Alsatian is on the way to becoming a dead language, says the president of the Bilingual Alsace Federation, (Fab) Pierre Klein. This former professor of eco-management, passionate about Alsatian language and culture, hosted the colloquium of the Fab, the federation of 24 associations which he chairs, this Saturday in Strasbourg.
The one who calls himself a philosopher and essayist today draws up a damning observation. “We are not far from a field of linguistic ruins in Alsace”, he says. According to the Office for the language and cultures of Alsace and Moselle (Olca), the number of speakers of our regional dialect fell from 63% in 1997 to 43% in 2012. That same year, according to a study by the organization, the proportion of dialect speakers reached only 3% among 3-17 year olds12% among 18-29 year olds, 24% among 30-44 year olds and 54% among 45-59 year olds.
France Bleu Alsace: what lessons do you draw from this observation?
Peter Klein: “The situation is even more serious than the one described. Because there are different types of speakers. In fact, at the level of young children, we are close to zero. In older generations, we vary between 400,000 and 700,000 speakers. But what is a speaker? The average Alsatian who still speaks the dialect has a vocabulary of around 1,000 to 1,200 words, whereas the German language has a vocabulary of 250,000. The problem is that, due to the very fact that the teaching of German was prohibited in the schools of Alsace in 1945, the dialects became impoverished because they could no longer feed on the language of reference culture. As a result, the Alsatians began to speak a pidgin [langue simplifiée créée sur le vocabulaire et certaines structures d’une langue de base, ndlr]. It is no longer a language.”
France Bleu Alsace: what do you propose to save the Alsatian dialect?
PK: “We should manage to have 30% children educated in bilingual education. If we had 30% of bilingual administrative documents, if we had 30% of public speeches in the regional language, that would already ensure the survival [de la langue alsacienne, nldr]. And it would also be the necessary basis for possible future development, because we believe that only those languages that have social utility survive. If I can’t go to the post office and order a stamp in the regional language, it’s doomed, it’s a useless language. Of course, the thing is extremely difficult because France has a problem with its own linguistic diversity. Whether it is the ECA, the municipalities, etc. In the end, we can only act on the margins.”
France Bleu Alsace: are there other models for promoting regional languages, in France and in other countries?
PK: “Brittany gives us an example in the institutional sector. Brittany has set up a very effective Breton cultural council. Structures within the regional council of Brittany, which are very effective in terms of bilingualism. The language question runs through society and as a result, 50% of the school population in the French Basque Country is educated in bilingual education.In Alsace, we are at 17 – 18%.Abroad, in all the democracies around us, the problem of regional languages or minorities is resolved. Whether it is the Sorbs and the Frisians in Germany, the Catalans, etc. In France, of course, it is different because historically, France was built around the French language. That French is the common language of all French people, it is commonly accepted. But why would it be the only one?
Interview by François Chagnaud.