Identité et frontière : linéaments d’une recherche sur le contact normano-breton

Abstract

The real Brittany would be the one where Breton language is spoken, the false one where Gallo language is spoken, the real Normandy the one of the camp, the false one the one of the field. As a general rule, there is a correlation between « parcels » of identity and linguistic practices. However, on the border, this intellectual order is disrupted since there is a disjunction between criteria that are usually combined. At least between criteria that dialectology and ethnolinguistics have accustomed us to consider as integral: language and culture. The paradox can thus be formulated. On the one hand, people of different languages (Breton language speakers and Gallo language speakers) recognise a common cultural and historical identity. But, on the other hand, people with the same language claim a different identity (Bretons of the border and Normands).

Keywords

• sociolinguistics
• Brittany
• ethnic identities
• regional languages
• Gallo (language)
• language border