From a “cold object of study” to an affective apparatus : How Brigasc became Occitan in order to survive

Lou Gavi, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle

Brigasc is not « a cold object of study » (2008) writes Franc Bronzat, an Occitan activist in A Vaštera, the only journal published in the Brigasc language. Despite being such a small language spoken between the French and Italian Alps, Brigasc is causing much argument since the 1980s because of its linguistic classification. First described as Occitan by Italian anthropologist Pierleone Massajoli (who also created the association and journal A Vaštera) in 1983, following linguistic studies have established its Ligurian descent (Dalbera 1984, Toso 198X, Forner 199X). Yet, most A Vaštera activists and other Occitan activists such as Bronzat still argue for an Occitan descent. They are often said to be opportunists by linguists as a city self-declaring itself as Occitan in Italy grants it state money. By shifting his defence on the affective field, Bronzat opens up interesting new analytical paths. 

It seems then that Bricasc being Occitan matters for the Brigasc activists in ways that cannot be explained by ideology alone, nor by being a strategic choice. Upon reading A Vaštera, it becomes clear that, for the authors, Brigasc has to be Occitan. Drawing on the idea that named languages are institutions which capture and redistribute affect, we may ask ourselves : In which affective regime does Occitan participate as an institution in such a way that it becomes desirable and even mandatory for the Brigasc language to be Occitan? 

In my chapter, I argue that Occitan is a model for Brigasc in the way that it continues to exist. Even though Occitan failed politically because the institution is too weak, it is nonetheless an affective success in that it captures affect (Citton & Lordon, 2008) and activists still fight for its maintenance (Rougier, this volume). In this sense, it is a post-vernacular language (Shandler, 2006) : what is said in Occitan is less relevant than the fact that it is used at all, that is, what it is. I argue here that Occitan, as well as other endangered languages, is above all an affective apparatus, and that Brigasc aims to be the same thing. Following Spinoza’s notion of imitatio : Si nous imaginons qu’une chose semblable à nous et à l’égard de laquelle nous n’éprouvons d’affection d’aucune sorte éprouve quelque affection, nous éprouvons par cela même une affection semblable.

Lacking institutional backup, Brigasc must follow Occitan into becoming an affective apparatus in order to survive as a language-as-object, and it can only be done by being a « chose semblable », that is a language strongly linked to a territory and a people, with a rich literary tradition and production : an object able to generate strong affective responses. As both a recent creation and a quickly decreasing language, Brigasc needs to be instituated in order to generate affects linked to a specific past, territory and ethnicity in order to be transmissible. When the last traditional Brigasc speakers will be gone in a few decades, the affective relationship between their descendants and the language will be what Brigasc is to its full extent. This relationship then is what activists seek to strengthen, with Occitan as their model. 

In order to conduct my analysis, I will draw on ethnographical fieldwork conducted in summer 2023 in Morignole and La Brigue, two Brigasc localities on the French side of the Alps during my Masters degree. I will also use an interview I did there with an A Vaštera activist and written texts from the journal. Finally, I will work on research in anthropology and linguistics on the Brigasc people and language published in the 1980s and after, in order to understand how Brigasc-as-an-object was created and instituted.

This chapter explores how a minority language comes to be instituted, and in turn distributes affects orienting bodies and minds towards a specific path in ways that cannot be fully grasped from a linguistic or ideological standpoint. The use of the notion of imitatio helps thinking of language contact as encounters of affective forces.

Bio: Lou Gavi is a PhD student in linguistic anthropology at Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris, interested in how and why minority languages are made and used. Lou is currently working on linguistic patrimonialisation in museums in the Alps.