François Falcʼhun (20 April 1901 – 13 January 1991) was a French linguist known for his theories about the origin of the

Breton language Breton (, , ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic languages, Celtic language group spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albei ...

. He was also an ordained

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

in the Catholic clergy. Falcʼhun was professor at the Universities of Rennes and Brest. Contrary to the mainstream opinion of linguists, Falcʼhun took the view that Breton was derived from the

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

form of

Continental Celtic The Continental Celtic languages are the now-extinct group of the Celtic languages that were spoken on the continent of Europe and in central Anatolia, as distinguished from the Insular Celtic languages of the British Isles, Ireland and Brittany. ...

, rather than from the Brythonic Celtic that were introduced by British migrants. He was accused of using linguistics to promote a French nationalist political agenda.

Theories

Falcʼhun's early work included an edition of the writings of

Jean-Marie Perrot The abbé Jean-Marie Perrot, in Breton language, Breton Yann-Vari Perrot (3 September 1877 in Plouarzel, Finistère – 12 December 1943 in Scrignac), was a priest and Breton nationalism, Breton nationalist who was assassinated by the Communist ...

. He created a particular Breton orthography (known as "university" orthography) which was intended to replace the spelling system known as "Peurunvan", used from 1911 to 1941. His spelling, which does not use "zh", also abandons the Breton "cʼh" convention, introduced in the seventeenth century, and which is even used in the official French form of Falcʼhun's own name. In 1951 Falcʼhun developed his view that Breton developed from native Gaulish, arguing that the incoming Britons encountered a Gaulish-speaking rather than Latin-speaking population, and that the two variants of Celtic merged.Glanville Price, ''The Celtic Connection'', Colin Smythe, 1994, p.7 Criticising the views of

Joseph Loth Joseph Loth (27 December 1847 – 1 April 1934) was a French linguist and historian who specialised in the study of Celtic languages. Early life Loth was born in Guémené-sur-Scorff, Brittany. After his studies at Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, he bec ...

and

Léon Fleuriot Léon Fleuriot (5 April 1923 – 15 March 1987) was a French linguist and Celtic scholar, specializing in Celtic languages and the history of Gallo-Roman and Early Medieval Brittany. Biography Born in Morlaix, Brittany, in a family originat ...

, Falcʼhun claimed that the Vannetais dialect of eastern Breton was almost wholly Gaulish. "I am convinced that the dialect of Vannes, especially in southern

Blavet The Blavet (; ) river flows from central Brittany and enters the Atlantic Ocean on the south coast near Lorient. It is long. The river is canalised for most of its length, forming one of the links in the Brittany canal system. It connects with t ...

, is a Gallic survival, little influenced by British contributions, and other dialects are simply Gaulish marked by the language of origin of the island immigrants".

Controversy

Falcʼhun's views became controversial after the publication of his 1981 book, ''Perspectives nouvelles sur l’histoire de la langue bretonne'' (New Perspectives on the History of the Breton Language), in which his theories were linked to nationalist ideology. It was published in a series entitled "The nation in question", as part of several texts entitled "the critical national ideology of...". These books were published in the context of a struggle against

Breton nationalism Breton nationalism (, ) is the nationalism of the historical province of Brittany, France. Brittany is considered to be one of the six Celtic nations (along with Cornwall, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales). Breton ''nationalism'' wa ...

, which sought to emphasise that the Bretons were non-French. Because of this, Falcʼhun became a hate figure among Breton nationalists. According to his friend

Françoise Morvan Françoise Morvan (born 1958 in Rostrenen, Côtes-d'Armor) is a French writer who specialises in Breton history and culture. She studied literature in Colombes, then at the Sorbonne. Her doctoral thesis was in French literature, discussing the ...

, he suffered numerous "telephone harassment campaigns".Françoise Morvan, ''Le Monde comme si - Nationalisme et dérive identitaire en Bretagne'', Actes Sud, 2002, p 132. Léon Fleuriot has accepted Falcʼhun's view that Breton was influenced by surviving local forms of Celtic, but rejects Falcʼhun's argument that Vannetais is native Gaulish.

Publications

* ''Le système consonantique du breton avec une étude comparative de phonétique expérimentale'' - Thèse présentée à la faculté des Lettres de l'université de Rennes, Rennes, imp. Réunies, imp. Plihon, 1951 * Préface de l'ouvrage "L'abbé Jean-Marie Perrot", du chanoine Henri Poisson, Édition Plihon (1955). * ''Un texte breton inédit de Dom

Michel Le Nobletz Dom Michel Le Nobletz (breton language, Breton: Mikel an Nobletz) (1577–1652) was a vigorous Counter-Reformation missionary active in the west of Brittany, who was responsible for a revival of popular Catholic Culture, Catholic culture. He d ...

.'' (Extrait des annales de Bretagne). Rennes, imprimerie réunies, 1958 * ''Histoire de la Langue bretonne d'après la géographie linguistique'' - T. I : Texte - T. II : figures Paris, P.U.F. -1963 * ''Les noms de lieux celtiques''. Première série : vallées et plaines. Rennes, Editions Armoricaine, 1966, Deuxième série : Problèmes de doctrine et de méthode - noms de hauteur. Rennes, Éditions Armoricaines, 1970 * ''Perspectives nouvelles sur l'histoire de la langue bretonne''. Paris, Union Générale d'Éditions, 1981 * ''Les noms de lieux celtiques. Première série : vallées et plaines. Deuxième édition, revue et considérablement augmentée''. Genève (ville), Genève, Slatkine. 1982. with Bernard Tanguy. * ''Les noms de lieux celtiques. Troisième série : Nouvelle Méthode de Recherche en Toponymie Celtique 1984''. with Bernard Tanguy.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falcʼhun, Francois 1901 births 1991 deaths Linguists of Breton Celtic studies scholars People from Finistère Breton-speaking people 20th-century French linguists