Standardization(s) and regimentation: Polynomic orthodoxies and potentials

Abstract

Abstract This paper asks how standardization is related to different regimes of language by looking at standardization in a minority language context, Corsica. This regime, which is based on polynomie, a plural ideology of language, was constructed in opposition to the ideological monolingual bulwark of the French State. Through an analysis of signage, institutionally produced websites and other texts, and sports teams banners, I look at how this language ‘from somewhere’ is framed as a) a source of personal speaker identity and legitimacy; b) a right/resource; c) an obligation/constraint and d) as an emblem of a whole (the Corsican language/the Corsican people) defined by the particular kinds of diversity that are recognized in the polynomic system.