Breton-speaking French soldiers

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Bart150
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Breton-speaking French soldiers

#1

Post by Bart150 » 14 Jan 2018, 21:01

Before the First World War many inhabitants of Brittany spoke only Breton, not French. I read somewhere that in 1914 it was found that in certain units of the French army that were recruited from Brittany many of the soldiers could not follow orders since they understood no French.

I’m wondering if anybody has any source for more about this interesting phenomenon.

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Terry Duncan
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Re: Breton-speaking French soldiers

#2

Post by Terry Duncan » 14 Jan 2018, 23:59

I am not sure if it was Barbara Tuchman who mentioned it, but when the mobilisation order was issued in 1914 there were Breton natives who couldn't read the mobilisation notices and were only sent to their units when the authorities made personal contact with them, including some tramps who were oblivious to the fact there even, was a war let alone that they were required to serve in it!


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Re: Breton-speaking French soldiers

#3

Post by The Ibis » 15 Jan 2018, 00:54

Worse. There was a French solider from Brittany who was executed for failing to follow an order given to him in French, which he did not understand.

Bloch complained about language difficulty with Breton soldiers in his memoirs. FWIW, I've seen many passing references to language difficulties in the French army (Ian Sumner's book "They Shall Not Pass," for example), but they paled in comparison to other combatants.
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Loïc
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Re: Breton-speaking French soldiers

#4

Post by Loïc » 15 Jan 2018, 01:07

the so-called "breton" was not spoken in whole Brittany, there were such dialects in Lower Britanny only (western Brittany) the rest with Rennes the capital and (eastern) Upper Britanny the breton was totally unknown and never belonged to the "breton-speaking" area

even if many soldiers from rural France still used their regional patois don't forget that with the Catholic Church more the "black hussars" of the IIIrd Republic obligatory public schools and more 2 or 3 years of military service, in 1914 you have several generations obliged to speak in french and mixed with french-speaking officers and NCO's and soldiers from others areas

of course more you will find a rural illiterate parish more you have chances to find conscripts having a low level or basic french but were are in 1914 not in 1814

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Re: Breton-speaking French soldiers

#5

Post by Bart150 » 15 Jan 2018, 08:52

I have been researching the life of somebody born in Brittany in 1897. From various scraps found here and there I have formed the following understanding:

At the start of the 20th century (and still in 1914) Brittany divided linguistically into two distinct halves: Lower Brittany, roughly the western part, and Upper Brittany, the eastern part.

In Lower Brittany most of the common people spoke no language other than Breton and most of the rest of the population of the area were bilingual in Breton and French. Breton is a Celtic language, whose nearest relatives are Cornish and Welsh.

In Upper Brittany little Breton was spoken; there most of the common people spoke only Gallo and most of the rest of the population of the area were bilingual in Gallo and French. Gallo is a Romance language, sufficiently different from French to be regarded as a separate language rather than just a regional dialect of French.

The important thing that I DON’T know is whether at that period children in Breton- (or Gallo-) speaking areas went to schools that taught in Breton (or Gallo) or in French.

I didn’t want to complicate things in my original query, but I suppose that whatever difficulties arose with the Breton-speaking soldiers probably occurred with the Gallo-speakers too.


The following is just my speculation, I have no evidence for it.
The Austro-Hungarian empire was multi-lingual. Nobody could possibly be unaware of that fact. Therefore, I suppose, long before 1914 the implications for the multi-lingual army were explicitly recognised, and appropriate arrangements existed to reduce communication difficulties, at least as far as possible. (For example, I suppose mobilisation notices would be sent out in a language appropriate to the recipient.) In the French army the extent of the multi-lingual problem was objectively much less. But could it perhaps be that in the French army the multi-lingual problem had not been acknowledged (for example, mobilisation notices all in French only). Maybe it was only in 1914 when it really mattered that people realised that there actually was a problem here that could cost lives unless something was done about it. Just an idea of mine?

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