La politique de la defense de la langue francaise et ses contradictions

linguistic and cultural issues have always been at the heart of the concerns ofFrench Governments. When he was the head of French diplomacy, Alain Juppe noted:"cultural diplomacy is an essential dimension of our foreign policy, and a"in some ways, is the trademark of its uniqueness".[1] Jacques Chirac at the Summit of la Francophoniewhich was held in Cotonou in 1995, said that "the language is the expression of a people, need todo everything to preserve the language."[2] All those who, in France, in recent years have raisedthe voice to denounce the growing place of English in the fora onInternet or in French public life, all who have mobilized and organized for thethe French defence, said Act on behalf of the benefits of linguistic pluralism. Theseefforts need to be, on the one hand, viewed in the historical context of a policyFrench linguistics, centuries-old and, on the other hand, considered in the light of two realitiesrelatively recent policies: decentralization and the European Union