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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 December 2020
Abstract
This chapter describes the linguistic situation in France where French was the royal and administrative language. During the seventeenth century, some authors asserted that the power of Louis XIV would encourage the progress of French as an international language. The presence of the French Huguenots throughout Europe may also have been an important element of this linguistic feature. The use of French became common among European princes as a useful instrument for international negotiations. The evolution of French during Louis XIV's reign towards a simpler and poorer language helped the diplomatic sphere to choose it as the most suitable means of communication. Even some treaties were written in French then, without any political consequence but as a common language for princes and diplomats.
Keywords: Europe seventeenth–eighteenth centuries, French language and diplomacy, international congresses, negotiations, international treaties, Society of Princes, Huguenots
Les études récentes invitent à une grande prudence à propos de l’universalité de la langue française en Europe au seizième et au dix-septième siècles. Cette affirmation d’écrivains français ou de langue française sert surtout à valoriser leurs travaux et leur maîtrise en la matière. Elle suscite une réaction des fiertés nationales qui se révoltent face à une telle prétention.
L’histoire de la langue s’est construite au dix-neuvième siècle dans une perspective nationale voire nationaliste, et les historiens ont souvent repris sans hésiter des conclusions sans nuances. À leurs yeux, le poids historique de la langue servirait ainsi à mesurer la puissance d’une nation, dans le passé comme dans le présent.
si les débats sont aujourd’hui moins intenses, ils renaissent volontiers. Alors qu’un auteur français a évoqué le temps où l’Europe parlait français, des historiens ont repris l’examen des faits dans le domaine politique.
La nation française et les langues
Le regard porté sur la langue a une histoire et il ne faut pas considérer la réalité du passé avec les idées nées au dix-neuvième siècle autour de la nation dont la langue constitue la principale caractéristique. Celle-ci est devenue alors l’acteur essentiel des relations internationales à travers l’État-nation. Aujourd’hui, alors que l’idée nationale, au moins en Europe, se transforme à mesure que se renforce l’union européenne, l’approche scientifique échappe à ces cadres idéologiques.
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