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The Tribune and the Debate on the French Language
The tribune, an opinion piece written by someone outside the newsroom, is a fixture of the French press. National dailies publish them every day, from academics, writers, politicians, professionals and groups of signatories, and they are often where public debates begin. Unsolicited tribunes are sent to the opinion desks of newspapers, which select a small number for publication. The health of the French language is a recurring subject. Some essayists warn of decline, pointing to anglicisms, spelling, the influence of digital communication or the weakening of grammar teaching. Linguists generally respond that all living languages change, that French has always borrowed words, and that English has borrowed far more from French than the reverse over the centuries. They also point out that French is spoken today by more than 300 million people, according to the OIF, the international organization of French-speaking countries, most of them outside France. The conventions of a measured reply are typical of formal French argument: a concession before the thesis, impersonal formulas such as il va sans dire, force est de constater and on ne saurait, figures and sources rather than attacks on the person, and a conclusion that leaves room for discussion.