INTRODUCTION

This survey drew on the experience of a previous survey of 1,000 Breton speakers in establishing a series of sampling points where the language continues to function as a community language. These sampling points were selected in order to give range of regional situations and, where possible, different occupational concentrations within the regional economy.

Perhaps inevitably given that the population sampled consisted of remnants of a population previously heavily devoted to the use of Breton, there was a high degree of local endogamy among the respondents. Thus fewer than 3% of the respondents had been born outside of Brittany. Furthermore, over 90% of the respondents, their parents and grandparents had been born in the same canton or department. As many as 84% of the partners also came from the same canton or department. Evidently there is a high degree of local and language group endogamy. Yet 22% of the respondents claimed French as their mother tongue while a further 18% claimed both French and Breton as their mother tongue. Similarly 22% claimed that their partners spoke little or no Breton. Only 6% claimed to have learnt the language through formal education compared with 42% who learnt it in the community and 23% via friends.

These figures would suggest that ability is not uniformly high:

FRENCH AND BRETON LANGUAGE ABILITY OF FAMILY MEMBERS

Fig.1         Fig.2         Fig.3

The preceding table suggests a rapid transition from monolingual Breton speakers through bilingualism towards French monoligualism, a transition which in many families has been completed within two generations.

Fig.4         Fig.5

Among the respondents themselves, while the level of understanding and speaking Breton was high literacy levels were low. In contrast, all levels of language ability in French were high. These figures indicate the kind of situation where there is little extra familial and community support for the minority language.

The majority of the respondents came from families where the parents spoke Breton together, with about 21% claiming that the parents used both Breton and French:

PARENTAL LANGUAGE OF RESPONDENTS

However they themselves used Breton less with their parents than their parents used the language together, with only 52% using Breton exclusively with their parents and a further 24% using both languages. On the other hand only a third used Breton exclusively with their brothers and 43% with their sisters. The inter-generational transition away from Breton as a family language is evident within the childhood experience of the respondents.

Fig.6

The same appears to be true by reference to the partners:

Fig.7

The above table also indicates the subsequent transition away from Breton with only 12% using Breton exclusively with their children and only 14% using both languages. It is hardly surprising that the children have almost exclusively turned their backs on Breton in their interaction with their siblings, as few as 7% using the language at all in this context:

LANGUAGE OF CHILDREN TOGETHER

Fig.8

This is reiterated in the following table on household use of languages:

Fig.9

Over 70% used French only with their children, with a further 16% claiming to use both languages and only 14% using Breton only. This is in contrast with the language use within the preceding generation.

Evidently the data gives us a picture of language which, by reference to language use in the home, is in a process of rapid decline, the family failing to operate as an effective agency of language reproduction.

LANGUAGE TO OPEN TELEPHONE CONVERSATION

The preceding table shows how little Breton is used spontaneously to open conversation with (by definition) unknown interlocutors on the telephone, both at home and at work.

The data for past and present use of Breton in the community suggests that while there has been a decline in the use of Breton it can still be heard on the street where the respondents live and has some use in an institutional context even if it has declined drastically during the lifetime of the respondents.

Fig.10

Given what was said above about the inter-generational transmission of Breton by the family it is hardly surprising that the children use little Breton in their daily activities.

The following table is even more interesting in that it affords us a picture of, among other things, the effect of negative identity upon language use. The number who claim that the interlocutor speaks Breton but that they choose to use French is high. It is also significant that most of the professionals whom the respondents come into contact with cannot speak Breton. The potential use of Breton is limited to those services provided in the immediate community, and even there it is not guaranteed - local shops, garages, bars, restaurants and the town hall. Evidently, while Breton continues to serve as a community language its potential for language production is limited and would appear to rely upon the kind of specific network knowledge that might facilitate a reproduction role: but even that role is under threat. This is a good example of the limitation of the concepts of domain and diglossia which imply that language use is determined by institutionalisation. The above data suggest that while this may be true in bilingual communities where everyone is bilingual it is certainly not the case in most bilingual communities.

Fig.11         Fig.12

There is little room for optimism with reference to education as an agency of Breton language production or reproduction. The following table clearly indicates that the number of people who, as children, who have had any Breton in their schooling is small:

While this is partly indicative of the lack of provision the following tables also suggest that the negative identity is so highly developed as to limit the desire for such an education among the parents:

It is hardly surprising therefore that Breton scarcely appears in the school curriculum even by reference to teaching the language itself! Even if there might be an argument for using one language as a medium for the teaching of another language this can hardly be the case for the teaching of a mother tongue. Of course it can be argued, with support from the preceding data, that Breton is no longer a mother tongue in the sense of being the language of the home and the community.

Fig.12.1

The other agency that might be expected to produce and reproduce the language is the Church. One problem here is the limited participation, with only 22% attending church with any regularity:

The other problem is the limited use of Breton in the activities of the Church:

Fig.12.2

Evidently religious activities are, once again, dominated by the state language.

Fig.12.3

Even the specifically Breton language cultural activities such as those listed above appear to be fringe activities which do not draw much support from among the Breton-speaking population. Only the Festou-noz appears to generate much support.

The preceding information about the use of the language in the community is reflected in the following tables:

Fig.13

Fig.14

It indicates that while substantial number of respondents acknowledge that all of their friends speak Breton few of them use the language exclusively with their friends. On the other hand, it can be claimed that as many as 75% of the respondents who answered this question do use at least some Breton with their friends. The same is true by reference to neighbours. Evidently most people live in communities where many people do have an ability in the language and who use it together to some extent. In this respect it would seem that Breton does function as a community language, even if only in a limited sense. The data is less positive with reference to the other categories. Few use much Breton in shopping nor in sports and cultural events.

This is sustained by reference to what the respondents said about language use in their various activities:

Fig.15

Breton is systematically missing in most responses with reference to most activities other than interaction with friends and in the cafes and bars where they meet their friends. Evidently Breton has become very much a private, personal language, in retreat from most aspects of community life.

As can be seen, most are farmers. Only 63 have work for companies, 42 of these for small companies with less than 24 employees. Most of these worked for companies with a local head office and a Breton owner who knew or spoke Breton. There does not appear to be any tendency to employ Bretons rather tan other workers. Only 8 respondents claimed that their company had a Breton language policy therefore few did anything vis a vis the language at work.

Fig.16         Fig.17

The entry of Breton into the broadcasting media is both recent and limited. Less than one hour of television broadcasting is available daily in Breton, and that hour is broadcasting in off-peak hours at mid-day.

Fig.18

While exposure to the broadcasting media is limited, regardless of language, the amount of Breton listened to is small. Having said that much it cannot be claimed that it implies a preference for French language broadcasting. Indeed, there is some indication in the above figures, that if a full broadcasting service in Breton was provided, it would generate a considerable audience.

The print media does not offer any greater degree of optimism:

READING OF BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS BY LANGUAGE

Fig.19

This should not be surprising given what we already know about reading ability of the respondents in Breton.

Despite the evident retreat of the language most respondents retain a Breton identity. On the other hand they also express a French identity. Thus, it would appear that the state, as the outward manifestation of Frenchness cannot be blamed for the demise of the Breton language. In many respects this is a characteristically French situation where the construction of 'we' and 'they' as social categories within the state discourse precludes any normative construction of an identity that precludes any sense of Frenchness.

Fig.20

To an extent the attitude scales reflect what has been said above. The negative identity is evident in the tendency to agree that Breton status is low and that the language is disappearing. The texts of the eleven statements were as follows:

1 (-) To get on, there are more valuable languages to learn than Breton

2 (+) It seems to me a good idea that some departments and local councils give Breton a privileged status

3 (-) The Breton language is disappearing

4 (+) Brittany would not be Brittany without Breton-speaking people

5 (-) You are considered a lower class person if you speak Breton

6 (+) In order to work in the public sector in Brittany, one should be able to speak Breton

7 (-) Breton has no place in the modern world

8 (+) It is essential that children in Brittany learn Breton

9 (-) The Breton language cannot be made suitable for business and science

10 (+) Speaking Breton allows people to get promotion in their jobs

11 (-) Most people view things associated with Breton as old-fashioned

Fig.21

On the other hand the majority do not agree that speaking Breton is denigratory or that the language has no place in the 'modern' world. This would suggest that while it is a language community which is in retreat it is by no means disillusioned. Most agree that Breton should be given more of a role at the local level, that Brittany's identity is structured by the language, that Breton should be accorded prestige in the public sector even if it should not be privileged in the labour market, and that children should be taught the language.

If any blame should be allocated for the depressing situation of the language community it should be revealed in the following table:

Fig.22         Fig.23

In contrast to local government, central government is held to have little interest in Breton. Equally negative opinions are held of banks and private companies. The church fares little better. The most positive concern relates to the close circle of family and friends who appear to be battling against negative external forces.

It should be evident that the future of the Breton language is in question. The pace of the retreat is alarming. The agencies which could serve as the basis for producing and reproducing the language are not serving that function. Furthermore the state cannot be said to have much interest or concern about the situation. The minority which is struggling to promote the language is battling against enormous odds, the status of the language being low, and having declined to little more than a quaint ingredient of regional tourism.

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