Résilience langagière et émancipation

Abstract

While linguistic insecurity is a common topic in francophone minority discourse, it is also important to examine where it stems from and how it interacts with other contexts of linguistic adversity, such as glottophobia and linguicism. Contexts such as these stem from linguistic hierarchies, which are often expressions of symbolic domination. We propose that language resilience serves as an expression of the capacity of minoritized individuals to act in contexts of symbolic domination, particularly in contexts of linguicism, glottophobia, or linguistic insecurity. This process requires the involvement of cooccurring systems, and the mobilisation of internal and external resources. The ultimate goal of linguistic resilience is to achieve a state of linguistic well-being. We suggest considering an emancipatory language resilience as a way to counter symbolic domination, both of and by francophones, and to avoid the risk that a subgroup of the French minority attains linguistic well-being at the expense of another’s.