French Revolution Influence On American Culture

Language is the most powerful tool humans possess for influencing change. Throughout history, countless languages have disappeared, evolved, and emerged to keep pace with the changing world, reflecting the progress of human civilization. The relationship between the history of politics and linguistics of any nation is an intricate one, though the case of France is exceptional. French society has always supported the notion of prescriptivism, or the view that there is one correct way to use a particular language (Fagyal, Kibbee, & Jenkins, 2010). Accordingly, France has implemented and maintained, for several centuries, the strictest language policy of any country in the world. The French Revolution can be considered a catalyst in the movement

Major regional languages including Alsatian and Breton were used on the borders of Francia, while the dialect of Francien was employed in Paris, the capital and geographic center of the region (Lodge, 2013). Throughout the Middle Ages, Latin remained the dominant language for scientific and religious works, though the French dialects became more common in the realm of popular literature, inducing a diglossic situation throughout France (Ayres-Bennett, 2006). In the south, Occitan culture flourished from the 12th through the 14th century. The work of Troubadours, composers and performers of medieval literature, spread the language and culture of Occitan throughout the southern region and beyond. Occitan is considered the first literary language in Europe since Roman times, and the work of the Troubadours inspired famous writers such as Chaucer and Dante in the late Middle Ages (Ayres-Bennett,

At this point in time, the standard in Paris had not yet replaced the dialects spoken by the majority of the country, considering the spread of information was slow and provinces hardly interacted with one another. Near the start of the Revolution in 1790, though, the primary concern of revolutionaries was the liberation of the French people in all aspects of life. For this reason, the use of all languages in France was initially permitted, though this liberation was short-lived (Lartichaux, 1977). Soon after, revolutionaries realized that the Revolution could not succeed in establishing a democracy without unifying their people under one single language, so they reversed their agenda. By 1793, the aim of the Revolution - to create one indivisible Republic - encompassed the sphere of language, in that anyone who failed to use the French vernacular was deemed an enemy of the Revolution (Lartichaux,