Language Shift Through Erosion

The Case of the French-Flemish 'Westhoek

Bibliographic Data

ID11182162
AuthorsRoland Willemyns (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, corresponding author)
Year1997
Volume18
Issue1
Pages54-66
Publication date1997-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0143-4632 • E-ISSN: 1747-7557
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01434639708666302
OpenAlexW2009939242
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited3

This paper discusses the consequences of language shift through erosion on the basis of an analysis of the development of the situation in French Flanders. This part of northern France used to be part of Dutch-speaking Flanders until 1678, when it was annexed by the French crown. Although the language shift process started almost immediately it only gained momentum after the French Revolution, as a consequence of a deliberate Frenchification policy and legislation on the part of the French authorities. Recent inquiries and research reveal that we are currently witnessing the ultimate stages of language loss, preceding the complete extinction of Dutch as a native language in France. The final part of the paper attempts to sketch the theoretical language-incontact framework, breaking down the chronological evolution into diglossic, bilingual and (almost) monolingual phases, taking into account the geographic, social and functional variables by which language shift and loss is characterised

Flemish · Language change · Language planning · Language policy · Language shift · Linguistics · Neuroscience of multilingualism · Sketch · Sociology · Computer Science · Gender Studies in Language · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity

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