Yet the Socialist-led government's decision to adopt a mere 39 of the 98 clauses of the European Charter on Regional and Minority Languages has set off a wave of nationalist passion transcending party loyalties and provoking the first serious clash between France's Gaullist president, Jacques Chirac, and his Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin, in two years of surprisingly harmonious cohabitation.
ECONOMIST: The French language: Our lingo, by jingo | The