This chapter explores plural or ‘polynomic’ standards, with special emphasis on the case of Corsica, where a polynomic standard is officially enshrined in Corsican language policy and practice. The principle of ‘polynomy’ is the mutual recognition, by all speakers and writers, of the legitimacy of all varieties of Corsican. Nowhere is this more visible than in orthographic standards, where there is a baseline of sound-to-spelling conventions to be used by writers to write as they speak. The chapter begins with a comparison of the Corsican case with the handful of other contexts in which variant spelling standards are legitimated. The discussion continues with polynomy in school contexts, where the polynomic standard for Corsican is visible to students in allof their Corsican textbooks, but is actively taught to varying degrees. The standard also exists in maximal contrast with French standard language ideology and practice that shapes most of these students’ schools. The chapter then analyses the ‘banal polynomy’ of public signage and webpages in both the public and private sphere, before closing with a critical assessment of the ways in which a polynomic standard both enables and constrains social actors, and its implications for how a minority language is defined and used.

This chapter examines language socialization practices in two Corsican bilingual schools surrounding ‘Call and Response,’ a poetic genre traditionally practiced by expert, male poets. Against the backdrop of language revitalization, ‘Call and Response’ emerges as a strategy that apprentices children to a form of socially recognized and valued linguistic expertise with a high affective and collective cultural content. At the same time, it involves the transformation of the practice itself as it is moved from individual, oral, and improvisational to collective, written, and adjusted to accommodate children’s levels of Corsican competence. The chapter details a researcher–teacher collaboration, tracing the process of text production in the classroom to field trips where the texts were performed. It shows that children are socialized to linguistic practice and to valued social and interactional stances that include the role of “poet” and the ability to engage in a style of joking exchange. It argues that the practices both presuppose traditional forms and create new forms of community around the use of Corsican and new understandings of what it means to be a “speaker” of Corsican.