Page "Breton language" Paragraph 5

The French Monarchy did not concern itself with the minority languages of France spoken by the lower classes, although it did require the use of French for government business.

The revolutionary period saw the introduction of policies favouring French over the regional languages, pejoratively referred to as patois.

It was assumed by the revolutionaries that reactionary and monarchist forces preferred regional languages in an attempt to keep the peasant masses under-informed.

In 1794, Barère submitted to the Comité de salut public his " report on the idioms ", in which he said that " federalism and superstition speak breton ".

Under the Third, Fourth and Fifth republics, humiliating practices aimed at stamping out the Breton language and culture prevailed in state schools until the late 1960s.