‘An army of mutes in disguise’ languages and transnational resistance in France during the Second World War

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article, which uses the resistance in France as a case study, is to study the role of languages in irregular armed groups with great ethnic and linguistic diversity. France was the country where the role of foreigners in confronting the Nazi occupation was the most diverse and intense during WWII. In this linguistic and ethnic melting-pot, organizing the Resistance was hugely difficult. This article analyses the different ways in which foreign members of the Resistance in France carried out underground work, overcame language barriers, and managed multilingualism.

El objetivo de este artículo, el cual usa la resistencia en Francia como estudio de caso, es analizar el rol de las lenguas en grupos armados irregulares con gran diversidad étnica y lingüística. Francia fue el país donde el papel de los extranjeros en la confrontación de la ocupación nazi fue más diverso e intenso durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. En este crisol lingüístico y étnico la organización de la resistencia fue muy compleja. Este artículo analiza las diferentes formas en las que los miembros extranjeros de la resistencia en Francia llevaron a cabo trabajo clandestino, superaron las barrerlas lingüísticas y gestionaron el multilingüismo.

KEYWORDS:

• Language contact
• multilingualism
• translanguaging
• languages at War
• resistance
• transnational soldiers

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jorge Marco

Jorge Marco joined the Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies (PoLIS) in 2015 as Lecturer in Spanish Politics, History & Society. He did his degree and MA in History at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). He also did a MA in Publishing at the Universidad de Salamanca (Spain).

He completed his PhD on the Spanish Guerrilla Movement against Franco in 2011. Before coming to Bath, he was a lecturer in Modern History in the Department of Modern History at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

He has been Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Visiting Scholar at the University of Nottingham, University of Leeds, and University of Exeter.