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How local is local French in Quebec?

  • Pierrette Thibault
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Social Lives in Language – Sociolinguistics and multilingual speech communities
This chapter is in the book Social Lives in Language – Sociolinguistics and multilingual speech communities

Abstract

Looking at the use of French in Stanstead, a small bilingual community located at the border of Quebec and Vermont, several phonological and morphological variables (ne presence, verbal ending neutralization, /p/ aspiration, and (R)) are analyzed, using a comparative approach. First language French speakers from Stanstead are compared to Montreal French majority speakers, and to Ontario French minority speakers. Second language speakers of French from Stanstead are compared to English-speaking Montrealers speaking French. The possible influence of English phonology on native French is also explored, with reference to earlier work carried out in Sherbrooke, the largest city of the Eastern Townships, the region Stanstead is part of. Attitudes towards bilingualism and code-switching are investigated as possible characteristics of local identity.

Abstract

Looking at the use of French in Stanstead, a small bilingual community located at the border of Quebec and Vermont, several phonological and morphological variables (ne presence, verbal ending neutralization, /p/ aspiration, and (R)) are analyzed, using a comparative approach. First language French speakers from Stanstead are compared to Montreal French majority speakers, and to Ontario French minority speakers. Second language speakers of French from Stanstead are compared to English-speaking Montrealers speaking French. The possible influence of English phonology on native French is also explored, with reference to earlier work carried out in Sherbrooke, the largest city of the Eastern Townships, the region Stanstead is part of. Attitudes towards bilingualism and code-switching are investigated as possible characteristics of local identity.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Introduction: Social lives in language 1
  5. Photos of Gillian: Then and now 17
  6. Biographies of contributors and email addresses 19
  7. Part I. Language Ideology: From the speakers, what can we learn about the language?
  8. Language, mobility and (in)security: A journey through Francophone Canada 27
  9. Language repertoires and the middle class in urban Solomon Islands 43
  10. Land, language and identity: The socio-political origins of Gurindji Kriol 69
  11. "I've been speaking Tsotsitaal all my life without knowing it": Towards a unified account of tsotsitaals in South Africa. 95
  12. Tok Bokis, Tok Piksa: Translating parables in Papua New Guinea 111
  13. Part II. Bridging Macro- and Micro-sociolinguistics
  14. Chiac in context: Overview and evaluation of Acadie's Joual 137
  15. How to predict the evolution of a bilingual community 179
  16. How local is local French in Quebec? 195
  17. Part III. Quantitative sociolinguistics: From the languages, what can we learn about the speakers?
  18. Ne deletion in Picard and in regional French: Evidence for distinct grammars 223
  19. The dynamics of pronouns in the Québec languages in contact dynamics 249
  20. Subordinate clause marking in Montreal Anglophone French and English 273
  21. Mysteries of the substrate 315
  22. Empirical problems with domain-based notions of "simple" 327
  23. Index of names 357
  24. Index of subjects 361
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.24.14thi

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Introduction: Social lives in language 1
  5. Photos of Gillian: Then and now 17
  6. Biographies of contributors and email addresses 19
  7. Part I. Language Ideology: From the speakers, what can we learn about the language?
  8. Language, mobility and (in)security: A journey through Francophone Canada 27
  9. Language repertoires and the middle class in urban Solomon Islands 43
  10. Land, language and identity: The socio-political origins of Gurindji Kriol 69
  11. "I've been speaking Tsotsitaal all my life without knowing it": Towards a unified account of tsotsitaals in South Africa. 95
  12. Tok Bokis, Tok Piksa: Translating parables in Papua New Guinea 111
  13. Part II. Bridging Macro- and Micro-sociolinguistics
  14. Chiac in context: Overview and evaluation of Acadie's Joual 137
  15. How to predict the evolution of a bilingual community 179
  16. How local is local French in Quebec? 195
  17. Part III. Quantitative sociolinguistics: From the languages, what can we learn about the speakers?
  18. Ne deletion in Picard and in regional French: Evidence for distinct grammars 223
  19. The dynamics of pronouns in the Québec languages in contact dynamics 249
  20. Subordinate clause marking in Montreal Anglophone French and English 273
  21. Mysteries of the substrate 315
  22. Empirical problems with domain-based notions of "simple" 327
  23. Index of names 357
  24. Index of subjects 361
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