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How come we still speak Occitan, Breton, etc.? How is it that the enormous disproportion of apparatus and prestige has not wiped out the so-called regional languages more quickly? It seems difficult to credit this (relative) persistence to the renaissantist movements, the defenders of these languages. The fact that, with the specific exception of Alsace-Lorraine, the language question (or a language question) has never been a major public issue in France attests to their powerlessness. Barring a major cataclysm, it is difficult to imagine that Occitan could be established today in the same terms as French has been. The only realistic approach is to analyse the foundations of French linguistic ideology in order to bring out an Occitan, a possible Breton.