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L’Académie française and Anglophone language ideologies

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Abstract

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

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MARCS Auditory Laboratories, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, South Penrith DC, NSW, 2751, Australia

    Dominique Estival

  2. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology, City Campus, PO Box 123, Broadway, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia

    Alastair Pennycook

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  1. Dominique Estival
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  2. Alastair Pennycook
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Correspondence to Dominique Estival.

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Estival, D., Pennycook, A. L’Académie française and Anglophone language ideologies. Lang Policy 10, 325–341 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-011-9215-6

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