The “uncanny valley” of France’s regional languages Investigating attitudes and perceived distance from French
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Abstract
France is home to a variety of regional languages that enjoy differing levels of public and institutional support. While some have an established presence in education and society, others are often not considered languages at all. This study is the first quantitative investigation into the observation that the regional languages considered similar to French are typically seen as less prestigious than those which are clearly distinct from it. To evaluate this, the results of a survey measuring perceived linguistic distance are compared with those of a survey collecting language attitudes, each with data from 100 French participants. Results show a significant correlation between perceived proximity to French and negative attitudes, suggesting an “uncanny valley” effect that has implications for minority language revitalization efforts, especially for contested languages both in France and around the world. These findings provide evidence that minoritized languages' perceived proximity to a dominant majority language may negatively affect public attitudes toward those languages, even when attitudes judgements are based on the sound of the language alone.
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