The ''symbole'', also called ''ar vuoc'h'' ("the
cow
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
"), was an object used by
Francophone headmasters in
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
and
private schools
An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...
in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
,
French Flanders
French Flanders (french: La Flandre française) is a part of the historical County of Flanders in present-day France where a dialect of Dutch language, Dutch was or still is traditionally spoken. The region lies in the modern-day region of Hauts ...
,
Occitania
Occitania ( oc, Occitània , , or ) is the historical region in Western and Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes still used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasse ...
,
Basque Country and
North Catalonia as a means of punishment for students caught speaking
Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
,
Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
,
Occitan Occitan may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain.
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France.
* Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...
,
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
, or
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Generally, the student was supposed to pass the ''symbole'' onto another of his fellow students after catching him speaking Breton, Occitan or Catalan (referred to as ''
patois
''Patois'' (, pl. same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon o ...
''). The student in possession of the object at the end of
recess, the half-day, or the day would be punished with, for example,
manual labor
Manual labour (in Commonwealth English, manual labor in American English) or manual work is physical work done by humans, in contrast to labour by machines and working animals. It is most literally work done with the hands (the word ''manual ...
, extra
homework
Homework is a set of tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed outside the classroom. Common homework assignments may include required reading, a writing or typing project, mathematical exercises to be completed, informatio ...
,
corporal punishment, or organized mockery led by the headmaster.
Nature of the object
The ''symbole'' could be:
* an ordinary wooden
clog, sometimes not hollowed out, worn around the neck
* a
slate worn around the neck. At the
Plouaret
Plouaret (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany in northwestern France. Plouaret-Trégor station has rail connections to Brest, Rennes, Lannion, Guingamp and Paris.
Population
Inhabitants of Plouaret are called ''plouaré ...
public school from 1943 to 1949 students were required to write "je parle breton" ("I speak Breton") on the slate.
* an object to be carried in the pocket, such as a button, toy sabot, or badge.
The purpose of its use was:
* Exclusion of the targeted language (Breton, Occitan...) from school and play;
* Bringing mockery upon those who didn't follow the established language rules;
* to help bring detriment upon students and prevent student solidarity.
See also
*
Welsh Not
The Welsh Not was a token used by teachers at some schools in Wales in the 19th century to discourage children from speaking Welsh at school, by marking out those who were heard speaking the language. Accounts suggest that its form and the natu ...
, in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
*
Vergonha
In Occitan, ''vergonha'' (, meaning "shame") refers to the effects of various language discriminatory policies of the government of France on its minorities whose native language was deemed a ''patois'', where a Romance language spoken in the c ...
, in
Occitania
Occitania ( oc, Occitània , , or ) is the historical region in Western and Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes still used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasse ...
*
Dialect card
A was a system of punishment used in Japanese regional schools in the post-Meiji period to promote standard speech.
During the Edo period under the Tokugawa shogunate most Japanese people could not travel outside of their home domain. As a resu ...
, in
Okinawa
is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi).
Naha is the capital and largest city ...
Bibliography
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*
*
References
{{reflist
Breton language
French language
History of Brittany
Language policy in France
Linguistic discrimination
Linguistic rights
Punishments
School punishments