiers, jurists & others took from agriculture & trades a mass of individuals.
From there, this multitude of maids, servants & footmen then brought back to their hamlets behavior that was less clumsy, a language less rough, but also a contagious depravity that would corrupt the villages. Of all those individuals who, after having lived in the city, returned to the paternal abode there were hardly any good ones, save for the old soldiers.
The Republican regime has carried out the suppression of all the parasitic classes, the appropriation of fortunes, & has equalized social conditions. For fear of moral degeneration, numerous families of respectable countrymen had as a tenet to marry only among their kin. This isolation will no longer occur, because France is now one single family. Thus, the new form of our government & the rigor of our principles cast off any equivalence between the old & the new state of affairs. The population will rush back to the countryside, & the large towns will no longer be putrid centers of idleness & opulence that endlessly gave way to crime. It is there above all that moral responsibility must be more accommodating. Morals! Without them there is no Republic & without a Republic there are no morals.
All that has just been read calls for the conclusion that, in order to eradicate all prejudices, to develop all truths, talents & virtues, to merge all citizens into the national body, to simplify the mechanisms & facilitate the functioning of the political machinery, language identity is needed. Time will no doubt bring about other necessary reforms in dress, manners, & customs. I will only mention one, that of removing one’s hat in greeting, which ought to be replaced by a less bothersome and more expressive practice.
While admitting the usefulness of annihilating patois, some people dispute the possibility of this; they base this on the stubbornness of people in their habits. They put forward the excuse that the Morlaques, who did not eat veal fourteen centuries ago, have remained faithful to this abstinence, & that according to Guys28, the Greeks splendidly preserve the dance that was described three thousand years ago by Homer on his Shield of Achilles29.
They cite Tournefort30, in whose report the Jews of Prusa in Natolia, descendants of those who had long ago been driven out of Spain, spoke Spanish as they do in Madrid. They cite the Protestant refugees upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, whose descendants have preserved
28. Pierre-Augustin Guys (1720-1799): French antiquarian and man of letters who wrote “A Sentimental Journey through Greece,” among other travel histories. – TRANS.
29. Iliad, Book XVIII, lines 478-608 [The Shield of Achilles] – TRANS.
30. Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656-1708): French botanist who referenced the Jews of Prusa, an ancient city in Anatolia (also called Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey). – TRANS.
From there, this multitude of maids, servants & footmen then brought back to their hamlets behavior that was less clumsy, a language less rough, but also a contagious depravity that would corrupt the villages. Of all those individuals who, after having lived in the city, returned to the paternal abode there were hardly any good ones, save for the old soldiers.
The Republican regime has carried out the suppression of all the parasitic classes, the appropriation of fortunes, & has equalized social conditions. For fear of moral degeneration, numerous families of respectable countrymen had as a tenet to marry only among their kin. This isolation will no longer occur, because France is now one single family. Thus, the new form of our government & the rigor of our principles cast off any equivalence between the old & the new state of affairs. The population will rush back to the countryside, & the large towns will no longer be putrid centers of idleness & opulence that endlessly gave way to crime. It is there above all that moral responsibility must be more accommodating. Morals! Without them there is no Republic & without a Republic there are no morals.
All that has just been read calls for the conclusion that, in order to eradicate all prejudices, to develop all truths, talents & virtues, to merge all citizens into the national body, to simplify the mechanisms & facilitate the functioning of the political machinery, language identity is needed. Time will no doubt bring about other necessary reforms in dress, manners, & customs. I will only mention one, that of removing one’s hat in greeting, which ought to be replaced by a less bothersome and more expressive practice.
While admitting the usefulness of annihilating patois, some people dispute the possibility of this; they base this on the stubbornness of people in their habits. They put forward the excuse that the Morlaques, who did not eat veal fourteen centuries ago, have remained faithful to this abstinence, & that according to Guys28, the Greeks splendidly preserve the dance that was described three thousand years ago by Homer on his Shield of Achilles29.
They cite Tournefort30, in whose report the Jews of Prusa in Natolia, descendants of those who had long ago been driven out of Spain, spoke Spanish as they do in Madrid. They cite the Protestant refugees upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, whose descendants have preserved
28. Pierre-Augustin Guys (1720-1799): French antiquarian and man of letters who wrote “A Sentimental Journey through Greece,” among other travel histories. – TRANS.
29. Iliad, Book XVIII, lines 478-608 [The Shield of Achilles] – TRANS.
30. Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656-1708): French botanist who referenced the Jews of Prusa, an ancient city in Anatolia (also called Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey). – TRANS.
the local dialect such that in Hesse & in Brandenburg the Gascon & Picard patois are still spoken.
I believe I have established that uniformity of language is an integral part of the Revolution, & consequently the more difficulties that are put in my way, the more it will prove to me the need to present ways of overcoming them. Should it be only a partial success, it would still be better to do a little good than to do nothing at all. But to answer with facts is to answer swiftly, & all who have contemplated the way in which languages are born, grow old, & die will regard success as unassailable.
A century ago in Dieuze a man was turned away from a public place because he did not know German, & this language has already been driven back a long distance from this town. Fifty years ago, in his Bibliothèque des auteurs de Bourgogne, Papillon31 said, talking about the Christmas songs of La Monnoie32: “They will preserve the memory of an idiom which is beginning to die out, like most of the other patois of France.” Papon33 remarked the same thing in the former Provence. The custom of preaching in patois had been preserved in some regions. But this custom was noticeably fading; it had even disappeared in some towns, such as Limoges. Twenty or so years ago in Périgueux it was still shameful to francimander, that is, to speak French. Opinions have changed so much that soon it will no doubt be shameful to speak otherwise. Everywhere these dialects are paring down & moving closer to the national language; this fact comes from information sent to me by many political clubs.
The Revolution has already caused a certain number of French words to be disseminated in all the departments, where they are almost universally known, & the new organization of the territory has established new relations that contribute to the propagation of the national language.
The abolition of tithes, feudalism, common law & the establishment of the new system of weights & measures has led to the disappearance of a multitude of terms that were only local convention.
The Gothic way of petty quarrelling has almost entirely disappeared & no doubt the civil code will shake off the last remnants of it.
In general French is spoken in the army & this group of Republicans, who will have become accustomed to its use, will take it home with them. As a result of the Revolution, many former townsmen will return to cultivate their lands. There will be more wealth in the countryside: canals & roads will be built, for the first time effective measures will be taken to improve village roads. National holidays, by helping to suppress gambling dens & the gambling that is the school of
31. Philibert Papillon (1666-1738): French priest and biographer who wrote the Bibliothèque des auteurs de Bourgogne (Dictionary of Burgundian Authors), published in 1745. – TRANS.
32. Town in the Touraine region of France. – TRANS.
33. Jean Pierre Papon (1734–1803): French historian. – TRANS.
I believe I have established that uniformity of language is an integral part of the Revolution, & consequently the more difficulties that are put in my way, the more it will prove to me the need to present ways of overcoming them. Should it be only a partial success, it would still be better to do a little good than to do nothing at all. But to answer with facts is to answer swiftly, & all who have contemplated the way in which languages are born, grow old, & die will regard success as unassailable.
A century ago in Dieuze a man was turned away from a public place because he did not know German, & this language has already been driven back a long distance from this town. Fifty years ago, in his Bibliothèque des auteurs de Bourgogne, Papillon31 said, talking about the Christmas songs of La Monnoie32: “They will preserve the memory of an idiom which is beginning to die out, like most of the other patois of France.” Papon33 remarked the same thing in the former Provence. The custom of preaching in patois had been preserved in some regions. But this custom was noticeably fading; it had even disappeared in some towns, such as Limoges. Twenty or so years ago in Périgueux it was still shameful to francimander, that is, to speak French. Opinions have changed so much that soon it will no doubt be shameful to speak otherwise. Everywhere these dialects are paring down & moving closer to the national language; this fact comes from information sent to me by many political clubs.
The Revolution has already caused a certain number of French words to be disseminated in all the departments, where they are almost universally known, & the new organization of the territory has established new relations that contribute to the propagation of the national language.
The abolition of tithes, feudalism, common law & the establishment of the new system of weights & measures has led to the disappearance of a multitude of terms that were only local convention.
The Gothic way of petty quarrelling has almost entirely disappeared & no doubt the civil code will shake off the last remnants of it.
In general French is spoken in the army & this group of Republicans, who will have become accustomed to its use, will take it home with them. As a result of the Revolution, many former townsmen will return to cultivate their lands. There will be more wealth in the countryside: canals & roads will be built, for the first time effective measures will be taken to improve village roads. National holidays, by helping to suppress gambling dens & the gambling that is the school of
31. Philibert Papillon (1666-1738): French priest and biographer who wrote the Bibliothèque des auteurs de Bourgogne (Dictionary of Burgundian Authors), published in 1745. – TRANS.
32. Town in the Touraine region of France. – TRANS.
33. Jean Pierre Papon (1734–1803): French historian. – TRANS.
scoundrels & that has destroyed so many families, will provide people with pleasures that are more worthy of them. The combined action of these various measures should benefit the French language.
There are some moral steps, which are not enshrined in law, that can still be taken to accelerate the destruction of the patois.
On January 14, 1790, the Constituent Assembly34 ordered the translation of its decrees into regional dialects. The tyrant was careful not to do something he considered useful to liberty. At the beginning of its session, the National Convention dealt with the same subject. However, I will observe that if this translation is useful, there should be a time when this measure ought to cease, for it would serve to prolong the existence of dialects that we wish to ban, & if people must still use them, that this be done to urge them to abandon them.
In these tasks, call upon the few writers who enhance their talents with their republicanism. Distribute widely, especially in the countryside, not large books (which generally frighten taste & reason), but a multitude of patriotic booklets that will contain simple & illuminating notions that can be grasped by a man slow to conceptualize & whose ideas are obtuse. There should be booklets covering all topics relating to politics & the arts, for which I have already observed there must be uniform nomenclature. This is the most neglected part of our language. Because despite Leibnitz's claims, the former French Academy, in imitation of that of the della Crusca35, did not think it appropriate to adopt this practice in the preparation of its dictionary, which always makes one wish for a different one.
I would like booklets on meteorology, which is of immediate application to agriculture. It is all the more necessary because to this day the country dweller, governed by astrological nonsense, still dares not harvest his field without the almanac’s permission.
I would even like some on elementary physics. This method is suitable to wither away a lot of prejudices; & since inevitably the man in the countryside will form an idea about the configuration of the earth, why, they say, do we not give him the truth? Let us repeat it: all errors join hands, as do all truths.
Good journals are an especially effective measure, would that everyone read them; & it is interesting to see the stallholders in the market hall & the workers in the workshops pool their money to buy them & each take his turn to be the one who reads to the others.
The journalists (who ought to lend more support to morality) exercise a sort of magisterial authority of opinion suitable to reinforcing our views, by reproducing them for the eyes of readers;
34. The Constituent Assembly (Assemblée constituante) was established on June 17th, 1789 by the Estates General comprised of the three estates: Clergy, Nobility, and Commoners. It was the first constitutional assembly and became the Legislative Assembly on September 30th, 1791. – TRANS.
35. The French Academy (L’Académie française) is a French council that handled matters dealing with the French language. It was founded in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu and suppressed by the National Convention in 1793. The Accademia della Crusca (Crusca Academy) is an Italian counterpart. – TRANS.
There are some moral steps, which are not enshrined in law, that can still be taken to accelerate the destruction of the patois.
On January 14, 1790, the Constituent Assembly34 ordered the translation of its decrees into regional dialects. The tyrant was careful not to do something he considered useful to liberty. At the beginning of its session, the National Convention dealt with the same subject. However, I will observe that if this translation is useful, there should be a time when this measure ought to cease, for it would serve to prolong the existence of dialects that we wish to ban, & if people must still use them, that this be done to urge them to abandon them.
In these tasks, call upon the few writers who enhance their talents with their republicanism. Distribute widely, especially in the countryside, not large books (which generally frighten taste & reason), but a multitude of patriotic booklets that will contain simple & illuminating notions that can be grasped by a man slow to conceptualize & whose ideas are obtuse. There should be booklets covering all topics relating to politics & the arts, for which I have already observed there must be uniform nomenclature. This is the most neglected part of our language. Because despite Leibnitz's claims, the former French Academy, in imitation of that of the della Crusca35, did not think it appropriate to adopt this practice in the preparation of its dictionary, which always makes one wish for a different one.
I would like booklets on meteorology, which is of immediate application to agriculture. It is all the more necessary because to this day the country dweller, governed by astrological nonsense, still dares not harvest his field without the almanac’s permission.
I would even like some on elementary physics. This method is suitable to wither away a lot of prejudices; & since inevitably the man in the countryside will form an idea about the configuration of the earth, why, they say, do we not give him the truth? Let us repeat it: all errors join hands, as do all truths.
Good journals are an especially effective measure, would that everyone read them; & it is interesting to see the stallholders in the market hall & the workers in the workshops pool their money to buy them & each take his turn to be the one who reads to the others.
The journalists (who ought to lend more support to morality) exercise a sort of magisterial authority of opinion suitable to reinforcing our views, by reproducing them for the eyes of readers;
34. The Constituent Assembly (Assemblée constituante) was established on June 17th, 1789 by the Estates General comprised of the three estates: Clergy, Nobility, and Commoners. It was the first constitutional assembly and became the Legislative Assembly on September 30th, 1791. – TRANS.
35. The French Academy (L’Académie française) is a French council that handled matters dealing with the French language. It was founded in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu and suppressed by the National Convention in 1793. The Accademia della Crusca (Crusca Academy) is an Italian counterpart. – TRANS.
their zeal in this respect will once again show us the measure of their patriotism.
Among the various forms of works that we propose, dialogue can be used to advantage. We know how much it has contributed to the success of publications for children, adolescents, etc. Above all, we must not forget to mix in history. Anecdotes convey principle, & without them it will escape us. The importance of this observation will be felt by all those who know how things work in the countryside. Besides the advantage of fixing ideas in the mind of a poorly cultivated man, in this way you bring his pride into play by giving him a way to add to the conversation. If not, some dull orator takes it over, repeating all the childish tales from the bibliothèque bleue36, the busybodies & caterwaulers, & we are all the more reluctant to contradict it because it is almost always an old man who swears to have heard, seen, & touched it.
The fruit of worthwhile reading will be a taste for it, & soon those brochures stuffed with lechery or fitful curses that glorify passions instead of illuminating reason will be consigned to contempt, & likewise even those so-called moral works with which we are currently inundated & which are inspired by the love of good, but in whose composition neither good taste nor philosophy prevails.
At the risk of attracting sarcasm, of which it is better to be the object than the author, let us not be afraid to say that songs & lyrical poems are also important to the dissemination of language & patriotism. This method is all the more effective because the symmetrical construction of verses aids memorization: it fixes the word & the thing.
This truth was imbued, as it were, in that harmonious people for whom music was a wellspring in the hands of politics. Chrysippus37 did not believe he was demeaning himself by writing songs for nannies. Plato ordered them to teach the songs to children. Greece had them for all the great stages of life & the seasons -- for births, weddings, funerals, harvests, the grape harvest, & especially to celebrate liberty. Harmodius & Aristogeiton’s song38, which Athenaeus has preserved for us, was to them what the tune of the Marseillaise is to us, & why in this domain would the Committee of Public Instruction39 not make a choice consistent with good taste & patriotism?
Historical & interpretative songs, which have the sentimental lilt of a love song, have a
36. The name given to chapbooks printed on blue paper sold by vendors in France from the 17th to the 19th centuries. – TRANS.
37. Chrysippus of Soli (BC 279-206): Greek Stoic philosopher. – TRANS.
38. Harmodius and Aristogeiton (birth unknown-died BC 514): lovers in ancient Athens who were immortalized in a drinking song referred to by Athenaeus of Naucratis (AD late 2nd century-early 3rd century), a Greek rhetorician and grammarian. – TRANS.
39. The Committee of Public Instruction (Comité d’instruction publique) was founded on October 14th, 1791 by the National Assembly to organize a public education system under the National Convention. – TRANS.
Among the various forms of works that we propose, dialogue can be used to advantage. We know how much it has contributed to the success of publications for children, adolescents, etc. Above all, we must not forget to mix in history. Anecdotes convey principle, & without them it will escape us. The importance of this observation will be felt by all those who know how things work in the countryside. Besides the advantage of fixing ideas in the mind of a poorly cultivated man, in this way you bring his pride into play by giving him a way to add to the conversation. If not, some dull orator takes it over, repeating all the childish tales from the bibliothèque bleue36, the busybodies & caterwaulers, & we are all the more reluctant to contradict it because it is almost always an old man who swears to have heard, seen, & touched it.
The fruit of worthwhile reading will be a taste for it, & soon those brochures stuffed with lechery or fitful curses that glorify passions instead of illuminating reason will be consigned to contempt, & likewise even those so-called moral works with which we are currently inundated & which are inspired by the love of good, but in whose composition neither good taste nor philosophy prevails.
At the risk of attracting sarcasm, of which it is better to be the object than the author, let us not be afraid to say that songs & lyrical poems are also important to the dissemination of language & patriotism. This method is all the more effective because the symmetrical construction of verses aids memorization: it fixes the word & the thing.
This truth was imbued, as it were, in that harmonious people for whom music was a wellspring in the hands of politics. Chrysippus37 did not believe he was demeaning himself by writing songs for nannies. Plato ordered them to teach the songs to children. Greece had them for all the great stages of life & the seasons -- for births, weddings, funerals, harvests, the grape harvest, & especially to celebrate liberty. Harmodius & Aristogeiton’s song38, which Athenaeus has preserved for us, was to them what the tune of the Marseillaise is to us, & why in this domain would the Committee of Public Instruction39 not make a choice consistent with good taste & patriotism?
Historical & interpretative songs, which have the sentimental lilt of a love song, have a
36. The name given to chapbooks printed on blue paper sold by vendors in France from the 17th to the 19th centuries. – TRANS.
37. Chrysippus of Soli (BC 279-206): Greek Stoic philosopher. – TRANS.
38. Harmodius and Aristogeiton (birth unknown-died BC 514): lovers in ancient Athens who were immortalized in a drinking song referred to by Athenaeus of Naucratis (AD late 2nd century-early 3rd century), a Greek rhetorician and grammarian. – TRANS.
39. The Committee of Public Instruction (Comité d’instruction publique) was founded on October 14th, 1791 by the National Assembly to organize a public education system under the National Convention. – TRANS.
particular charm for citizens of the countryside. Is it not that which is the unique merit of that awkward stanza which makes the St. Vincent Island Negroes burst into tears? It is a love song which made the good Morlaques cry, although the traveler Fortis40, a sensitive soul, was not affected by it. This is what made Geneviève de Brabant41 a success & which will assure that of a touching Berquin42 play. Have you heard the echoes of Switzerland resonating in the mountains, in the airs with which Lavater43 celebrates the founders of Swiss freedom? See if the enthusiasm inspired by these republican songs is not superior to the languorous tones of the Venetian Barcarolles when they repeat the gallant octaves of Tasso44.
Let us therefore substitute joyful & proper couplets to those impure or ridiculous stanzas with which a true citizen ought to fear to defile his mouth; that under the stubble & in the fields may peaceful farmers lighten their labors by letting strains of joy, virtue, & patriotism resound. The career is open to talent; let us hope that the poets will make us forget the wrongs of men of letters during the revolution.
This naturally leads to talk about spectacles. Integrity & virtue are the agenda, & this agenda must be eternal. The theater has no idea of it, since we still see, they say, morals being exalted & abused in turn: it was not long ago that The Phony Coachman by Hauteroche45 was performed. Let us go after immorality on the stage; furthermore, let us chase away the jargon that still marks a line of demarcation among equal citizens. Under a tyrant’s rule Dufresny, Dancourt46, & etc. were able with impunity to bring onstage actors who, speaking crude patois, incited laughter or pity: propriety must at present banish this tone. In vain will you object to me that Plautus47 inserts into his plays men who articulated the barbaric Latin of the Ausonia countryside; that the Italians & even recently Goldoni48 produce on stage their Venetian merchant & the Bergamasque patois of Brighella49, etc. What is cited to us as an example to be imitated is only an abuse to be reformed.
I would like all municipalities to adopt exclusively the use of the national language in their proceedings. I would like a sensible policy to rectify this mass of signs which insult grammar & provide foreigners with the opportunity to sharpen their epigrams. I would like a systematic plan to reject the absurd names of squares, streets, quays, & other public places: I have presented views in this regard.
Some political clubs in the Midi talk in Provençal: the need to universalize our language
40. L’Abbé Fortis: 18th century naturalist who traveled throughout the Mediterranean region and wrote about the Morlaque people of Dalmatia (region in Croatia). – TRANS.
41. Genevieve of Brabant: a heroine of medieval legend. – TRANS.
42. Arnaud Berquin (1747-1791): French children’s author. – TRANS.
43. Johann Kasper Lavater (1741-1801): Swiss poet, writer and philosopher. – TRANS.
44. Torquato Tasso (1544-1595): Italian epic poet and writer. – TRANS.
45. Noël Lebreton, sieur de Hauteroche (1617-1707): French actor and playwright; the reference is to his one-act play called le Cocher suppose. – TRANS.
46. Charles Dufresny (1648-1724) and Florent Carton aka Dancourt (1661-1725): French playwrights. – TRANS.
47. Titus Maccius Plautus (BC 254?-184): Roman comic dramatist. – TRANS.
48. Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793): Italian playwright and librettist. – TRANS.
49. Brighella was a masked character of Italian commedia dell’arte who was comical, roguish, licentious and untrustworthy. – TRANS.
Let us therefore substitute joyful & proper couplets to those impure or ridiculous stanzas with which a true citizen ought to fear to defile his mouth; that under the stubble & in the fields may peaceful farmers lighten their labors by letting strains of joy, virtue, & patriotism resound. The career is open to talent; let us hope that the poets will make us forget the wrongs of men of letters during the revolution.
This naturally leads to talk about spectacles. Integrity & virtue are the agenda, & this agenda must be eternal. The theater has no idea of it, since we still see, they say, morals being exalted & abused in turn: it was not long ago that The Phony Coachman by Hauteroche45 was performed. Let us go after immorality on the stage; furthermore, let us chase away the jargon that still marks a line of demarcation among equal citizens. Under a tyrant’s rule Dufresny, Dancourt46, & etc. were able with impunity to bring onstage actors who, speaking crude patois, incited laughter or pity: propriety must at present banish this tone. In vain will you object to me that Plautus47 inserts into his plays men who articulated the barbaric Latin of the Ausonia countryside; that the Italians & even recently Goldoni48 produce on stage their Venetian merchant & the Bergamasque patois of Brighella49, etc. What is cited to us as an example to be imitated is only an abuse to be reformed.
I would like all municipalities to adopt exclusively the use of the national language in their proceedings. I would like a sensible policy to rectify this mass of signs which insult grammar & provide foreigners with the opportunity to sharpen their epigrams. I would like a systematic plan to reject the absurd names of squares, streets, quays, & other public places: I have presented views in this regard.
Some political clubs in the Midi talk in Provençal: the need to universalize our language
40. L’Abbé Fortis: 18th century naturalist who traveled throughout the Mediterranean region and wrote about the Morlaque people of Dalmatia (region in Croatia). – TRANS.
41. Genevieve of Brabant: a heroine of medieval legend. – TRANS.
42. Arnaud Berquin (1747-1791): French children’s author. – TRANS.
43. Johann Kasper Lavater (1741-1801): Swiss poet, writer and philosopher. – TRANS.
44. Torquato Tasso (1544-1595): Italian epic poet and writer. – TRANS.
45. Noël Lebreton, sieur de Hauteroche (1617-1707): French actor and playwright; the reference is to his one-act play called le Cocher suppose. – TRANS.
46. Charles Dufresny (1648-1724) and Florent Carton aka Dancourt (1661-1725): French playwrights. – TRANS.
47. Titus Maccius Plautus (BC 254?-184): Roman comic dramatist. – TRANS.
48. Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793): Italian playwright and librettist. – TRANS.
49. Brighella was a masked character of Italian commedia dell’arte who was comical, roguish, licentious and untrustworthy. – TRANS.
gives them a new opportunity to merit their homeland. Eh! Why would the National Convention not issue its citizens the civic invitation to renounce these dialects & to express themselves continually in French?
Most ancient & modern legislators made the mistake of considering marriage only from the viewpoint of the reproduction of the species. After having first made the mistake of confusing nubility with puberty, which are identical periods only to the primitive man, will we forget that when individuals wish to marry they must guarantee to the country that they have the moral qualities to fulfill all the duties of citizens & all the duties of paternity? In some cantons of Switzerland, the one who wishes to marry must first of all justify that he has his military uniform, his rifle, & his saber. By taking on this practice ourselves, why would future spouses not be subject to proving that they know how to read, write, & speak the national language? I understand that it is easy to ridicule these views: it is less easy to demonstrate that they are unreasonable. Were the Romans not obligated to prove that they knew how to read & swim, in order to enjoy the rights of residency?
Let us encourage all that may be advantageous to the homeland; that from this moment the language of liberty should be the order of the day, & that the citizens’ zeal forever bans jargon, which is the last remnant of the eradicated feudal system. He who, barely knowing our language, would only speak it when he was drunk or angry will feel that it is possible to reconcile his usage with that of sobriety & gentleness. Some bastard phrases, some idioms will still continue to exist in the canton where they were known. Despite the efforts of Desgrouais50, the Corrected Gasconisms are still to be corrected. The citizens of Saintes will still go to their borderie; those of Blois to their closerie, & those of Paris to their métairie51. Around Bordeaux, the landes will be cleared & towards Nîmes, the garrigues52. But finally, the true appellations will prevail even among former Basques & Bretons, on whom the government will have bestowed its resources, & without being able to assign the exact time when these languages will have entirely disappeared, we can foresee that it is approaching.
The accents will resist longer, & probably neighboring people in the Pyrenees will still for a time switch the mute e to a closed é, the b to v, the f to h. At the National Convention we find inflections & accents from throughout France. The trailing syllables of some, the guttural or nasal consonants of others, or even almost imperceptible nuances nearly always reveal the department
50. Jean Desgrouais, (1703-1766): French grammarian and college professor who wrote Les gasconismes corrigés [Corrected Gasconisms] on proper usage of Gascon dialect. – TRANS.
51. borderie, closerie, métairie: regional French words for a small farm holding. – TRANS.
52. landes, garrigues: regional French words for scrubland. – TRANS.
Most ancient & modern legislators made the mistake of considering marriage only from the viewpoint of the reproduction of the species. After having first made the mistake of confusing nubility with puberty, which are identical periods only to the primitive man, will we forget that when individuals wish to marry they must guarantee to the country that they have the moral qualities to fulfill all the duties of citizens & all the duties of paternity? In some cantons of Switzerland, the one who wishes to marry must first of all justify that he has his military uniform, his rifle, & his saber. By taking on this practice ourselves, why would future spouses not be subject to proving that they know how to read, write, & speak the national language? I understand that it is easy to ridicule these views: it is less easy to demonstrate that they are unreasonable. Were the Romans not obligated to prove that they knew how to read & swim, in order to enjoy the rights of residency?
Let us encourage all that may be advantageous to the homeland; that from this moment the language of liberty should be the order of the day, & that the citizens’ zeal forever bans jargon, which is the last remnant of the eradicated feudal system. He who, barely knowing our language, would only speak it when he was drunk or angry will feel that it is possible to reconcile his usage with that of sobriety & gentleness. Some bastard phrases, some idioms will still continue to exist in the canton where they were known. Despite the efforts of Desgrouais50, the Corrected Gasconisms are still to be corrected. The citizens of Saintes will still go to their borderie; those of Blois to their closerie, & those of Paris to their métairie51. Around Bordeaux, the landes will be cleared & towards Nîmes, the garrigues52. But finally, the true appellations will prevail even among former Basques & Bretons, on whom the government will have bestowed its resources, & without being able to assign the exact time when these languages will have entirely disappeared, we can foresee that it is approaching.
The accents will resist longer, & probably neighboring people in the Pyrenees will still for a time switch the mute e to a closed é, the b to v, the f to h. At the National Convention we find inflections & accents from throughout France. The trailing syllables of some, the guttural or nasal consonants of others, or even almost imperceptible nuances nearly always reveal the department
50. Jean Desgrouais, (1703-1766): French grammarian and college professor who wrote Les gasconismes corrigés [Corrected Gasconisms] on proper usage of Gascon dialect. – TRANS.
51. borderie, closerie, métairie: regional French words for a small farm holding. – TRANS.
52. landes, garrigues: regional French words for scrubland. – TRANS.
from which the speaker hails.
We are told that nature contributes to it. Some groups of people have an inflexibility of the voice to articulate certain letters, such as the Chinese, who cannot pronounce the dental r; the Hurons, who as reported by La Hontan53 have no labial, etc. However, if pronunciation is commonly more muted on the plains, more strongly accentuated in the mountains; if the language is lazier in the North & more supple in the South; if, generally speaking, the Vitriats & the Marseillais gutturalize, even though they are situated at slightly different latitudes, it is more so in habit than in nature that we must seek the reason, so let us not exaggerate the influence of climate. A given language is articulated in the same manner in very distant regions, while in the same village the same language is pronounced in different ways. Accent is therefore no more impossible to reform than words.
I will end this discourse by presenting the outline of a vast project, the execution of which is worthy of you: it is that of revolutionizing our language. Let me explain my thoughts: Words being the bonds of society & the repository of all our knowledge, it follows that the imperfection of languages is a great source of errors. Condillac54 wished that one not be able to present a false argument without making a solecism, & vice versa: it is perhaps too much to ask. It would be impossible to bring a language back to the plane of nature & to free it entirely from the whims of usage. The fate of all languages is to experience modifications; it is not just down to the linen maids who have influenced ours & suppressed the aspiration of the h in the toiles d’Hollande55. When a nation educates itself, its language is necessarily enriched, because the increase in knowledge establishes new connections between words & thoughts & requires new terms. To want to condemn a language to invariability in this respect would be to condemn the national intellect to remain stationary; & if -- as has been remarked from Homer to Plutarch, that is to say for a thousand years -- the Greek language has not changed, it is because the people who spoke it have made little progress during this lapse of centuries.
But could we not at least give a more distinct character, a more resolute consistency to our syntax & to our prosody; make those improvements to which our language is most amenable; & without altering its foundation, enrich it, simplify it, & facilitate the study of it by our countrymen & other peoples? “To perfect a language,” says Michaelis, “is to enhance the fount of wisdom of a nation”56.
Sylvius, Duclos57 & others have made pointless efforts to subject the written language to
53. Louis Armand, Baron de Lahontan (1667-1716): French military officer and explorer who served in Canada. Upon his return to Europe he wrote a popular travelogue about North America and particularly Native American culture (the Huron tribe is one). – TRANS.
54. Étienne Bonnot de Condillac (1714-1780): French philosopher and epistemologist. – TRANS.
55. toiles d’Hollande [Holland cloth]: fine fabric from Holland; the author is referring to the “aspirated ‘h’” that normally separates the pronunciation of the final “a” of the article la from the initial “H” of Hollande. – TRANS.
56. Quote from Johann David Michaelis (1717-1791): German Protestant biblical scholar and teacher. – TRANS.
57. Jacques Dubois, also known as Jacobus Sylvius (1478-1555): French anatomist who wrote the first French language grammar to be published in France; Charles Pinot Duclos (1704-1772): French author and member of the French Academy. – TRANS.
We are told that nature contributes to it. Some groups of people have an inflexibility of the voice to articulate certain letters, such as the Chinese, who cannot pronounce the dental r; the Hurons, who as reported by La Hontan53 have no labial, etc. However, if pronunciation is commonly more muted on the plains, more strongly accentuated in the mountains; if the language is lazier in the North & more supple in the South; if, generally speaking, the Vitriats & the Marseillais gutturalize, even though they are situated at slightly different latitudes, it is more so in habit than in nature that we must seek the reason, so let us not exaggerate the influence of climate. A given language is articulated in the same manner in very distant regions, while in the same village the same language is pronounced in different ways. Accent is therefore no more impossible to reform than words.
I will end this discourse by presenting the outline of a vast project, the execution of which is worthy of you: it is that of revolutionizing our language. Let me explain my thoughts: Words being the bonds of society & the repository of all our knowledge, it follows that the imperfection of languages is a great source of errors. Condillac54 wished that one not be able to present a false argument without making a solecism, & vice versa: it is perhaps too much to ask. It would be impossible to bring a language back to the plane of nature & to free it entirely from the whims of usage. The fate of all languages is to experience modifications; it is not just down to the linen maids who have influenced ours & suppressed the aspiration of the h in the toiles d’Hollande55. When a nation educates itself, its language is necessarily enriched, because the increase in knowledge establishes new connections between words & thoughts & requires new terms. To want to condemn a language to invariability in this respect would be to condemn the national intellect to remain stationary; & if -- as has been remarked from Homer to Plutarch, that is to say for a thousand years -- the Greek language has not changed, it is because the people who spoke it have made little progress during this lapse of centuries.
But could we not at least give a more distinct character, a more resolute consistency to our syntax & to our prosody; make those improvements to which our language is most amenable; & without altering its foundation, enrich it, simplify it, & facilitate the study of it by our countrymen & other peoples? “To perfect a language,” says Michaelis, “is to enhance the fount of wisdom of a nation”56.
Sylvius, Duclos57 & others have made pointless efforts to subject the written language to
53. Louis Armand, Baron de Lahontan (1667-1716): French military officer and explorer who served in Canada. Upon his return to Europe he wrote a popular travelogue about North America and particularly Native American culture (the Huron tribe is one). – TRANS.
54. Étienne Bonnot de Condillac (1714-1780): French philosopher and epistemologist. – TRANS.
55. toiles d’Hollande [Holland cloth]: fine fabric from Holland; the author is referring to the “aspirated ‘h’” that normally separates the pronunciation of the final “a” of the article la from the initial “H” of Hollande. – TRANS.
56. Quote from Johann David Michaelis (1717-1791): German Protestant biblical scholar and teacher. – TRANS.
57. Jacques Dubois, also known as Jacobus Sylvius (1478-1555): French anatomist who wrote the first French language grammar to be published in France; Charles Pinot Duclos (1704-1772): French author and member of the French Academy. – TRANS.
the spoken language. Those who today still propose to write as one pronounces would be very embarrassed to explain their thinking, & to make it work, because the relationship of writing to speech is purely conventional, such that the knowledge of one will never provide knowledge of the other; however, it is possible to carry out useful corrections to spelling.
2°58 Anyone who has read Vaugelas, Bouhours, Ménage, Hardouin, Olivet59 & a few others has managed to convince himself that our language is full of ambiguities & uncertainties; it would be equally useful & easy to fix them.
3° By perfecting themselves, physics & the social arts perfect language; there is a group of expressions which in that way have recently acquired a secondary or an even entirely different meaning. The term sovereign is finally attached to its true meaning, & I maintain that it would be useful to make a general review of words in order to give accurate meanings to their definitions. A new French grammar & a new dictionary appear to common men only as an instrument of literature. The man who sees far ahead will place this measure in his political designs. We must be able to learn our language without surrendering our principles.
4° The richness of a language is not in having synonyms: if there were any in our language, they would be, without a doubt, monarchy & crime, they would be republic & virtue. What does it matter that Arabic has three hundred words to express a snake or a horse? True wealth consists in expressing all thoughts, all feelings, & their nuances. Without a doubt the number of expressions will never attain that of feelings & ideas: it is an inevitable misfortune to which all languages are condemned. However, this shortcoming can be mitigated.
5° Most languages -- even those of the North, including Russian, which is the descendant of Slavonic -- have many imitatives, augmentatives, diminutives, & pejoratives. Our language is one of the most lacking in this respect; its disposition appears to repel it. Nevertheless, without risking the ridicule which has spread, with reason, on the scientific bombast of Baïf, Ronsard, & Jodelle60, we can promise ourselves some pleasing acquisitions. Pougens61 has already harvested a sizeable crop of privatives, the majority of which will probably be adopted.
In Nicod’s62 dictionary, printed in 1606, under the letter Z there were only six words; in that of the former French Academy, the 1718 edition, there were twelve; under the syllable Be, Nicod had only 45 terms; that of the Academy, the same edition, had 217: clear proof that over this period the human mind has made great progress, since it is the new inventions that determine
58. There is no paragraph designated 1° in the original text. – TRANS.
59. Claude Favre de Vaugelas (1585-1650): Savoyard grammarian, philologist and member of the French Academy; Dominique Bouhours (1628-1702): French Jesuit grammarian, historian and writer; Gilles Ménage (1613-1692): French grammarian, historian and writer; Jean Hardouin (1646-1729): French philosopher, historian and classical scholar; Pierre-Joseph Thoulier d'Olivet (1682-1768): French abbot, grammarian, writer and member of the French Academy. – TRANS.
60. Jean Antoine Baïf (1532-1589): French poet and author; Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585): French poet; Étienne Jodelle, seigneur de Limodin (1532-1573): French dramatist and poet; all were members of the literary group The Pléiade of which Ronsard is generally considered the leader. – TRANS.
61. Charles de Pougens (1755-1833): French author, poet, translator, editor. – TRANS.
62. Jean Nicod (1530-1600): French diplomat and scholar who compiled the first dictionary of the French language. – TRANS.
2°58 Anyone who has read Vaugelas, Bouhours, Ménage, Hardouin, Olivet59 & a few others has managed to convince himself that our language is full of ambiguities & uncertainties; it would be equally useful & easy to fix them.
3° By perfecting themselves, physics & the social arts perfect language; there is a group of expressions which in that way have recently acquired a secondary or an even entirely different meaning. The term sovereign is finally attached to its true meaning, & I maintain that it would be useful to make a general review of words in order to give accurate meanings to their definitions. A new French grammar & a new dictionary appear to common men only as an instrument of literature. The man who sees far ahead will place this measure in his political designs. We must be able to learn our language without surrendering our principles.
4° The richness of a language is not in having synonyms: if there were any in our language, they would be, without a doubt, monarchy & crime, they would be republic & virtue. What does it matter that Arabic has three hundred words to express a snake or a horse? True wealth consists in expressing all thoughts, all feelings, & their nuances. Without a doubt the number of expressions will never attain that of feelings & ideas: it is an inevitable misfortune to which all languages are condemned. However, this shortcoming can be mitigated.
5° Most languages -- even those of the North, including Russian, which is the descendant of Slavonic -- have many imitatives, augmentatives, diminutives, & pejoratives. Our language is one of the most lacking in this respect; its disposition appears to repel it. Nevertheless, without risking the ridicule which has spread, with reason, on the scientific bombast of Baïf, Ronsard, & Jodelle60, we can promise ourselves some pleasing acquisitions. Pougens61 has already harvested a sizeable crop of privatives, the majority of which will probably be adopted.
In Nicod’s62 dictionary, printed in 1606, under the letter Z there were only six words; in that of the former French Academy, the 1718 edition, there were twelve; under the syllable Be, Nicod had only 45 terms; that of the Academy, the same edition, had 217: clear proof that over this period the human mind has made great progress, since it is the new inventions that determine
58. There is no paragraph designated 1° in the original text. – TRANS.
59. Claude Favre de Vaugelas (1585-1650): Savoyard grammarian, philologist and member of the French Academy; Dominique Bouhours (1628-1702): French Jesuit grammarian, historian and writer; Gilles Ménage (1613-1692): French grammarian, historian and writer; Jean Hardouin (1646-1729): French philosopher, historian and classical scholar; Pierre-Joseph Thoulier d'Olivet (1682-1768): French abbot, grammarian, writer and member of the French Academy. – TRANS.
60. Jean Antoine Baïf (1532-1589): French poet and author; Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585): French poet; Étienne Jodelle, seigneur de Limodin (1532-1573): French dramatist and poet; all were members of the literary group The Pléiade of which Ronsard is generally considered the leader. – TRANS.
61. Charles de Pougens (1755-1833): French author, poet, translator, editor. – TRANS.
62. Jean Nicod (1530-1600): French diplomat and scholar who compiled the first dictionary of the French language. – TRANS.
the creation of words. And yet Barbazan, La Ravalière63 & all those who have followed the transformation of the French language lament the loss of many forceful expressions & bold inversions which have been suppressed by whim & have not been replaced, & which it would be important to revive.
There are still other ways to complete our families of words: the first would be to borrow from foreign idioms the terms that we lack & to adapt them to ours, without however engaging in the excesses of ridiculous neologism. The English have taken some of the greatest liberties in this respect, & of all the words that they have adopted, none is without a doubt better assimilated by them than that of perfidiousness.
The second way is to eliminate all the resulting anomalies, whether from regular & defective verbs or from exceptions to the general rules. At the institution for deaf-mutes, children who learn the French language cannot understand this oddity, which contradicts the workings of nature of which they are the pupils. It is by [nature’s] precepts that they give to every word that is declined, conjugated or constructed all the modifications that, according to the similarity of things, they must derive from it.
"In our language, there is a hierarchy of style, because words are classified as are the subjects in a monarchy,” said a royalist. This confession is an epiphany for anyone who reflects upon it. By applying the inequality of styles to that of conditions, we can draw conclusions that prove the importance of my project in a democracy.
Would anyone who had not appreciated this truth be worthy to be a legislator of a free people? Yes, the glory of the Nation & the preservation of its principles require a reform.
It is said of Quinault64 that he had stripped our language of all that chivalry had of what is most effeminate, & all that adulation had of what is most abject. I have already pointed out that the French language had the timidity of slavery when the corruption of courtiers imposed its rules on it: it was the jargon of cliques & the vilest passions. The exaggeration of discourse was always placed on one side or the other of the truth. Instead of being upset or delighted, we saw only people desperate or enchanted. Soon there would have been nothing ugly or beautiful in nature: we would have only found the execrable or the divine.
It is time for the dishonest style & the servile formulas to disappear, & for language everywhere to guard its character of veracity & succinct pride which is the prerogative of Republicans. A Roman despot once wished to introduce a new word: he failed, because the legislation of languages was always democratic. It is precisely this truth that guarantees your
63. Étienne Barbazan (1696-1770): French writer, philologist, and historian; Pierre-Alexandre Levesque de La Ravalière (1697-1762): French philologist, historian and member of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Literature. – TRANS.
64. Philippe Quinault (1635-1688): French poet, dramatist, librettist and member of the French Academy. – TRANS.
There are still other ways to complete our families of words: the first would be to borrow from foreign idioms the terms that we lack & to adapt them to ours, without however engaging in the excesses of ridiculous neologism. The English have taken some of the greatest liberties in this respect, & of all the words that they have adopted, none is without a doubt better assimilated by them than that of perfidiousness.
The second way is to eliminate all the resulting anomalies, whether from regular & defective verbs or from exceptions to the general rules. At the institution for deaf-mutes, children who learn the French language cannot understand this oddity, which contradicts the workings of nature of which they are the pupils. It is by [nature’s] precepts that they give to every word that is declined, conjugated or constructed all the modifications that, according to the similarity of things, they must derive from it.
"In our language, there is a hierarchy of style, because words are classified as are the subjects in a monarchy,” said a royalist. This confession is an epiphany for anyone who reflects upon it. By applying the inequality of styles to that of conditions, we can draw conclusions that prove the importance of my project in a democracy.
Would anyone who had not appreciated this truth be worthy to be a legislator of a free people? Yes, the glory of the Nation & the preservation of its principles require a reform.
It is said of Quinault64 that he had stripped our language of all that chivalry had of what is most effeminate, & all that adulation had of what is most abject. I have already pointed out that the French language had the timidity of slavery when the corruption of courtiers imposed its rules on it: it was the jargon of cliques & the vilest passions. The exaggeration of discourse was always placed on one side or the other of the truth. Instead of being upset or delighted, we saw only people desperate or enchanted. Soon there would have been nothing ugly or beautiful in nature: we would have only found the execrable or the divine.
It is time for the dishonest style & the servile formulas to disappear, & for language everywhere to guard its character of veracity & succinct pride which is the prerogative of Republicans. A Roman despot once wished to introduce a new word: he failed, because the legislation of languages was always democratic. It is precisely this truth that guarantees your
63. Étienne Barbazan (1696-1770): French writer, philologist, and historian; Pierre-Alexandre Levesque de La Ravalière (1697-1762): French philologist, historian and member of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Literature. – TRANS.
64. Philippe Quinault (1635-1688): French poet, dramatist, librettist and member of the French Academy. – TRANS.
success. Prove to the universe that in the midst of political tumult, holding the rudder of State with a secure hand, nothing that concerns the glory of the Nation is foreign to you.
If the National Convention welcomes the views I am submitting to it in the name of the Committee of Public Instruction, encouraged by its approval, we will extend an invitation to the citizens who have deepened the theory of languages to contribute to perfecting our own, & an invitation to all citizens to universalize its usage. The Nation, entirely rejuvenated by your care, will triumph over all obstacles, & nothing will slow down the course of a Revolution that must improve the fate of the human race.
DECREE.
The National Convention, having heard the report of its Committee of Public Instruction, decrees:
The Committee of Public Instruction will present a report on measures to implement a new grammar & a new vocabulary of the French language. It will present ideas on the changes that will facilitate the study of it & grant it the characteristics suitable for the language of liberty.
The Convention decrees that the report shall be sent to the duly constituted authorities, to the political clubs, & to all the towns of the Republic.
FROM THE NATIONAL PRINTING PRESS.
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If the National Convention welcomes the views I am submitting to it in the name of the Committee of Public Instruction, encouraged by its approval, we will extend an invitation to the citizens who have deepened the theory of languages to contribute to perfecting our own, & an invitation to all citizens to universalize its usage. The Nation, entirely rejuvenated by your care, will triumph over all obstacles, & nothing will slow down the course of a Revolution that must improve the fate of the human race.
The National Convention, having heard the report of its Committee of Public Instruction, decrees:
The Committee of Public Instruction will present a report on measures to implement a new grammar & a new vocabulary of the French language. It will present ideas on the changes that will facilitate the study of it & grant it the characteristics suitable for the language of liberty.
The Convention decrees that the report shall be sent to the duly constituted authorities, to the political clubs, & to all the towns of the Republic.
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