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Abstract
Globalisation processes, often accused of imposing uniformity the world over, also open up opportunities for minorities (including linguistic ones) to exploit a variety of spaces for self-definition and self-expression. The expansion in the use of minority languages in public signage is one consequence of this present phase of reorientation in normative space. On one level, the appearance of the Breton language in more and more public places in Brittany has been welcomed by language activists as a step forward, but on another level, such tokenism has not necessarily led to an expansion in the public use of the language on a more informal basis. This paper explores the effect of the symbolic use of the language on young Breton speakers being educated in immersion and bilingual schools in one town in Brittany and the dynamic that results from their encountering Breton in one establishment that has come to encapsulate ‘High Modernity’ the world over.