The national
linguistic watchdog, the Académie Française, has condemned the growing use of
Franco-English or 'franglais' by public and private bodies. The Académie warns
of the dangers of limited and overly simplified communication, saying it could
further undermine social cohesion.
ADVERTISING
"Pick-up
station", "cluster", "bleisure", "drive-in".
In recent years, anglicisms have flourished in institutional communication, and
this is of particular concern to the centuries-old French language watchdog.
The report by
six members of the body, adopted in early February and published online this
week, warns that "today's communication is characterised by a degradation
that must not be seen as inevitable".
In 30 pages,
the report picks through dozens of messages from public bodies such as
ministries, town halls, museums, universities, as well as private firms,
highlighting examples of bilingual wordplay.
The report,
entitled Pour que les institutions françaises parlent français, explains that
"it is not a question of opposing the evolution of French and its
enrichment through contact with other languages".The document
states that "it is obviously necessary to accept the relatively large
number of words acquired long ago in French, present in modern dictionaries,
which cannot be considered as Anglicisms (...): design, fan, high-tech, job,
kit, leader, meeting, outsider, pack, roller, shopping, test, top, thriller,
zoom..."
'Invasive
anglicisation'
In charge of
"defending the language of Molière", the Académie has identified
"a worrying development", namely an "invasive
anglicisation".
"Many
anglicisms are used in place of existing French words or expressions,
inevitably leading to the gradual erasure of the French equivalents," said
the body, which was founded in 1635 under King Louis XIII.
"Aside
from fashion and sport, the internet and digital field is unsurprisingly the
most strongly and visibly 'anglicised'," the Académie said, dubbing tech
terms "Californisms" such as "follower",
"hashtag", "start-up", "kit de com."
The Covid-19
pandemic has also brought about the use of a number of terms from English like
"cluster", "testing" or "click and collect".
English words
themselves are "often distorted" to fit French pronunciation or
syntax, the Académie notes, resulting in "the creation of hybrid forms
that are neither English nor French", for example "Plug-in
hybrid" or "éco-friendly".
Fear of a
social divide
What the
Académie fears most is "a social and generational divide", as the
French are far from proficient in English, especially among the elderly.
In the
document, it points out that access to English "concerns a small,
privileged and educated fringe of the population".
Some words
require a certain level of English to understand concepts such as the term
"bleisure", (a composite of "business" and
"leisure").
Sometimes this
can make even fluent speakers stumble, as with the concept of a "drive
piétons" (a "pedestrian drive-through", or pick-up point for
products ordered online).
Thus, the
massive use of franglais in institutional communication risks creating
"linguistic insecurity".
The Académie
also notes a deterioration in slogans used by these institutions since the 1980s.
"English
has become the new Esperanto. Advertisers think it's hip to use puns with
Anglicisms, but it's a false sense of humour."
The report
mentions for example, the slogan "Unboring the future" used for the
car manufacturer Peugeot, "France is in the air" for Air France, or
"Ready to Ouigo?" (SNCF slogan) and so on.
Jumbled
syntax, influence of advertising
Overuse of
English "has the contradictory consequence of risking both an
impoverishment of French vocabulary and growing discrimination among sections
of the public," the Académie adds.
"By
widely using an English vocabulary not understood by much of the public, online
services contribute to stoking the defiance that has visibly developed in
recent years towards all kinds of authorities."
In addition to
the lexicon, the report deplores "the consequences of a certain gravity on
the syntax and the very structure of French".
Académie
Française denounces French ID card's 'unconstitutional' use of English
Why fighting
'franglais' is not just a war of words
With "the
disappearance of prepositions" and "the deletion of articles",
according to its observation, "syntax has been disrupted, which
constitutes a real attack on the language.
"The
current language of communication is very strongly influenced, even
contaminated, by that of advertising, which is at once very compact, limited
and often simplifying."
The Académie
Francaise has become more assertive under permanent secretary Hélène Carrere
d'Encausse about its mission "to protect the French language".
In January,
the institution threatened legal action against the government for including
English translations of information fields on national identity cards.
Isabelle
Martinetti
RFI 20/02/2022
