L’occitan, kezako qu’es aquò ? Enjeux d’une minorisation, entre langue et territoire

Abstract

Occitan is the regional language with the most numerous speakers in France, yet it is not very well known or identified by the general population. Indeed, after undergoing, along with all the other regional languages of France, the French linguistic discriminatory policy of « patois annihilation », it appears to be going through a second process of minorization, at least in terms of representations. After presenting the language and its current sociolinguistic situation, this article explores several invisibilization factors by questioning the relationships between language and territory, as well as the role of the media in the propagation of erroneous representations. This will be illustrated by a few examples from national media sources.

Keywords

• sociolinguistics
• representations
• language policy
• Occitan (language)
• media
• minority languages