The representations of French as part of the linguistic repertoire of young Anglo-Montrealers

Abstract

Examining the linguistic repertoire of the Anglophone community living in Montreal, this article provides an analysis of the representations of the variety of French spoken by the first generation of young Anglophones who had experienced different types of contact with French. The relation between functional competence and usage of French is examined through a qualitative analysis of interviews collected from young Anglo-Montrealers, and an analysis of an attitudinal experiment of Francophones judging the spoken French of Anglo-Montrealers. The results show that lexicon is the most important criterion for Anglo-Montrealers, followed by grammar and phonology. This suggests an implicational scale corresponding to their level of competence and their own perception of their performance in French. However, phonology acts as the most important criterion among the Francophones assessing the L2 French of Anglo-Montrealers. Sociostylistic competence also plays a major role, since Anglo-Montrealers point out the difference between the French they acquired at school and the actual norms of Quebec French, and recognize the need for manipulating stylistic variation. Among the Francophone judges, sociostylistic competence acts as a clue for evaluating the participation of L2 speakers in the speech community.