History of the Breton Language

I thought this was worth posting as there are so many people
interested in Celtic languages who read soc.culture.scottish. In the
last 24 hours SCS has acquired a Breton poster who speaks English, so
it seemed like a good op****tunity to explore our heritages and see how
little we actually differ from each other! In any event, many of us
speak and write French and there are members in all these groups who
speak their own Celtic language.

I've directed this post to the following groups:

soc.culture.scottish,
soc.culture.welsh,
soc.culture.irish,
soc.culture.breton,
soc.culture.cornish,
soc.culture.celtic    

I would have liked to add a group for the Isle of Man, but there seems
to be none. 

If your group wants to be removed, this is a good moment to request it
before this thread starts to build.

Ceud mìle fàilte dhan h-uile fear a tha ùidh aige an aobhar nan
cànanan Ceiltiche! 
A hundred thousand welcomes to everyone who is interested in the cause
of Celtic languages! 
Cent mille accueils à tout ceux qui s'intéressent à la cause de
langues Celtiques!

The following seems to provide as good a place to start as any.  

History of the Breton Language

The history of the Breton language began with the appearance of the
Bretons in Britain in the 6th century BC. These Celtic people thus
came after the Goidels (or Gaels) and the Picts. After the fruitless
attempt of the invasion of Britain by Caesar in 56 BC, it was a
century later (in 60 AD) before the Romans established a foothold on
the isle and subdued the Bretons. Unlike the Celts on the continent
(the Gauls), the Bretons were careful to conserve their language.

From Britain to Armor

After the fall of the Roman Empire, successive waves of Bretons
immigrated to Armor (the coastal region of Brittany) and there founded
kingdoms that soon unified under Nominoe against the Frank enemy (the
Battle of Ballon in 845 AD).

In Britain the Breton kingdoms slowly collapsed under the pressure of
the Saxons, and their battles gave birth to the Arthurian legend.

This ancient Breton language (Brythonic), which was spoken from the
south of Scotland to the mouth of the Loire (from Dumbarton to St.
Nazaire), is thus divided into three branches: Welsh and Cornish on
the isle of Britain, and Breton on the Continent (where Gallic has
disappeared).

From Brythonic to Breton

The history of the Breton language is divided into three periods: 
That of Old Breton before the year 1000 AD. The oldest surviving
manuscript in the Breton language (dating to the end of the 8th
Century) comes from that epoch. It is kept in Leyden (The Netherlands)
and predates by more than a century the oldest text referenced in
French;

That of Middle Breton, from 1000 AD to the 17th century, which saw the
edition of the Catholicon of Jehan Lagadeuc (the first
Breton-French-Latin lexicon in 1499;

That of Modern Breton, illustrated in the 19th century by the
publication of the Barzaz Breiz of Barzaz Breiz of La Villemarque
(1849).

At the beginning of the 20th century, Breton literature was honored
with the names of Malmanche in theater and of Kalloc'h in poetry. Then
the GWALARN movement, founded by Roparz Hemon, became the origin of a
modern Breton literature, with the story writer Jakez Riou and the
novelists Abeozen and Youenn Drezen.

After the Second World War the literary revue Al Liamm took up the
torch from Gwalarn and continued, with others, the publication of
works by new writers.

Modern Breton

In 1908 took place the first orthographic unification, that of the
three dialects of Cornouaille, Leon and Tregor (KLT), whereas
Vannetais kept its way of writing.

In 1941 took place the second orthographic unification with the
Vannetais (KLTG). This unified spelling is used today by the great
majority of publications and teachers of Breton. It is characterized
by the use of zh, in Breizh and brezhoneg for example.

Regulations for Breton in Education

In 1951, the Deixonne law authorized the teaching of Breton, which was
prohibited until then. 

In 1976 the first preschool was created, with a half dozen students. 

In 1994 DIWAN enrolled more than 1500 students from preschool through
high school and foreshadowed the opening of new schools and colleges
by preparing to open a high school. By 2000, the association included
a high school and three colleges.

In 1978 the teaching of Breton was authorized as LV2, then as LV3 in
1982. 

In 1981 the Breton degree was created, and in 1986 the CAPES, but it
was not until 1989 that the creation of the DEUG was obtained.

In 1993 successive French governments, left and right, refused to sign
the European Charter of Minority Languages and to recognize the
linguistic rights of the Bretons.

In addition to Diwan, the students of the bilingual program of the
college Charles Le Goffic de Lannion saw themselves refused the right
of taking history and geography examinations for the college
certificate in Breton.

In the Media

While there are occasionally radio and television broadcasts in
Breton, there still are not channels broadcasting in Breton, as for
example there are Welsh channels in Wales.

On the radio the local channels air several hours of Breton each week,

but without the prospect of expansion.

Television less than one hour weekly, regularly shortened for s****ting
events, is far from satisfying the Breton-speaking public. There are
no telecasts for children, nor for persons learning the language. It
should be noted that France-3 receives more funding from the subsidies
of the general council of Finistre than from the regional council for
the development of these telecasts. The results: nothing. Where does
the money go?

In public life

There is no official status for Breton in the public life. The fact
that all of the governments, on the left or on the right, have always
refused even the idea of a debate in Parliament on an ordinance of
"regional" languages says much about the degree of broad-mindedness of
the public authority on such a subject.

According to the revised Constitution of the Fifth Republic, "French
is the language of the Republic". The Breton language will be
therefore an anachronism of the Old Regime. French (as opposed to
Breton, which does not exist legally) thus benefits from the
protection of the Constitution and the laws, because although all
citizens are equal, one single language is more equal than the others.

The law of 1975 that protects French is used against Breton, as too
until now has been the royal edict of Villers-Cotterets in 1539, by
the republican tribunals of today. The use of the Breton language in
legal and commercial do***ents, as well as in publicity, is against
French law. Bills or posters of festou-noz (festival nights?) in
Breton are therefore illegal.

Outlawed Breton

Breton (and those who speak it) is thus formally outlawed. France,
which recognizes the rights of the ethnic and linguistic minorities
except on its own soil, has always refused to sign Article 27 of the
Declaration of Civil and Political Rights which would obligate it to
respect the linguistic rights of Bretons. Likewise, it refuses today
to sign the European Charter of Indigenous Minority Languages.

The above came from the Breton website Kervarker, which is on-line in
five languages: Breton, French, English, Spanish and German. 
http://www.kervarker.org/

For linguists, the Breton language course is very interesting and
well-explained. 

http://www.kervarker.org/en/lessons_01_toc.html

Murchadh