Startseite Linguistik & Semiotik Chapter 3 Teaching French in Acadia: From a discourse of linguistic diversity to a standard ideology
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Chapter 3 Teaching French in Acadia: From a discourse of linguistic diversity to a standard ideology

  • Samuel Vernet
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Abstract

This chapter exposes a sociolinguistic ethnographic inquiry conducted at the Université de Moncton in Acadia, a francophone minority region in Canada. The research aimed at studying what variety of French was taught, how, and why. After a contextualization of Acadia, the ethnographic data are presented. Then, the chapter proposes to use the notions of discourse and ideology together to achieve a good understanding of a complex situation where Acadian French practices are both praised and sanctioned by teachers. Discourse is understood as a set of utterances unified by a series of rules and conditions constraining their form and content. These rules are regarded as ideologically determined, leading to a definition of the notion of ideology as a system of beliefs that both emerges from the social structures and shapes them. The chapter concludes by arguing that a discourse of linguistic diversity can be mobilized for the benefit of a standard ideology.

Abstract

This chapter exposes a sociolinguistic ethnographic inquiry conducted at the Université de Moncton in Acadia, a francophone minority region in Canada. The research aimed at studying what variety of French was taught, how, and why. After a contextualization of Acadia, the ethnographic data are presented. Then, the chapter proposes to use the notions of discourse and ideology together to achieve a good understanding of a complex situation where Acadian French practices are both praised and sanctioned by teachers. Discourse is understood as a set of utterances unified by a series of rules and conditions constraining their form and content. These rules are regarded as ideologically determined, leading to a definition of the notion of ideology as a system of beliefs that both emerges from the social structures and shapes them. The chapter concludes by arguing that a discourse of linguistic diversity can be mobilized for the benefit of a standard ideology.

Heruntergeladen am 22.10.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781501513602-003/html
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