Ascertaining accurate speaker numbers of any language is not a straightforward process. Logistically, gaining a response from every member of the community being studied presents many challenges. Furthermore, for a number of complex reasons, the responses offered by individuals may not reflect reality; if they feel
uncomfortable or unable to respond truthfully, respondents may offer the answer deemed by society to be most correct. Regarding speaker numbers of France’s RLs, any official questioning of language practices, for example in a census survey, would be deemed unconstitutional, as Article 2 of the French Constitution names French as the language of the Republic.
Figures quoted on the website of OLCA and in Bothorel-Witz and Huck (2003) suggest that 61% of Alsace inhabitants spoke Alsatian at the beginning of the twenty-first century, in contrast with 95% at the turn of the previous century (Figure 9). Closer analysis of a 1997 poll reveals that intergenerational transmission has declined dramatically in recent years. According to that survey, whereas 86% of respondents over the age of sixty declared themselves to be Alsatian speakers, this figure stood at only 38% in the category of 18–29 year-olds. The results of a poll carried out by OLCA in 2012 revealed that only 43% of the eight hundred
respondents described themselves as being able to speak Alsatian well, with a further 33% declaring that they could understand or speak the language variety to a lesser extent (OLCA 2012a). Writing a quarter of a century ago, Wardhaugh (1987, 112) describes Alsatian bilingualism as ‘a fact of life’, although even at that time he recognised that it was ‘a bilingualism on the wane’. Caution must always be taken when predicting speaker numbers on the basis of one survey, and there exists a question over accuracy in self-reporting language practices (Milroy and Milroy 1999,
15). However, the latest figures available indicate that the post-war language shift away from Alsatian continues at a steady pace.
Figure 9: Percentage of Alsatian speakers, 1900–201249
Klein (2007, 15–16) reports that today the use of Alsatian is favoured by older people, those living in the countryside, by manual workers and employees, whilst French is associated with the young, with towns and cities, with professionals and with management. Therefore, the link between French and modernity and social progress is persistent. Vassberg (1993, 172) notes that young Alsatian speakers may practise it with their parents, but not with siblings or friends. This association between Alsatian and an older generation suggests that these speakers will be less likely to speak it with their own children. Furthermore, it has been well documented in sociolinguistics that females are more likely to drop a non-standard denigrated language for the standard one that is associated with prestige and social progress
49 The figures for 1900, 1946, 1997, 2001 and 2012 are from OLCA (2012b); the figures for 1931, 1962, 1979, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1998 are quoted in Bothorel-Witz and Huck (2003, 32).
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 1900 1931 1936 1946 1962 1979 1986 1989 1991 1992 1997 1998 2001 2012
(Labov 1990). Therefore, according to this theory, mothers are less likely to transmit Alsatian in favour of the national standard language, French.
Bothorel-Witz and Huck (2003, 37) comment that: ‘Regarding possible arenas for the transmission of the dialect, it seems that, apart from rare exceptions, the family constitutes, in the representations of speakers, the privileged setting.’50 Widespread acceptance of the family setting being the only suitable domain for the learning of Alsatian acts as an obstacle in acquisition planning in an educational setting. As intergenerational transmission is in decline, as is the case for all of the RLs of France, if revitalisation is to occur, the actors involved will be required to be more receptive to RL acquisition and use outside of the traditional home domain.
Adamson (2007, 95–96) concludes that ‘[w]hile the situation for Alsatian may be less dire than for some of the other languages, it is nevertheless desperate’. With speaker numbers estimated at approximately 60% of the population in 2001, Alsatian entered the twenty-first century in a strong position compared with the other RLs of France, surpassed only by Occitan numerically (with two million speakers) (Judge 2007, 66). However, if the recently-projected figure of 43% is an accurate representation of Alsatian speakers in Alsace today, the language variety can be described as being in a desperate position.
The observation that the employment of Alsatian has decreased the most in large towns and cities is not only the result of existing inhabitants switching to French. The decline is also linked to an increase in the number of people living in Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse who generally are less likely to speak Alsatian, for example people born outside of the region and young people (INSEE 2002, 4). The changing demographic must be taken into consideration when examining
50
‘Concernant les possibles espaces de transmission du dialecte, il apparaît, à de rares exceptions près, que l’espace familial constitue, dans les représentations des locuteurs, le cadre privilégié’ (Bothorel- Witz and Huck 2003, 37).
language practices in a modern context. According to a report delivered by INSEE (the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies), migrants make up ten per cent of the population of Alsace, a proportion which is second only to the region of the Île de France (2006, 3). Unless they originate from neighbouring areas in Germany and Switzerland, it is likely that newly settled inhabitants will have a lesser interest in language policy concerning the RL. Indeed they may bring with them other languages, which they wish to continue practising, not only at home but also in public domains such as schools. Modern societies are increasingly
multilingual, whether or not this is acknowledged by official policies, and therefore the linguistic balance is shifting in traditionally RL-speaking regions as in any others.
3.8.8 Learning the RL outside of the Home and School
Beginners’ courses in Alsatian are provided by OLCA and Free Universities,51 and there are also a number of online courses available.52 These lessons are often fee paying (apart from most online courses), but they are available to any member of the public wishing to partake. Subsidies are available from the Alsace regional council for individuals or groups who wish to open new RL language classes.53 The recent
51 Free Universities, known as Universités populaires in France, offer adult learning courses on a range of subjects. Participants pay a fee for each course they choose to follow, there are no academic entrance requirements and normally participants are not able to gain an academic degree from these establishments. There are over thirty Free Universities currently operating in the region of Alsace. Available at: <http://www.universitepopulaire.eu/Liste-des-Universites-Populaires-de-France.html> (Accessed 25 July 2012)
52 Online resources to learn Alsatian include, but are not limited to the following websites, available at: <http://www.verdammi.org/cours.html> (Accessed 25 July 2012)
<http://www.lexilogos.com/alsacien_langue_dictionnaires.htm> (Accessed 25 July 2012) <http://www.olcalsace.org/fr/lexiques> (Accessed 25 July 2012)
53 Available at: <http://www.region-alsace.eu/aide/soutien-lorganisation-dateliers-de-pratique-de- lalsacien> (Accessed 25 July 2012)
publication Alsacien pour les nuls (‘Alsatian for dummies’) (2010) joins a range of other written materials to aid the learning of Alsatian.54
A newspaper article published in L’Alsace (Schulthess 2010) reported that social care workers in the town of Mulhouse are now obliged to complete a language course in Alsatian, regardless of their origin. This is due to the fact that the older generations that they will be working with are often Alsatian-speaking. The requirement to speak Alsatian as an employment criterion could encourage more people to maintain or to learn it. The presence of Alsatian at stage 3 of Fishman’s GIDS (Xish in the local and regional work sphere) would aid to reverse the language shift in Alsace. However, as mastery of the French language is the rule rather than the exception for Alsatians born after the 1940s, the request to speak Alsatian in the work domain seems unlikely to continue in the long term.
The learning of France’s RLs is often limited to the region where they are traditionally spoken, yet the Maison de l’Alsace in Paris offers monthly lessons to learn Alsatian and about the region’s culture.55
Furthermore, as standard German is described as a component of the RL of Alsace, there is a wide range of learning opportunities that is available in France and internationally, although this will be promoted as foreign language learning. It is clear that, if the RL is not acquired in the home or at school in Alsace, there are many other opportunities available to acquire Alsatian and standard German.
54 Recent publications in the same series include conversation guides for some of the other RLs of France, namely Basque, Breton and Corsican.
55Available at: <http://www.maison-