Breton dictionaries and contemporary corpus planning: vocabulary and purism in the minoritized languages of France

This chapter investigates issues around corpus planning for the minoritized languages of France, taking Breton as a case study. Much academic work has suggested that language planners and language activists favour a purist, neo-Celtic lexicon over the French borrowings found in the Breton of traditional speakers. This chapter investigates the validity of this claim with reference to two methods of enquiry: firstly, an investigation of the lexicon included in a number of dictionaries and terminology databases allows us to track any changes in attitudes towards neologisms and borrowings over time. Secondly, details from an interview with an employee of the state-sanctioned Breton language planning body allow us to understand more about the official corpus planning process for Breton and how language planners in the twenty-first century may take different approaches from their predecessors.