French Literature Reviews - 2026
C. Canut, Provincialiser la langue. Langage et colonialisme
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics
Cécile Canut
Provincialiser la langue
Langage et colonialisme
Amsterdam publishers
EAN 9782354802325 — 20 € — 320 p. — PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 17, 2021
When colonizing Africa, Europeans imposed their ideological conception of language. For them, linguistic practices could only be understood through the prism of a linguistic order that fostered the rise of an inherently national culture. This ideology resulted in the implementation of genuine linguistic imperialism: alongside the imposition of European languages, missionaries and later colonial administrators shaped "African dialects," categorizing them as such to better relegate them to the bottom of an illusory hierarchy of languages.
While such a vision—promoted by some African elites and reinforced, to this day, by Francophone institutions—has largely survived independence, it has never ceased to be successfully contested. It is precisely from this success that Cécile Canut draws all its theoretical and political implications: by uncovering the biases inherent in the purportedly scientific approaches that dominated the study of language throughout the 20th century, she invites us to provincialise the very notion of language, that skeletal model of a supposed modernity.
Cécile Canut is a sociolinguist and filmmaker, and a professor at Paris University. A specialist in linguistic practices and linguistic imaginaries, her previous publications include Langue, published by Anamosa.
The study of colonial discourse and linguistic imperialism belongs to a broader tradition within Francophone studies, postcolonial theory, and sociolinguistics that interrogates how modern institutions construct cultural and social hierarchies. Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, researchers in these fields have frequently examined the ways in which standardized linguistic models continue to influence political structures, educational systems, and cultural policies long after formal independence. By analyzing the persistence of these hierarchical notions, scholars seek to uncover the underlying assumptions that shape contemporary linguistic policies and institutional practices across various global contexts. Readers interested in sociolinguistics, postcolonial critique, and the historical construction of linguistic categories may find this work relevant to their pursuits.