El decreto de Nueva Planta de 1716 que impuso el castellano en la administración de Cataluña parece tímido y casi vergonzante si se compara con el Decreto de Thermidor que prohibió, con penas de destitución y 6 meses de cárcel, utilizar cualquier otro idioma que no fuera el francés
Vía @TheStockholmIDX
Prior to the French Revolution, French kings did not take a strong position on the language spoken by their subjects. However, in sweeping away the old provinces, parlements and laws, the Revolution strengthened the unified system of administration across the state.The new idea was expounded in the "Rapport sur la Nécessité et les Moyens d'anéantir les Patois et d'universaliser l'Usage de la Langue française". Its author, Henri Grégoire, deplored that only 3 million of the 25 million inhabitants of France spoke a pure French.The report resulted the same year four laws which stated that the only language tolerated in France in public life and in schools would be French. Within two years, the French language had become the symbol of the national unity of the French State.The decree of 2 Thermidor (July 20, 1794):
Article 1. As from the date of publication of this Act, no public act shall be written in any part of the territory of the Republic except in the French language.Article 2. After the month following the publication of this law, no act may be registered, even under private signature, if it is not written in French.Article 3. Every official or public officer, every agent of the Government who, from the date of the publication of this law, shall draw up, write or subscribe, in the exercise of his functions, minutes, judgments, contracts or other acts generally designed...in idioms or languages other than French, will be brought before the court of correctional police of his residence, sentenced to six months of imprisonment, and dismissed.Article 4. The same penalty shall be applied against any recipient of the registration fee who, after the month of the publication of this Act, will record acts, even under private seal, written in idioms or languages other than French.Today, according to Article 2 of the constitution of France, French is the official language in the country, which is used as the first language by 88% of the population. A revision of the French Constitution creating recognition of regional languages was implemented in 2008.The endangered languages in the country include Auvergnat, Gallo, Basque, and Breton among others. Some of the endangered languages such as Basque and Auvergnat have less than 100,000 native speakers in the country.
