La langue comme ressource: pour une analyse économique des langues vernaculaires et véhiculaires

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
La langue comme ressource: pour une analyse économique des langues vernaculaires et véhiculaires
Abstract
According to the author, "Quebec French is a vernacular as the French of France becomes a vernacular. Whether Quebecers want it or not, English adds value to French through economic, political, social and cultural relations. Permanent added value by separation of variable capital, in other words of linguistic working time which is exercised on English and not constantly on French. Certainly, Quebecers, with the famous Bill 101, reacted vigorously by initiating a process of "francization". But I said, this problem is not a language problem. The proof in the case of Quebec, is given by many companies that decided (obviously pretext) to move from Montreal to Toronto stating that it was not possible for them to switch from one language to another. In fact, these companies have understood that the purpose of Quebec was not only to recover the use of French but to simultaneously recover political, economic, social and cultural autonomy to the extent possible. Therefore their displacement is not to be interpreted in linguistic terms but in economic terms and symmetrically Bill 101 is not a law on the language, it is a law which announces a project of society: that of a decolonized society. Preserving the language, which is part of the semic system of social reproduction, is to mark, in the face of the ruling class, a desire to "reprogram" itself in new terms. If the use of French or the use of English was merely the use of a pure instrument, as is generally supposed to be the case, then Bill 101 would be derisory. But, in reality, it is not so since, by this complex instrument that is the language, one identifies oneself, one organizes the real, one gives a form to the autonomy towards which one tends. This is why the 101 law is not derisory: it is even fundamental since it provides a basis for the desire for independence, which can thus possess and control its means of expression. Semic systems provide, in social reproduction, communication between infrastructure and superstructure. It is therefore clear that Bill 101 will have full meaning only if Quebec manages to control a large part, if not all, of the economic space. It is enough to say that the linguistic problem is two-sided!"
Publication
Cahiers de géographie du Québec
Volume
Vol. 22
Issue
no. 56
Pages
279-286
Date
1978
Language
fr
URL
Citation
Raffestin, Claude. “La langue comme ressource: pour une analyse économique des langues vernaculaires et véhiculaires.” Cahiers de géographie du Québec Vol. 22, no. 56 (1978): 279–286. https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/cgq/1978-v22-n56-cgq2629/021396ar.pdf.
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