Labbé, Bleuenn <br/><br/>
Devalued languages and identity repression among adolescents 

 -  2022.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 75 
<br/><br/> Numerous languages have been denigrated or prohibited in contexts of cultural repression. This is the case of Tamil in Sri Lanka and Chechen in the Chechen Republic, and previously of Breton in France. The aim of this article is to reflect upon clinical cases, based on their current (or historical) impact on teenagers descending from those cultures. The feeling of shame, of anxiety surrounding loss, and of transgenerational loyalty can be observed in the course of these young people’s therapy sessions as they face painful identity conflicts. Their language seems to be structured on the cleavage between two cultures, which are associated with cultural affiliations themselves experienced as irreconcilable. Thus, the reception and treatment of these teenagers begins with the acknowledgment of their pain, which they try to express in the repressed words of their original language. This entails the need to take into account the past of languages, here and elsewhere, and to evaluate the consequences of suppression or assimilation.