European regions, whether historically well-established ones or those of recent administrative construction, aim to acquire a legitimacy by means of spreading a genuine image and discourse of their own making. In France, the region Rhône-Alpes, a recent administrative unit where two regional languages are spoken, can but follow the trend. This article sets out to assess the ways in which the regional languages have recently been fitted in the regional council's institutional discourse on identification. The linguistic questions have become part of a carefully balanced discourse evolving around the issues of unity and diversity. The article asserts that those languages are enhanced for the sake of a regional discourse and one definite view of languages that eventually neglects the complex social processes in which speakers and promoters of these languages alike are involved.