Occitania without Occitan. A praxematic approach to the relationship between language and territory
Type de matériel :
61
This article examines the effect of a name on the territory it designates and on the language from which that name is derived. With the triptych language/territory/group so firmly entrenched in current ideologies of territory and language, the (re)birth of a region called Occitania in the south of France in 2016 poses legitimate new questions concerning possible future developments in a language policy favorable to Occitan. Taking the digraph “oc-” as a praxeme, we have undertaken an ideological and historical study of the name “Occitania” in order to show that the link between language and territory cannot be taken for granted, nor can it resolve local conflicts over the construction of meaning. Even when a name conveys a historical legacy that is seemingly inseparable from a language, as in the case of Occitania, the link between them is thus always a point of ideological contention. This article attempts to show how a complex movement toward the depoliticization of the idea of Occitania has led to the separation of the territory from its eponymous language and opened the way to new ideological developments.
Réseaux sociaux