Languages have no inherent mission or essence.

Evidence

Neither its humanizing function, however (the famous universality of French as the bearer of humanism), nor its concordant predestination to be clear (its pleasurable rationality) stand up to examination. Languages have no mission. This is, however, the sort of learnedly dealt nonsense we have to struggle eternally against in a discourse depriving populations of cultural identity. — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 588

Categorization

• DEFINE: This is the key rhetorical target — the claim of French as clarity-bearer of humanism is dismantled as nonsense.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s strategic essentialism research: Glissant denies any essential nature to a language, which parallels the refusal to let identity (or language) be fixed as essence. — connects to: Pidgin languages embody Relation negatively by belonging to no single tradition — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 477; Shared language and culture do not constitute belonging to a nation.; A language’s supposed intangible unity is an outmoded principle, not a reality — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 614 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Shared language and culture do not constitute belonging to a nation. #expands (0.85)
• A language’s supposed intangible unity is an outmoded principle, not a reality #corroborates (0.82) — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 614
• People need culture generally but not allegiance to any single cultural framework. #expands (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 924