A historical survey of French regional language legislation and analysis of the present state of the seven regional idioms in education, media, and government are used to illustrate the languages' severe persecution and contamination. Organizations promoting the less-used languages and the upcoming barrier-free European market accord are…

The theory and practice of assistance to speech communities whose native languages are threatened are examined. The discussion focuses on why most efforts to reverse language shift are unsuccessful or even harmful, diagnosing difficulties and prescribing alternatives based on a combination of ethnolinguistic, sociocultural, and econotechnical…