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Promoting language rights as fundamental individual rights: France as a model?

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French Politics Aims and scope

Abstract

France's regional languages have long suffered as a result of the French republican model, which denies the existence of minorities and hence the possibility of granting minority rights. It is sometimes argued by language rights specialists, however, that these should not be seen as special collective rights so much as linguistic aspects of existing fundamental individual rights. The present article examines France's potential to exploit instead this latter conception of language rights, building on the new constitutional status granted to the country's regional languages in 2008 to form a fresh approach to minority languages. Not only could this strengthen French republicanism, but could also serve as a useful model for language rights in other contexts that favour individual rights over groups rights.

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Notes

  1. http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/cri/2007-2008/20080165.asp (accessed 19 January 2010).

  2. http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/cri/2007-2008/20080153.asp (accessed 19 January 2010).

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Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Jane Warren and the two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of this article. All translations from the French are those of the author.

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  1. School of Languages, Linguistics and Film, Queen Mary, University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK

    Leigh Oakes

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Oakes, L. Promoting language rights as fundamental individual rights: France as a model?. Fr Polit 9, 50–68 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/fp.2010.24

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