Contemporary Projections of French as a World Language

How is French projected among the languages of the world? In what ways can it be counted and used as a world language? What can the study of its representations tell us more generally about the fast-shifting relations between languages today?Ahearne proposes that we distinguish between preponderantly scientific, political and cultural projections of the language. Scientifically motivated researchers investigating the world language system as a whole use French to elaborate models of language ‘galaxies’, ‘gravitational fields’ and ‘genetic feature pools’, to illuminate the ‘edges’ of the expansion of English, and to reflect on principles of linguistic justice. Politically motivated agents, from President Macron of France to the International Organization of Francophonie, have sought new justifications for promoting the standing and spread of the language. Philosophers such as Barbara Cassin and postcolonial writers such as Édouard Glissant, Alain Mabanckou and Michael Roch have unfolded the language’s potential in a different manner. They have let it run free, allowing it to disseminate but also lose itself among other languages of the world. Ahearne explores critically these different approaches to the language, paying particular attention to how different modes of projection are hybridised in the work of researchers, political agents and writers.This book offers a unique multidimensional approach to French as a world language today, combining linguistic, political, philosophical and literary perspectives with long-term historical frameworks and the most recent geopolitical and technological developments. By using French to illuminate the wider global shifts in relations between languages, Ahearne provides a nuanced and critical understanding of world languages systems today.