THE FRANCO-GERMAN LINGUISTIC BOUNDARY IN ALSACE-LORRAINE AND
SWITZERLAND
With the exception of a few districts in Alsace-Lorraine,
the political boundary between France and Germany is also
the linguistic line between French and German languages.
This condition is a result of the modifications which French
frontiers have undergone since the treaty of Utrecht in 1714.
Unfortunately the Napoleonic period and its disorderly train of
political disturbances brought about an unnatural extension of
the northern and eastern lines. France departed for a time from
the self-appointed task of attracting French-speaking provinces
to itself. Between 1792 and 1814 almost all of the territory of
Belgium and Holland was annexed and the eastern frontier extended
to the Rhine. Teutonic peoples in Holland, Flanders, Rhenish
Prussia and the western sections of Hesse and Baden passed under
French control. But their subjection to Napoleon’s artificial
empire was of relatively short duration. The German-speaking people
in 1813 united in a great effort to drive the French across the
Rhine. They were merely repeating the feat of their ancestors
who, at an interval of eighteen centuries, had defeated the
Latin-speaking invaders of their country led by Varus. Success in
both movements was largely the result of the feeling of kinship
based on language. In 9 A.D. the Romans were forced back to the
Rhine from the line they occupied on the Weser. The treaty of
Vienna restored French boundaries to the lines existing in 1790.
French territory was once more confined to the normal boundaries
which inclose members of the French-speaking family. A natural
frontier thus became determined for the country. The union of
Frenchmen into a compact political body was shattered, however, by
the treaty of Frankfort in 1871, when France was obliged to cede
the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany.
The part to be played by the province of Lorraine in the history of
Franco-German relations was laid out by nature itself. The province
had always been a wide pathway connecting highly attractive regions
of settlement. It lies midway between the fertile plains of the
Rhine and the hospitable Paris basin. It is also placed squarely in
the center of the natural route leading from Flanders to Burgundy.
Physically the region was part of France; its inhabitants have
therefore always been Frenchmen, but the lack of a natural barrier
on the east provided a constantly open door for Teutonic invasion.
In particular, the Moselle valley has always facilitated access
into Lorraine. The province was thus a borderland disputed first by
two adjoining peoples and, subsequently, by two neighboring nations.
As a duchy, Lorraine had attained a state of semi-independence in
the tenth century. It then included the three bishoprics of Metz,
Toul and Verdun. From the eleventh to the eighteenth century, the
house of Lorraine furthermore exerted sovereign power over Nancy
and Lunéville. The loosening of the ties of vassalage which united
it to the German Empire grew as centuries passed.
This long period of conflict was necessarily accompanied by
modifications of linguistic boundaries. Glancing back to the end of
the Middle Ages, a slight westerly advance of the area of German
speech may be ascertained for the period between the tenth and
sixteenth centuries.[24] From that time on, however, the regional
gain of French has been in excess of previous German advances.
Toponymic data afford valuable clues to early distribution of
languages in the region. Occurrences of the suffix “ange” which is
the Frenchified form of the German “ingen,” in names lying west of
the present line, show the extent of territory reclaimed by the
French language.[25]
The linguistic boundary in Lorraine assumes a general
northwest-southeast direction as it winds onward according to the
predominance of German and French. About 65 per cent of the area of
Lorraine, at present under German rule, contains a French-speaking
majority.[26] From Deutsche-Oth, the line crosses the Moselle south
of Diedenhofen and extends towards Bolchen and Morhange. The entire
lake district farther south is in French-speaking territory. About
two miles southwest of Sarrebourg the line traverses the Saar.
The Lorraine boundary is attained close to the headwaters of the
same river. A German enclave occurring at Metz is the only break
in the unity of the area of the French language. A large frontier
garrison and a host of civilian officials account for the numerical
superiority of German in this provincial capital.
The fluctuations of French in Lorraine since the eleventh century
have been studied with great minuteness by Witte.[27] Basing
himself on the text of documents examined in the archives of
Strassburg, Metz, Nancy and Bar-le-Duc this scholar succeeded
in plotting the linguistic divide for the years 1000 and 1500.
To these two lines he added the present language boundary as
determined from his own field observations. His method consisted
in traveling from village to village, usually on foot, and
ascertaining personally the predominance of French and German in
each locality he visited.
Between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries changes along this
linguistic boundary appear to have been unimportant. The five
intervening centuries are characterized by a slight westerly
advance of German. From the sixteenth century to our time, however,
the easterly spread of French has been considerable. This change is
particularly noticeable in southern Lorraine, as if to show that
the gap between the heights of the Moselle and the northern Middle
Vosges had provided an outlet for the overflow of the language on
German soil.
Compared with Lorraine, Alsace has the advantage of greater
definiteness as a geographical unit. It is the region of the valley
of the Ill which ends at the wall of the Vosges Mountains on the
west. Its easterly extension attains the banks of the Rhine. This
elongated plain appears throughout history as a corridor through
which races of men marched and countermarched. The Alpine race
provided it with early inhabitants. Barbarians of northern lineage
also swarmed into its fields. Romans subjugated the land in the
course of imperial colonization. The province subsequently passed
under Germanic and Frankish sway.
The entry of Alsace into linguistic history may be reckoned
from the year 842, when the celebrated oaths of Strassburg were
exchanged in Romance and Teutonic languages by Louis the German
and Charles the Bald, respectively. This solemn function was a
precautionary measure taken by the two brothers to safeguard their
territory against the coveting of their senior, Lothaire, to
whom Charlemagne had bequeathed the area which, for a time, was
known as _Lotharii Regnum_, and which comprised modern Lorraine,
Alsace, Burgundy, Provence and a portion of Italy. The main point
of interest in the territorial division which marked the passing
of Charlemagne, lies in the fact that the future division of
central Europe into nations of French, German and Italian speech
was outlined at this period. Strassburg, the chief city of the
borderland between areas of French and German speech, was a
bilingual center at this early date. The versions of the oaths
taken on February 18, 842, by the royal brothers, as handed down by
Nithard, Charlemagne’s grandson and a contemporary historian, show
a formative stage in French and German. The document has been aptly
called the birth certificate of French. Louis the German spoke the
following words in the _lingua romana_, which was then the speech
of Romanized Gaul:
Pro Deo amur et pro christian poblo et nostro commun salvament,
dist di in avant, in duant Deus savir et podir me dunat, si
salvarai io cist meon fradre Karlo, et in adjudha, et in cadhuna
cosa, si cum on, per dreit, son fradre salvar dist, in o quid il
mi altresi fazet; et ab Ludher nul plaid numquam prindrai qui,
meon vol, cist meon fradre Karlo in damno sit.[28]
Charles the Bald used the _lingua teudisca_ as follows:
In Godes minna ind in thes christianes folches ind unser bedhero
gealtnissi, fon thesemo dage frammordes, so fram so mir Got
gewizci indi madh furgibit, so haldih tesan minan bruodher, soso
man mit rehtu sinan bruodher scal, in thiu, thaz er mig sosoma
duo; indi mit Ludheren in non-heiniu thing ne gegango the minan
willon imo ce scadhen werhen.
Ever since this event Alsace has occupied the European historical
stage as a bone of contention between German-speaking peoples and
their rivals of French speech. A year had hardly elapsed after
this exchange of pledges, when the division of the Frankish Empire
between the grandsons of Charles the Great was formally settled by
the treaty of Verdun. Lothaire, the eldest brother, was awarded
Alsace and Lorraine. From this time on, Alsace became a part of
the lands of German speech which form a compact block in central
Europe. In 1469, however, Sigismund of Austria mortgaged his land
holdings in Upper Alsace to Charles of Burgundy who thereby assumed
jurisdiction over the districts affected by the mortgage. The
treaty of St. Omer which contains the terms of this transaction
paved the way for subsequent French intervention in both Alsace and
Lorraine. Accordingly, a few years later, by the treaty of Nancy
(1473), Charles of Burgundy was recognized by René II of Lorraine
as the “protector” of Lorraine.
It was only in the seventeenth century, however, that France
obtained a definite foothold in Alsace and Lorraine. In 1648,
the country won by treaty settlement her long contested rights
in Alsace. The treaties of Nimwegen (1679) and Ryswick (1697)
confirmed Louis XIV in his possession of the major portion of
Alsace. By that time French influence had acquired a paramount
share in both of the border provinces. Lorraine, however, was not
formally ceded to France until the treaty of Vienna was signed in
1738. French sovereignty over Alsace was confirmed again by the
treaty of Lunéville, in 1801, and by the Congress of Vienna in
1815. It was to last until 1871. In that year Alsace and Lorraine
became part of the newly constituted German Empire, the cession
being determined by Arts. I to IV of the treaty of Frankfort.
The preceding paragraphs show that the earliest form of French
and German nationality assumed shape immediately after the treaty
of Verdun and at about the time when the language spoken in these
countries began to present similarity to the forms used at present.
In the partition of Charlemagne’s empire only two of the three
divisions were to survive. The western evolved finally into modern
France. The easternmost became Germany. Lying between the two,
Lothringia naturally became the coveted morsel which crumbled to
pieces in the struggle waged for its possession.
A highway of migration cannot be the abode of a pure race. Its
inhabitants necessarily represent the successive human groups by
which it has been overrun.[29] The Alsatian of the present day is,
accordingly, a product of racial mingling. But the blending has
conferred distinctiveness, and Alsatians, claiming a nationality
of their own, find valid arguments in racial antecedents no less
than in geographical habitation. The uniform appearance of the
Alsatian region strikes the traveler at every point of the fertile
Ill valley, where the soil is colored by a reddish tinge which
contrasts strongly with the greens and grays of surrounding
regions. By race also the Alsatian represents a distinct group
in which the basal Alpine strain has been permeated by strong
admixtures of Nordic blood. The confusion of dark and fair types
represent the two elements in the population. In a broader sense
the Alsatians are identical with the Swiss population to the south
and the Lorrains and Walloons to the north--in fact, they are
related to the peoples of all the districts which once constituted
the Middle Kingdom of Burgundy.
Although sharply defined by nature, Alsace never acquired
independence. Its situation between the areas peopled by two
powerful continental races was fatal to such a development. But the
influence of its physical setting always prevailed, for, despite
its political union with Frenchmen or Germans, the region has
always been recognized as an administrative unit defined by the
surface features which mark it off from surrounding regions. The
influence of topographic agencies has even been felt within the
province. The separation of Lower from Higher Alsace originated
in a natural boundary, formed by a marshy and forest-clad zone
extending from the Tännchal and Hochkönigsberg mountains to the
point of nearest convergence between the Rhine and the Vosges.
This inhospitable tract first separated the two Celtic tribes
known as the Sequani and the Mediomatrici. Later, it afforded a
convenient demarcation for the Roman provinces of Maxima Sequanorum
and Tractus Mediomatricorum. The two archbishoprics of Besançon
and Mayence, both of Middle-Age fame, were similarly divided. The
coins of Basel and of Strassburg point to the subsistence of this
line during the Renaissance, when two distinct territories of
economic importance extended over the region. In the administrative
France of modern days, the departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin
again reveal adherence to the dividing line provided originally by
nature. Finally after the German annexation of 1871 the “districts”
constituted under German authority, with Colmar and Strassburg as
their chief towns, conformed once more with the historical line of
division.
The Vosges[30] uplift has been until recent times the means of
barring intercourse between the plains facing its eastern and
western slope. The chain has prevented communication on account
of the height of its passes, its thickly forested slopes and the
sterility of its soil. The influence of these mountains on European
history deserves contrast with that of the Alps where nature’s
provision of passes and defiles has at all times facilitated land
travel in and out of the Italian peninsula. Primitive wandering
tribes found but scant inducement to settle in the mountainous area
of the Vosges. Pastoral Celts settled in its environing plains long
before they attempted to occupy the rocky mass itself. The Teutonic
tribes which followed the Celts likewise found little to attract
them to the Vosges, and generally migrated southward around its
northern and southern extremity, the former route being that of the
Franks while the Goths, Burgundians and Alemanni invaded France
through the Belfort gap.
Alsace was a province of German speech throughout the Middle
Ages as well as after Louis XIV’s conquest of the land. French
took a solid foothold mainly after the revolution and during the
nineteenth century. An enlightened policy of tolerance towards
Alsatian institutions cemented strong ties of friendship between
the inhabitants and their French rulers. Alsatian leanings towards
France were regarded with suspicion by the victors of 1870, who
proceeded to pass prohibitory laws regarding the use of French
in primary schools, churches and law courts. These measures of
Germanization were attended by a notable emigration to France.
In 1871 there were 1,517,494 inhabitants in Alsace-Lorraine. The
number had decreased to 1,499,020 in 1875 in spite of 52.12 per
cent excess of births over deaths.
Nancy, by its situation, was destined to welcome Alsatians who had
decided to remain faithful to France. The number of immigrants
to this city after the Franco-Prussian war was estimated at
15,000.[31] Pressing need of workingmen in the city’s growing
industrial plants intensified this movement. Alsatian dialects
were the only languages heard in entire sections of the urban
area. Peopled by about 50,000 inhabitants in 1866, Nancy’s
population jumped to 66,303 in 1876. Metz, on the other hand, with
a population of 54,820 inhabitants in 1866, could not boast of more
than 45,675 in 1875. The census taken in 1910 raised this figure to
68,598 by the addition of the garrison maintained at this point.
Altogether it was estimated that, in 1910, French was spoken by
204,262 inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine, out of a total population
of 1,814,564.[32]
The present line of linguistic demarcation in Alsace-Lorraine
rarely coincides with the political boundary. Conformity between
the two lines is observable only in stretches of their southernmost
extension. East and southeast of Belfort, however, two well-defined
areas of French speech spread into German territory at Courtavon
and Montreux. In the elevated southern section of the Vosges, the
line runs from peak to peak with a general tendency to sway east
of the crest line and to reveal conspicuous deflections in certain
high valleys of the eastern slope. Its irregularity with respect to
topography may be regarded as an indication of the fluctuations of
protohistoric colonization.
From Bären Kopf to about 10 miles beyond Schlucht Pass, the
mountainous divide and the linguistic line coincide. Farther north,
however, French prevails in many of the upper valleys of the
Alsatian slope. This is true of the higher sections of the Weiss
basin, as well as of the upper reaches of the Bruche. At a short
distance south of the sources of the Liepvre, parts of the valley
of Markirch (Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines) are likewise French. Here,
however, the influx of German miners, who founded settlements as
far back as the seventeenth century, converted the district into an
area linguistically reclaimed by Germans.
The linguistic boundary in the valley of the Bruche corresponds to
the dividing line between houses of the Frank-Alemannic style and
those of the purely Alemannic.[33] Villages of the Frank-Lorrainer
style, in which narrow façades, flat roofs and close lining-up of
houses are observable, belong to the period of French influence
which followed the Thirty Years’ war and should not be confused
with the former types. In Lorraine the houses are built with their
longest sides parallel to the street. The entrance leads into the
kitchen; rooms occupy the left wing of the building, the right
providing stable space. In some respects this structure recalls
the Saxon houses met east of the Elbe valley. The characteristic
feature of the Lorraine dwelling, however, is found in the
construction of the entrance on the long side, whereas in the
German type of house it lies under a gable on the short side. As
a rule the Alemannic type of house prevails in the mountainous
sections and attains the valleys of the Meurthe. In the Vosges,
Black Forest and Swabia these dwellings are distinguishable by
their characteristic inclusion of all outhouses and barns under
a single roof. In the densely peopled valley of the Bruche the
most important settlements rest on the alluvial terraces of its
affluents. In the upper valley the villages are scattered on rocky
amphitheaters, and here the Celtic type of settlement is oftener
met.
Witte’s studies show that, in Alsace,[34] the delimitation of the
Germanic and Romanic domain is somewhat more complicated than
in Lorraine. Valuable clues are generally afforded by toponymic
data. The Alemanni are responsible for the suffix “heim.” Towns
and villages with names bearing this suffix are restricted to the
plain. The dividing line extends on the west to the sub-Vosgian
foreland and attains the forest of the Haguenau on the north. This
last section corresponds to the beginning of an area of Frankish
colonization having its center at Weissenburg. The suffix “ingen,”
which occurs in place names of southern Alsace, is likewise
Alemannic. It is supposed to correspond, however, to a later
period of settlement. The ending “weiler” accompanies the names of
villages found on the heights.
These data led Witte to assume that the Celto-Roman natives of the
plains were thrust back towards the mountains by the Alemannic
invasion proceeding from the east. The designation “weiler,”
which is also spelled “weyer,” “weyr” and “wir,” indicates the
mountain sites to which the population of the plain was repelled
by the Germanic flow. The Vosges mountains have thus been a place
of refuge against Germanic aggression. Witte’s researches point
to the probable peopling of the Alsatian slopes of the Vosges by
tribes speaking a Romanic language during the invasions of Teutonic
barbarians. The so-called Welsh element appears to be a Celto-Roman
remnant of the population of the locality.[35]
The character of Alsace-Lorraine as a connecting region between two
great European nations is shown also by demographic studies.[36]
Life in the provinces is accompanied by conditions which prevail
in Germany or France. The excess of births over deaths, which
maintains itself on an average at about 10 per 1,000, is lower
than in any other part of the German Empire. The rate of birth
has decreased from 36 to 28 per 1,000 in spite of an increase in
the population. The tendency of the inhabitants to emigrate is
evinced by the large number of uninhabited houses. The decrease
in the native population is largely due to the desire of many of
the inhabitants to emigrate to French soil. In 1875 the proportion
of native-born inhabitants amounted to 93 per cent of the total
population. In 1905 it did not exceed 81 per cent. The strictly
German element had grown from 38,000 in 1875 to 176,000 in 1905.
Fully 90 per cent of these are native-born Prussians. Among them
the teaching of French to children has increased. Molsheim, in
Lower Alsace, and Ribeauvillé, in Upper Alsace, are centers for the
study of French. In recent years German immigrants have become the
preponderant element of the province.
Two methods of indicating the presence of a French element in
Alsace-Lorraine are given in the accompanying map (Pl. II) of
this region. The method of showing percentages according to
administrative districts[37] has been contrasted with the plan of
representing the actual extension of French predominance.[38] In
one respect the map is illuminating. It shows the concordance of
French and German authorities regarding the German character of
the language spoken in Alsace, as well as the French nature of
a substantial portion of Lorraine. The Rhine valley, a natural
region, appears throughout as an area of German speech. The
startling preference of Alsatians for French nationality cannot
therefore be substantiated by geographical evidence. It suggests
the persistent influence of the human will swayed by feelings of
justice and moral affinity rather than by material considerations.
To primitive societies, a river as large as the Rhine provided
almost as impassable a frontier as the sea itself. It had the
advantage of being defined by nature. The boundary was actually
marked on the ground. As frontiers of the Roman Empire, the Rhine
and the Danube proved their practical value by the long period
during which they marked the extent of imperial or republican
domain. The history of oversea colonization indicates the
partiality of colonial powers for rivers as boundaries. It is
likely that in the very early period of man’s habitation of the
earth, the tribes settled on either side of watercourses had little
or no intercourse. As they advanced in civilization relations were
developed. The divisive influence of running waters was therefore
exerted most strongly at the dawn of human history. Later the river
may become a link and finally may attain the stage when it is a
rallying line for the activity and thought of the inhabitants of
its entire valley.
[Illustration:
_The American Geographical Society of New York_
_Frontiers of Language and Nationality in Europe, 1917, Pl. II_
THE FRANCO-GERMAN LINGUISTIC BOUNDARY IN ALSACE-LORRAINE]
The Gallo-Teutonic line of the Rhine was the scene of many a
struggle during the reign of Clovis. In the days of Charlemagne
the dwellers on the right bank of the Rhine were the “gens atroces
et féroces” of French chroniclers. They represented northern
barbarians, the foes of Christianity and of the civilization which
Rome had given to the world. Before becoming a German river the
Rhine flowed in a valley peopled by inhabitants of Celtic speech.
The name it bears is of Celtic origin. When men of Teutonic speech
began to press westward, the river supplied a natural moat which,
for a long period, had formed part of the system of defense
devised by the earlier inhabitants of the land. The strength of
the position is attested by the slowness of Germanic infiltration
on the left bank of the river. To this day the valley province
owes more to France in thought and ideals than to any other
country. The Alsatian temperament has much of that mental sunshine
which Mirabeau calls the “fond gaillard.” This is assuredly not
derived from Germany. His wit is of the true Gallic type--mocking,
and tending to the Rabelaisian; its geniality is reserved for
France and French institutions, its caustic side for Germany and
Germans. It could never have proceeded from the ponderous Teutonic
mentality. Alsatians are French in spirit because they know how to
laugh well, to laugh as civilized men with the cheer that brightens
the good and the irony that draws out in full relief the ugliness
of evil.
The spread of the French language in Alsace after the conquest
of Strassburg by the soldiers of Louis XIV was slow. The French
governors of the province never compelled the Alsatians to study
their language. Up to the time of the French Revolution, French
served as the medium of intercourse in official circles and among
the nobility. The mass of the people, however, retained their
vernacular. Freedom, granted by the French civil administration,
was equally maintained by the official representatives of French
ecclesiastical authority. Religious tolerance in Alsace was felt
notably at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the
province being probably the only one in which Protestant Frenchmen
were unmolested. Moral ties with France were thus cemented by the
extremely liberal character of French rule.
The French Revolution was enthusiastically welcomed by the
democratically inclined Alsatians. This event in fact consolidated
Alsace’s union with France. French military annals of the period
contain a high proportion of Alsatian names. A community of ideas
and interests had come into being. The study of French was taken
up with renewed enthusiasm in Alsace because the language was the
agency by which the new spirit of the time was propagated. It
became the medium of communication among thinkers. The revolution
of 1848 accentuated this tendency. By that time every Alsatian who
could boast of any schooling knew French. This linguistic conquest
of Alsace was the result of sympathy with French thought and ideals.
The German method of imposing the rival tongue was distinctly
different. All the brutality which attends misconceptions of
efficiency among petty officials was given free rein in the process
of replacing French by German. A stroke of the pen on April 14,
1871, suppressed teaching of French in the primary schools of the
annexed territory. In other educational establishments the study of
the language was relegated to the position of minor courses. It is
worth mentioning that Alsace and Lorraine are the only territorial
units of the German Empire in which the study of French has met
opposition on the part of the government. The interest shown for
the Romance language elsewhere in the Kaiser’s land contrasts with
the efforts made to root it out of Alsatian soil.
The unrelenting activity of the Prussian officials stationed in
Alsace-Lorraine has borne fruit, for the use of French by the
inhabitants is on the wane. This is partly due, however, to the
emigration of a large number of native-born Alsatians and the
swarm of settlers brought from other sections of Germany. In one
respect the results of the Germanizing propaganda have differed
from expectations. They have tended to foster the development of
Alsatian dialects as well as the spirit of nationality among the
people. Alsatians preferred to become proficient in their own
tongue rather than in German. At the same time, if Alsace is to
be German, they are united in the desire to see their native
province form part of the Empire on a footing similar to that of
other German states. They apprehend eventual absorption by Prussia
as much as the prolongation of the present “Reichsland” status of
their native land.
The European war brought its train of trials to Alsatians no
less than to other European peoples. French papers contain the
complaints of natives of Alsace and Lorraine serving in German
regiments to the effect that their officers exposed them to the
worst dangers of war with undue harshness. It is not unlikely that
at the cessation of hostilities the number of native-born Alsatians
will have dwindled to insignificant proportion. A plebiscite on the
fate of the province, taken then, might help German designs. But
since a revision of the Franco-German boundary seems inevitable, a
preliminary solution might be found in the abrogation of the treaty
of Frankfort. The final settlement of the problem will be equitable
only when the desires of native-born Alsatians shall have been
taken into consideration.
Beyond Alsace, French and German languages meet along a line which
extends across western Swiss territory to the Italian frontier.[39]
Its present course has been maintained since the fifteenth
century.[40] Beginning at Charmoille, north of the Bernese Jura,
the linguistic frontier strikes east towards Montsevilier,[41]
after which it makes a sharp turn to the southwest as it follows
the strike of the Jura mountains. In this region the historical
division between Teutonic and Latin civilization occurs in the
valley of Delémont through which the Sorne flows. Teutonic invaders
never succeeded in penetrating beyond the Vorburg barrier. East of
the Jura, the line passes through Bienne, Douane and Gléresse. At
Neuveville the valley is French. The line follows thence the course
of the Thièle. With the exception of its northeastern shore all
Lake Neuchâtel is surrounded by French-speaking communities. The
parting next coincides with the line of the Broye river and extends
across the waters of lake Morat. The western and southern shores
of the lake are likewise French. It then skirts the banks of the
Sarine until it reaches Fribourg, which it cuts into two portions.
A strenuous struggle for linguistic supremacy is maintained at
this urban edge of French-speaking territory. Inside the city’s
line, German is spoken principally in the quarters tenanted by
the laboring classes. With the middle classes both language and
tradition are largely French.
In the twelfth century Fribourg had been turned into a fortified
outpost of German power by the Dukes of Zähringen.[42] The city’s
position between the Alps and the Jura favored its selection
for this aggressive purpose. German language flourished under
the shadow of its castles and probably would have taken deeper
root among its citizens but for one fact. At the time of the
Reformation, the Fribourgers decided to stand with the Roman
Church. This decision converted the city into a haven to which the
Catholic clergy of French-speaking Switzerland repaired; and the
Bishopric of Lausanne was transferred to Fribourg, where it became
the headquarters of active French propaganda.
[Illustration:
FIG. 15--The shady arcades and sunny streets of Lugano in the
Swiss area of Italian languages recall the typical aspects of
Italian cities.]
[Illustration:
FIG. 16--The basin of Lake Geneva is an ancient domain of French
language in Switzerland.]
[Illustration:
FIG. 17--Basel in German Switzerland recalls German cities. The
Marketplace and the Government House (on left) are seen in this
view.]
It should not be taken for granted from what has been said that
the cause of French in Switzerland is related to Catholicism.
The case of Fribourg is an isolated one. At Bienne, another of
the cities on the linguistic divide, the growth of French has an
entirely different origin. This city is the center of an important
watch-making district. The growth of its native industry favored
rapid increase in its population. But the new citizens were drawn
principally from the mountainous region of which Bienne is the
outlet. The French-speaking highlanders swelled the ranks of the
city’s French contingent to such an extent that, from numbering
one-fourth of the population in 1888, it had grown to one-third in
1900. The German-speaking farmers of the plains surrounding Bienne,
however, were never attracted by the prospect of factory work.
At present Bienne’s population is believed to be equally divided
between the two tongues.
[Illustration:
FIG. 18--The boundary between French and German in Switzerland.
Scale, 1:1,435,000.]
From Fribourg the line takes a straight course to the Oldenhorn.
Here it elbows eastward to Wildstrubel and attains the Valais
country. In the upper valley of the Rhone, the line becomes
well defined as it coincides with the divide between the Val
d’Anniviers and Turtman Thal. In the Haut Valais the construction
of the Simplon tunnel appears to have affected German adversely and
to have caused an extension of French speech in the region. The
recession of German from the Morge valley to the east of Sierre
lies within the memory of living natives. The linguistic line
finally cuts across the Rhone valley above Sierre and strikes the
Dent d’Hérens on the Italian frontier. In southeastern Switzerland,
French surrounds the uninhabited massif Mont Blanc. One would
naturally expect to find this language confined to the western
slopes of the uplift only. But the inhabitants of Bas-Valais
districts and of the Aosta valley speak French as fluently as the
population of the elevated valleys of Savoy.
The prevalence of French has been shown to be due to the direction
of travel in this mountainous region. The two St. Bernard Passes,
the “Col du Grand St. Bernard” and the “Col du Petit St. Bernard,”
have determined the route along which human displacements could be
undertaken with a minimum of effort.[43] The road encircles that
famous Alpine peak. It has acted as a channel through which French
has flowed into areas of Italian and German speech. This instance
may well be adopted as a classical example of the influence of
geography in the distribution of linguistic areas.
The origin of linguistic differences in Switzerland may be traced
to the dawn of the period that followed Roman conquest. At the
time of Caesar’s invasion of Helvetia, the mountainous land was
peopled by men of Celtic speech. Barbarian invasions put an end
to the uniformity of language prevailing in the country. Romance
language survived in the highlands of the Jura and throughout the
western sections of Switzerland. The Celtic and Latin languages
spoken in the first five centuries of our era gave birth to French.
The Burgundian conquerors themselves adopted this language at the
time of the foundation of the first kingdom of Burgundy. German,
on the other hand, is a relic of Teutonic invasion of eastern and
central Switzerland. In the sixth century, the Alemanni took
advantage of the weakening of the Burgundian Kingdom to spread
beyond the Aar and overrun the attractive lake district. By the
eleventh century they had succeeded in imposing their language on
the native populations of the Fribourg and Valais country. The
reunion of the two states under the reign of Clovis failed to unify
the language of Switzerland. A split occurred again after the
partition of Charlemagne’s dominions, followed by another period of
joint political life until the death of Berthold V of Zähringen.
After this event the consolidation of languages became impossible
in Switzerland. The rivalry of the Alemanni and Burgundian kingdoms
was maintained among Swiss populations. In feudal days, German
Switzerland acknowledged the suzerainty of Hapsburg counts. Romanic
Switzerland, on the other hand, leaned towards the House of Savoy.
That the area of French speech has receded during our era cannot
be doubted. There was a time when French was spoken on the left
bank of the Aar, from its headwaters to below Berne. At three
different periods of history the German language made notable
strides in Switzerland. Its earliest forward move occurred between
the fifth and ninth centuries. Another advance took place between
the eleventh and the thirteenth. The language made further progress
during the religious struggles of the Reformation. Each of these
periods was followed by partial regain of lost territory by French
language. But the French gains fell short of the Germanic advances.
Since the eighteenth century very little variation in the line has
been recorded. A slight advance of French in the nineteenth century
can be traced.
In the minds of Pan-Germanists a significant proof of the progress
of French is seen in cases of the replacement of the word
“Bahnhof” by “gare” at railroad stations--as for example along the
mountainous tract between Viège and Zermatt. They also complain
of the introduction of French words and expressions in the German
spoken by Swiss citizens. To the tourist’s eye the advance of
German in the Swiss villages of the Grisons Alps is indicated by
the red-tiled roofs in the midst of gray shingled roofs. This is
noticeable in the Albula valley where Romansh was formerly the only
language of the natives. Now the old Romansh dwellings with their
low roofs, white walls and narrow windows are disappearing before
the wooden houses of the German settlers.
According to the census of 1910 there were 796,244 inhabitants
of Switzerland who spoke French. This was about one-third of
the country’s total population. Of this number, 765,373 were
dwellers in French Switzerland, which comprises the cantons of
Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, a portion of the cantons of Valais and
Fribourg and the Bernese Jura. The remainder were scattered in the
German and Italian districts of the Republic. Notable colonies of
French-speaking Swiss in the midst of the area of German speech are
found at Berne and Basel. In all, three of the twenty-two cantons
are of French speech. Fribourg and Valais contain French-speaking
majorities.[44] The canton of Tessin with its 140,000 inhabitants
is Italian in language. In Berne the majority of the city’s
population speak German, only 120,000 inhabitants out of a total of
600,000 using French.
The history of Switzerland shows that at bottom neither language
nor physical or racial barriers suffice to constitute nationality.
Human desire to achieve and maintain national independence, or to
establish liberal institutions, depends on will or purpose far
more than on physical facts. Diversity of language never impaired
Switzerland’s existence as a sovereign nation. Racial heterogeneity
in its population likewise failed to weaken national feeling.
Over such natural drawbacks the indomitable determination of
free-born Helvetians to maintain their country’s sovereignty has
prevailed. Frenchmen and Germans have always been warring elements
in Switzerland, but animosity bred by racial differences invariably
disappeared in matters where national existence was at stake. A
bond of patriotism based on common religious and democratic ideals
proved strong enough to overcome divergencies due to natural
causes.
[Illustration:
FIG. 19--View of Dissentis in the section of Switzerland where
Romansh is spoken. This view is taken looking toward the Oberalp
Road. The famous Benedictine Abbey stands out conspicuously on
the right.]
[Illustration:
FIG. 20--The town of Zermatt, which lies within the area of
French language in Switzerland. The Matterhorn appears in the
background.]
The Swiss Confederation originally consisted of the three
German-speaking cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden,[45]
clustering round Lake Lucerne, in the very heart of the mountain
state. The desire to rid their land of Hapsburg tyranny had drawn
together the inhabitants of this region as early as in 1291. In the
ensuing twenty-five years, these mountaineers succeeded in making
their democratic ideas dominant in their home districts. This led
to the gradual adherence of adjoining territories. By the middle of
the fourteenth century an “Everlasting League” had been securely
established in this orographic center of the European continent.
At the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, twenty cantons of the present
confederation were finally rounded out. Of these, fifteen are now
predominantly German.
French Switzerland receives a large number of German immigrants.
In 1900 the number of Germans, both from German cantons and
from the German Empire, was estimated at 164,379. In 1910 this
foreign element had grown to a community of 186,135. The tendency
of these newcomers is to become assimilated. Intermarriage and
social intercourse favor French influence. As a rule the second
generation of these Germans cannot speak the paternal vernacular
and become lost in the mass of its French-speaking neighbors.
The assimilating power of the French Swiss is also observable at
Delémont and Moutier, in the Bernese Jura, where the piercing of
the Weissenstein has brought a heavy flow of German immigrants.
The only localities in which German gains were recorded in the
census of 1910 were Porentruy and the northern part of the canton
of Fribourg. A counter advance of French at Bienne tends to
maintain the balance even. This city had 8,700 inhabitants of
French speech in 1910, as against 7,820 in 1900. In Fribourg itself
the stronghold of Swiss Germanism is found in the university.
The cultural influence of this institution radiates far into the
mountain villages of Switzerland, but its work is offset by the
campaign carried on in favor of French at the universities of
Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel.
NOTE ON CELTIC LANGUAGE IN FRANCE AND ITS RELATION TO ITALIC
A parent language for Celtic and Italic may have flourished at a
yet undetermined point in the Western Alps. Meillet[46] points
to the possibility of a period of common development of their
dialects in view of similarities in the highly ancient forms of
the two groups. In that case, westerly and southerly divergences
eventually led to modern French and Italian. Of the two branches
in which Italic dialects are represented at the dawn of history,
namely, Latin-Faliscan and Oscan-Umbrian, the former alone survived
in noteworthy degree, under the guise of Latin. Oscan-Umbrian
dialects, known by inscriptional remains, gave way before Latin at
the beginning of the Christian era.
Celtic, at that period, had been supplanted by two important
derived languages: Gaelic and Breton, which prevailed for many
centuries. Gaulish, the gaulois language of French writers, was
disappearing fast. The case of Breton deserves particular mention
in the study of the migrations of languages. This form of Celtic
belongs to the British subdivision of its linguistic family. Its
persistence in Armorica is due to immigration from British soil
which intensified the preëxisting Celtic character of the mountain
speech. The inflow of emigrants to France was particularly strong
during the period of Saxon invasions.
Celtic, the earliest language of Gaul, was spoken by the Celts,
whose original home was in northwestern Europe. The British Isles
and continental Europe from Hanover southward to the Pyrenees and
the basin of the Po were colonization areas of the Celts. The fact
that Celtic stands linguistically in the closest relation with
Italic and Germanic may be taken as a proof of its intermediate
geographical position between the two. In the middle of the first
pre-Christian millennium the Teutons’ nearest neighbors to the
south were the Celts. In 400 B.C. Bohemia was probably occupied by
a Celtic people. This country is the easternmost colony of this
group. In these early periods the Elbe marked the boundary between
Teutons and Celts. About 200 B.C. Teutonic speech first attained
the Rhine, having reached the river from the northeast.
Celtic became Romanized after the Roman conquest in the first
century of our era. The _lingua vulgaris_ used by the soldiers
and traders sent to colonize the country gradually displaced
native vernaculars. By the end of the fourth century Celtic as a
language had practically disappeared from the entire country. The
new Romance language had taken such strong root in the land that
successful invaders of French soil were henceforth to adopt it and
abandon their native tongue. Thus Visigoths, Burgundians and Franks
who invaded Gaul in the fifth century forsook their own language
and employed the speech of the people they had conquered. This was
a result of the superior intellectual qualities of the conquered
race. The Franks in particular, a Teutonic people, established
themselves firmly enough in northern Gallo-Roman territory to
confer the name of France to the whole region, although their
endeavors to settle in southern France had been unsuccessful. It
required fully six centuries for the language of the Roman colony
of Gaul to become definitely differentiated from Latin. By the
seventh century the idiom spoken in France was known as Romance or
Romanic.
TABLE I
DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGES IN SWITZERLAND ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF
1910
CANTON German French Italian Romansh Others
Aargau 222,571 1,532 6,197 72 389
Appenzell A/R 56,505 134 1,285 27 68
Appenzell I/R 14,469 32 97 4 6
Basel City 127,491 3,601 4,021 138 1,062
Basel 72,809 1,124 2,548 27 114
Berne 528,554 104,412 12,247 172 2,198
Fribourg 42,634 94,378 1,911 42 586
Geneva 17,456 120,413 12,641 196 5,058
Glarus 31,733 66 1,306 69 120
Graubünden 58,465 838 20,963 37,147 2,441
Lucerne 161,083 1,316 4,808 126 365
Neuchâtel 17,305 111,597 3,747 50 816
Nidwalden 13,329 31 319 5 6
Obwalden 16,738 66 330 28 23
St. Gall 282,722 1,099 17,584 456 967
Schaffhausen 43,795 379 1,712 18 193
Schwyz 56,311 258 1,612 64 60
Soleurne 111,373 2,818 2,570 21 179
Tessin 5,829 1,008 147,790 131 457
Thurgau 125,876 593 8,328 89 291
Uri 20,937 80 1,053 56 15
Valais 37,351 80,316 10,412 16 165
Vaud 34,422 264,222 16,694 220 8,194
Zug 26,406 217 1,454 26 71
Zürich 472,990 5,714 19,696 634 4,601
--------- ------- ------- ------ ------
SWITZERLAND 2,599,154 796,244 301,325 39,834 28,445
TABLE II
PERCENTAGE OF LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN SWISS CANTONS[47]
CANTON French German Italian Romansh Others
Aargau 0.7 96.4 2.7 0.2
Appenzell A/R 0.2 97.4 2.2 0.1 0.1
Appenzell I/R 0.2 99.0 0.7 0.1
Basel City 2.6 93.5 3.0 0.1 0.8
Basel 1.5 95.0 3.3 0.2
Berne 16.1 81.6 1.9 0.4
Fribourg 67.6 30.6 1.4 0.4
Geneva 77.3 11.2 8.1 0.1 3.3
Glarus 0.2 95.3 3.9 0.2 0.4
Graubünden 0.7 48.8 17.5 31.0 2.0
Lucerne 0.8 96.0 2.9 0.1 0.2
Neuchâtel 83.6 13.0 2.8 0.6
Nidwalden 0.2 97.3 2.3 0.1 0.1
Obwalden 0.4 97.4 1.9 0.2 0.1
St. Gall 0.4 93.3 5.8 0.2 0.3
Schaffhausen 0.8 95.0 3.7 0.1 0.4
Schwyz 0.4 96.6 2.8 0.1 0.1
Soleurne 2.4 95.2 2.2 0.2
Tessin 0.6 3.8 95.2 0.1 0.3
Thurgau 0.4 93.1 6.2 0.1 0.2
Uri 0.4 94.6 4.7 0.2 0.1
Valais 62.6 29.1 8.1 0.2
Vaud 81.6 10.6 0.1 0.1 2.5
Zug 0.8 93.7 5.2 0.1 0.2
Zürich 1.2 93.9 3.9 0.1 0.9
SWITZERLAND 21.1 69.0 8.0 1.1 0.8
FOOTNOTES:
[24] H. Witte: _Forsch. z. deut. Landes- u. Volkeskunde_, Vol. 10,
1897, No. 4, pp. 299-424.
[25] L. Gallois: Les limites linguistiques du Français, _Ann. de
Géogr._, Vol. 9, 1900, p. 215.
[26] P. Langhans: Sprachen Karte von Deutsch-Lothringen,
1:2,000,000, _Deutsche Erde_, 1909, Pl. 3.
[27] Das deutsche Sprachgebiet Lothringen und seine Wandelungen,
etc., _Forsch. z. deut. Landes- u. Volksk._, Vol. 8, 1894, pp.
407-535.
[28] Translation: By the love of God and that of Christian people
and of our common salvation, from this day on, in so far as God
shall grant me knowledge and power, I will support my brother Karl,
here present, by every manner of help, as one must, in duty bound,
support one’s brother, provided he acts in the same manner with me;
neither will I ever make agreements with Lothaire which, through my
own will, shall prejudice my brother Karl here present.
[29] Anthropologic data for the southwestern section of Alsace are
instructive. The generation of a transition type between the short
and sturdy Alpine type and the “sesquipedal” Teuton is observable.
Cf. Ripley: The Races of Europe, New York, 1899, pp. 225-226.
[30] The name has been traced to the generic meaning of forest
through its consonants v-s-g, which are convertible into b-s-k,
the latter corresponding to bosquet, busch, bush, etc. Cf. J. C.
Gerock: Die Benennung und Gliederung des linksrheinischen Gebirges,
_M. Philomath. Ges. Elsass-Loth._, Vol. 4, 1910, pp. 251-274.
[31] R. Blanchard: Deux grandes villes françaises, _La Géogr._,
Vol. 30, Nos. 2-6, 1914, pp. 120-121.
[32] The Statesman’s Yearbook, 1915, p. 972.
[33] J. B. Masson: Die Siedelungen des Breuschtals Elsass,
_Monatschrift Gesch. u. Volksk._, 1910, pp. 350-373 and 479-498.
[34] Zur Geschichte des Deutschtums in Elsass und im Vogesengebiet,
_Forsch. z. deut. Landes- u. Volksk._, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1897.
[35] H. Witte: Romanische Bevölkerungsrückstände in deutschen
Vogesentälern, _Deutsche Erde_, Vol. 6, 1907, pp. 8-14, 49-54,
87-91.
[36] DuMont Schanberg: Die Bevölkerung Elsass-Lothringen nach den
Ergebnissen der Volkszählung vom 1 Dezember 1905 an der Früheren
Zählungen. _Stat. M. über Elsass-Lothringen_, Vol. 31, Stat. Bur.
f. Elsass-Lothringen, Strassburg, 1908.
[37] After the language map of Alsace-Lorraine in Andree’s
Handatlas, pp. 67-68, 6th ed.
[38] After Gallois’ map, _Ann. de Géogr._, Vol. 9, 1900, Pl. 4.
[39] P. Langhans: Die Westschweiz mit deutschen Ortsbenennung,
1:500,000, _Deutsche Erde_, Vol. 5, 1906, Pl. 5.
[40] E. Gallois: Les limites linguistiques du Français, _Ann. de
Géogr._, Vol. 9, 1900, p. 218.
[41] P. Clerget: La Suisse au XX^{me} siècle, Paris, 1908, p. 55.
[42] L. Courthion: Le front des langues en Suisse, _Mercure de
France_, Vol. 112, No. 420, Dec. 1, 1915, pp. 636-646.
[43] J. Brunhes: La géographie humaine, Paris, 1912, pp. 599-601.
[44] The French-speaking population of the Valais is estimated at
70 per cent of the inhabitants of the canton.
[45] M. L. Poole: Historical Atlas of Modern Europe, Oxford, 1902,
Pl. 44.
[46] Introduction à l’étude comparative des langues
indo-européennes, Paris, 1915.
[47] Graphisch-statistischer Atlas der Schweiz, Bureau des eidgen.
Departements des Innern, Berne, 1914, Taf. 7.