Abstract

This paper seeks to show that the subjectivity inherent within literary works of art can provide data particularly well suited to the analysis of attitudes and ideologies associated with less-used languages. This will be demonstrated using examples from a research project focused upon representations of Breton people in an electronic corpus of the French literary arts between 1539 and 2007. The first part of the paper demonstrates that literary arts and linguistics can combine to contribute to a better understanding of language decline. The second part of the paper examines occurrences of the literary representations of the Bretons, in the French electronic corpus Frantext. The discussion shows the potential of the findings to further the explanation of language decline in relation to language attitudes and ideologies. The conclusion suggests that corpus linguistics can be used not only for the study of literature for also for linguistic purposes.