Beyond obsolescence: a twenty-first century research agenda for thelangues régionales

Abstract

This Special Issue of theJournal of French Language Studiescelebrates a recent surge in enthusiasm for sociolinguistic studies involving the regional languages of France. Taking our cue from the contributions to the volume, which we introduce here, we argue that a changing twenty-first century landscape offers an exciting new agenda for these regional languages (and minority languages more widely), and set out what we see as six key directions for contemporary research.