French in Canada
Encyclopedia
French
is the mother tongue
of about 7.0 million Canadians
(22.3% of the Canadian population, second to English at 58.4%). Most native French speakers in Canada
live in Quebec
, where it is the majority and sole official language. About 80% of Quebec's population are native francophone
s, and 95% of the population speak French as their first or second language. Additionally, about one million native francophones live in other provinces, forming a sizable minority in New Brunswick
, which is officially a bilingual province, where about one third of the population are francophone. There are also fairly large French-speaking communities in Manitoba
and Ontario
, where francophones make up about five percent of the population, as well as significantly smaller communities in Alberta
, Nova Scotia
and Saskatchewan
. Many, but not all of these communities are supported by French-language institutions.
By the Official Languages Act in 1969
, Canada recognized English and French as having equal status in the government of Canada. While French, with no specification as to dialect or variety, has the status of one of Canada
's two official languages at the federal government level
, English
is the native language of the majority of Canadians. The federal government provides services and operates in both languages. French is the sole official language in Quebec
at the provincial level and is co-official with English
in New Brunswick
. The provincial governments of Ontario
, New Brunswick
, and Manitoba
are required to provide services in French where justified by the number of francophones (those whose mother tongue is French). However, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
requires all provinces to provide primary and secondary education to their official-language minorities at public expense. The French used in Canada is regulated by the Office Québécois de la Langue Française
(OQLF), previously known as the Office de la langue française (OLF).
was initially made by Christopher Columbus
, an Italian navigator employed by the Spanish, followed in 1497 by John Cabot
, a Venetian navigator employed by the English. Their explorations kindled a desire among the European maritime powers to establish permanent colonies in the Americas.
to Cape Breton
. In 1529, Verrazzano mapped a part of the coastal region of the North American continent under the name Nova Gallia (New France
). In 1534, Francis I
, king of France, sent Jacques Cartier
to discover new lands. He discovered the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
, sealed an alliance with the local people and obtained passage to go further. During his second expedition (1535–1536), Cartier discovered the Saint Lawrence River
, a path into the heart of the continent. However, Cartier failed to establish a permanent colony in the area, and war in Europe kept France from further colonization through the end of the century.
, French settlements and private companies were established in the area which is now eastern Canada. In 1608 Samuel de Champlain
founded Quebec City
, and in 1634 the foundation of Ville Marie, the settlement which would eventually become Montreal
, completed the occupation of the territory.
In 1634, Quebec contained two hundred settlers, who were principally involved in the fur trade. The trade was profit-making and the city was on the point of becoming more than a mere temporary trading post.
In 1635, Jesuits founded the secondary school of Quebec for the education of the children. Ten years later, in 1645, the Company of the Inhabitants was created, uniting the political and economic leaders of the colony. French
was the language of all the non-native people.
In 1685, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
by Louis XIV (1654–1715), which had legalized freedom of religion of the Reformed Church, caused the emigration out of France of three hundred thousand Huguenots (French Calvinists), to other countries of Europe and to North America.
in 1713, the British began their domination of eastern North America, taking some territories formerly controlled by the French. In 1755 the majority of the French-speaking inhabitants of Atlantic Canada
were deported to Louisiana
. The Treaty of Paris (1763)
completed the British takeover, removing France from Canadian territory, except for Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
at the entrance of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
The French language was relegated to second rank as far as trade and state communications were concerned. Out of necessity, the educated class learned the English language
and became progressively bilingual, but the great majority of the French-speaking inhabitants continued to speak only French, and their population increased. Anglicization of the French population failed, and it became obvious that coexistence was required. In 1774, Parliament
passed the Quebec Act
, restoring French civil laws and abrogating the Test Act
, which had been used to suppress Catholicism.
, which later became Ontario, and Lower Canada
, which became Quebec.
In 1867, three colonies of British North America agreed to form a federal state which was named Canada
. It was composed of four provinces:
In Quebec, French became again the official language; until then it was the vernacular language but with no legal status.
is now usually viewed as an umbrella term for all of these varieties.
All of these dialects mix to varying degrees elements from regional languages and folk dialects spoken in France at the time of colonization. For instance, the origins of Quebec French lie in 17th- and 18th-century Parisian French influenced with folk dialects of the early modern period
and other regional languages (such as Norman
, Picard
, and Poitevin-Saintongeais
) which French colonists brought to New France
. The influence of these dialects on Acadian French is acknowledged to be stronger than on Quebec French. The three dialects can also be historically and geographically associated with three of the five former colonies of New France
, respectively Canada
, Acadia
, and Terre-Neuve (Newfoundland).
In addition, there is a mixed language
known as Michif
which is based on Cree
and French
. It is spoken by Métis
communities in Manitoba
and Saskatchewan
as well as adjacent areas of the United States.
Finally, more recent immigration (post-World War II) has brought francophone immigrants from around the world, and with them other French dialects.
Quebec
is the only province whose sole official language is French. Today, 81.4 percent of Quebeckers are first language francophones. About 95.0 percent of Quebecers speak French as either their first, second or even as their third language. However, many of the services the provincial government provides are available in English for the sizeable anglophone population of the province (notably in Montreal
). For native French speakers, Quebec French
is noticeably different in pronunciation and vocabulary from the French
of France
, sometimes called Metropolitan French, but they are easily mutually intelligible in their formal varieties, and after moderate exposure, in most of their informal ones as well. The differences are primarily due to changes that have occurred in Quebec French and Parisian French since the 18th century, when Britain gained possession of Canada.
Different regions of Quebec have their own varieties: Gaspé Peninsula
, Côte-Nord
, Quebec City
, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
, Outaouais, and Abitibi-Témiscamingue
have differences in pronunciation as well as in vocabulary. For example, depending on one's region, the ordinary word for "kettle" can be bouilloire, bombe, or canard.
In Quebec, the French language is of paramount importance. For example, the stop sign
s are written ARRÊT (which means STOP in English), even if other French-speaking countries, like France
, use STOP. On a similar note, movies originally made in other languages than French (mostly movies originally made in English) are more literally named in Quebec than they are in France (e.g. The movie The Love Guru
is called Love Gourou in France, but in Quebec it is called Le Gourou de l'amour). Also, Québécois
do not always use the same words as the French. Here are some examples:
In 1977, the passing of the Charter of the French Language
establishes the linguistic policy of Quebec. In his first article, it announces that French is the official language of Quebec. It leads to raise the question of the legitimacy of regionalisms and of the attitude towards loan words.
Two camps set against each other:
Nowadays, the Quebec Office of the French Language appears to incline towards the side of endogenism, while the French Academy seems to incline towards the side of the exogenism.
has recourse to many anglicism
s, which characterize it in comparison with other varieties of French.
The Quebec Office of the French Language’s "Banque de dépannage linguistique" distinguishes different kinds of anglicisms:
The abundance of the anglicisms in the Quebec French leads some people to speak about "Sabirisation", because of the mixture of both languages. The law 101 could prevent the advance of the phenomenon and even postponed it.
In conclusion, according to the Robert Dubuc's article "Régionalismes et communication", for the French-speaking community of Quebec, « il n’y a de salut hors de la maîtrise de ses moyens linguistiques dont le français commun constitue l’armature essentielle et efficace. »
From the semantic point of view, we note the use of the word "pis" for "et", the word "là" to punctuate the end of a sentence or after a word, and finally the use of "à" instead of the possessive "de", for instance, « la maison à Jacques ».
were principally constituted of Bretons, Normans
, Basques, and Portuguese
. Conquered by the English, they suffered massive deportations to the United States
and in most cases to Louisiana
. Others went into exile to Quebec
or to nearby islands. Those who stayed were persecuted. At the end of the 18th century, more liberal measures granted new lands to those who had stayed, and measures were taken to promote the return of numerous exiled people from Quebec and Miquelon
.
The number of Acadians rose rapidly, to the point of gaining representation in the Legislative Assembly
.
Progressively and with little conflict, the Acadians succeeded in recovering a place in their fatherland.
This feeling of identity is also present in Louisiana due to the creation of CODFIL, the Council for the Development of French In Louisiana. The aim of this agency is to develop, to use, and to preserve the French language as it exists in Louisiana.
But it is especially the only place outside the island of Jersey (an Anglo-Norman island close to Normandy) where Jersey language speakers can be found.
, the variety of French spoken in Atlantic Canada
possesses features which are different from those of Quebec French
. It is historically related to Cajun French
.
French is one of the official languages, with English, of the province of New Brunswick
. Apart from Quebec
, this is the only other Canadian province that recognizes French as an official language. Approximately one third of New Brunswickers are francophone, by far the largest Acadian
population in Canada.
According to Albert Valdman in " French and Creole in Louisiana " (1997), the characteristics of the acadian are progressively weakened by the massive contact with Quebeckers.
According to Pascal Poirier (1884: 63), the Acadian pronunciation " gets closer to the pronunciation in the vicinity of Tours and of the France Centre".
According to Raphaële Wiesmath’s work Le français acadien: analyse syntaxique d'un corpus oral recueilli au Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada (2006), some characteristics of Acadian are «la désinence verbale –ont à la troisième personne du pluriel, la palatalisation de –k et de –g (quinze se prononcerait alors avec [ʧ] et gueule avec [ʤ] ) et « l’ouisme » (bonne : [bun] ).» It would principally concern old persons’ oral language.
Yves Cormier’s Dictionnaire du français acadien (ComiersAcad) includes the majority of acadian regionalisms.
From a syntactic point of view, the main point is the use of the "je" both for the first person singular and for the third plural, the same phenomenon takes place with "i" for the third persons. Acadian still differentiates the "vous" form from the "tu" form.
Finally as all other varieties of French in Canada, English influenced the dialect and several words which are similar to the English language can be found, those words are formerly French words used in the English language.
The Acadian community is concentrated in primarily rural areas along the border with Quebec and the eastern coast of the province. Francophones in the Madawaska
area may also be identified as Brayon
, although sociologists have disputed whether the Brayons represent a distinct francophone community, a subgroup of the Acadians or an extraprovincial community of Québécois.
The only major Acadian population centre is Moncton, home to the main campus of the Université de Moncton
. Francophones are, however, in the minority in Moncton.
In addition to New Brunswick, Acadian French has speakers in portions of mainland Quebec and in the Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia
, Prince Edward Island
, and Newfoundland
. In these provinces, the percentage of francophones is much smaller than in New Brunswick. In some communities, French is an endangered language
.
, francophone Ontarians represent only 4.4 percent of the province's population. They are concentrated primarily in the Eastern Ontario
and Northeastern Ontario
regions, near the border with Quebec
, although they are also present in smaller numbers throughout the province. Forty percent of Franco-Ontarian
s no longer speak the language at home. However, Ottawa
is the city which counts the biggest number of Franco-Ontarian
s.
The Franco-Ontarians are originally coming from a first wave of immigration from France
, from a second wave from Quebec
. The third wave comes from Quebec, but also from Haiti
, from Europe
, from Africa
, from the Vietnam
,…
The province has no official language defined in law, although it is a largely English-speaking province. Ontario law requires that the provincial Legislative Assembly
operate in both English and French (individuals can speak in the Assembly in the official language of their choice), and requires that all provincial statutes and bills be made available in both English and French. Furthermore, under the French Language Services Act
, individuals are entitled to communicate with the head or central office of any provincial government department or agency in French, as well as to receive all government services in French in 25 designated areas in the province, selected according to minority population criteria. The provincial government of Ontario
's website is bilingual. Residents of Ottawa
, Toronto
, Windsor
, Sudbury and Timmins
can receive services from their municipal government in the official language of their choice.
Also, there are several French speaking communities on Military bases in Ontario, such as the French speaking community at CFB Trenton
. These communities are founded by French Canadians in the Canadian Forces
who are stationed in Military residences together.
accepts two interpretations. According to the first one, it includes all French speakers of the Ontario, wherever they come from. According to second one, it includes all French Canadians born in Ontario, whatever their level of French is.
The modern franco-ontarian language is close to the Quebec French with some rare exceptions of expressions and pronunciations. We notice once again, the influence of English, with a big recourse to tonic stresses, but nevertheless a French vocabulary is still used.
According to Mr Laurier (1989), the semantic and stylistic value of the use of the subjunctive is progressively disappearing.
In the article «Le français canadien parlé hors Québec : aperçu sociolinguistique » (1989), Edward Berniak and Raymond Mougeon underline some characteristics:
Unfortunately, the use of French among franco-ontarians is in decline due to the omnipresence of the English language in a lot of fields.
in 1583. It is the first British possession in North America
.
In 1610, the Frenchmen become established in the peninsula of Avalon and go to war against the Englishmen.
In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht
acknowledges the sovereignty of the Englishmen.
The origin of Franco-Newfoundlanders is double: the first ones to arrive are especially of Breton
origin, attracted by the fishing possibilities. Then, from the XIXth century
, the Acadians who came from the Cape Breton Island
and from the Magdalen Islands
, an archipelago of nine small islands belonging to Quebec, become established.
Up to the middle of the 20th century, Breton fishers, who had Breton as their mother tongue, but who had been educated in French came to settle. This Breton presence can explain differences between the Newfoundland French and the Acadian French
.
In the 1970s, the French language appears in the school of Cape St-George in the form of a bilingual education.
In the 1980s, classes of French for native French speakers are organized there.
community, centred especially in the St. Boniface area of Winnipeg, but also in many surrounding villages. The provincial government of Manitoba
boasts the only bilingual website of the Prairies; the Canadian constitution makes French an official language in Manitoba for the legislature and courts. Saskatchewan also has a Fransaskois
community, as does Alberta with its Franco-Albertan
s, and British Columbia hosts the Franco-Columbian
s.
Michif, a dialect of French originating in Western Canada, is a unique mixed language
derived from Cree
and French. It is spoken by a small number of Métis living mostly in Manitoba
and in North Dakota
.
, the Northwest Territories
, and Nunavut
. Francophones in the Yukon are called Franco-Yukonnais
, those from the Northwest Territories, Franco-Ténois
(from the French acronym for the Northwest Territories, T.N.-O.), and those in Nunavut, Franco-Nunavois.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
is the mother tongue
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
of about 7.0 million Canadians
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(22.3% of the Canadian population, second to English at 58.4%). Most native French speakers in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
live in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, where it is the majority and sole official language. About 80% of Quebec's population are native francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
s, and 95% of the population speak French as their first or second language. Additionally, about one million native francophones live in other provinces, forming a sizable minority in New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, which is officially a bilingual province, where about one third of the population are francophone. There are also fairly large French-speaking communities in Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
and Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, where francophones make up about five percent of the population, as well as significantly smaller communities in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
and Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
. Many, but not all of these communities are supported by French-language institutions.
By the Official Languages Act in 1969
Official Languages Act (Canada)
The Official Languages Act is a Canadian law that came into force on September 9, 1969, which gives English and French equal status in the government of Canada. This makes them "official" languages, having preferred status in law over all other languages...
, Canada recognized English and French as having equal status in the government of Canada. While French, with no specification as to dialect or variety, has the status of one of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's two official languages at the federal government level
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
is the native language of the majority of Canadians. The federal government provides services and operates in both languages. French is the sole official language in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
at the provincial level and is co-official with English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
in New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
. The provincial governments of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, and Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
are required to provide services in French where justified by the number of francophones (those whose mother tongue is French). However, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
requires all provinces to provide primary and secondary education to their official-language minorities at public expense. The French used in Canada is regulated by the Office Québécois de la Langue Française
Office québécois de la langue française
The Office québécois de la langue française is a public organization established on March 24, 1961 by the Liberal government of Jean Lesage...
(OQLF), previously known as the Office de la langue française (OLF).
Introduction
In 1492, contact with the New WorldNew World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
was initially made by Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
, an Italian navigator employed by the Spanish, followed in 1497 by John Cabot
John Cabot
John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America is commonly held to have been the first European encounter with the continent of North America since the Norse Vikings in the eleventh century...
, a Venetian navigator employed by the English. Their explorations kindled a desire among the European maritime powers to establish permanent colonies in the Americas.
The 16th century
In 1524, the Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano, working for Italian bankers in France, explored the American coast from FloridaSpanish Florida
Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish territory of Florida, which formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire. Originally extending over what is now the southeastern United States, but with no defined boundaries, la Florida was a component of...
to Cape Breton
Cape Breton (Nova Scotia)
This article is about the headland. For other uses, see Cape Breton .This article is about the headland. For other uses, see Cape Breton .This article is about the headland...
. In 1529, Verrazzano mapped a part of the coastal region of the North American continent under the name Nova Gallia (New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
). In 1534, Francis I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
, king of France, sent Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier was a French explorer of Breton origin who claimed what is now Canada for France. He was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "The Country of Canadas", after the Iroquois names for the two big...
to discover new lands. He discovered the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
Gulf of Saint Lawrence
The Gulf of Saint Lawrence , the world's largest estuary, is the outlet of North America's Great Lakes via the Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean...
, sealed an alliance with the local people and obtained passage to go further. During his second expedition (1535–1536), Cartier discovered the Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
, a path into the heart of the continent. However, Cartier failed to establish a permanent colony in the area, and war in Europe kept France from further colonization through the end of the century.
The 17th century
At the beginning of the 17th century17th century
The 17th century was the century which lasted from 1601 to 1700 in the Gregorian calendar.The 17th century falls into the Early Modern period of Europe and in that continent was characterized by the Dutch Golden Age, the Baroque cultural movement, the French Grand Siècle dominated by Louis XIV, the...
, French settlements and private companies were established in the area which is now eastern Canada. In 1608 Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....
founded Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, and in 1634 the foundation of Ville Marie, the settlement which would eventually become Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, completed the occupation of the territory.
In 1634, Quebec contained two hundred settlers, who were principally involved in the fur trade. The trade was profit-making and the city was on the point of becoming more than a mere temporary trading post.
In 1635, Jesuits founded the secondary school of Quebec for the education of the children. Ten years later, in 1645, the Company of the Inhabitants was created, uniting the political and economic leaders of the colony. French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
was the language of all the non-native people.
In 1685, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity...
by Louis XIV (1654–1715), which had legalized freedom of religion of the Reformed Church, caused the emigration out of France of three hundred thousand Huguenots (French Calvinists), to other countries of Europe and to North America.
The 18th century
With the Treaty of UtrechtTreaty of Utrecht
The Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht, comprises a series of individual peace treaties, rather than a single document, signed by the belligerents in the War of Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713...
in 1713, the British began their domination of eastern North America, taking some territories formerly controlled by the French. In 1755 the majority of the French-speaking inhabitants of Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
were deported to Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. The Treaty of Paris (1763)
Treaty of Paris (1763)
The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
completed the British takeover, removing France from Canadian territory, except for Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
Saint Pierre and Miquelon is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France. It is the only remnant of the former colonial empire of New France that remains under French control....
at the entrance of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
The French language was relegated to second rank as far as trade and state communications were concerned. Out of necessity, the educated class learned the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and became progressively bilingual, but the great majority of the French-speaking inhabitants continued to speak only French, and their population increased. Anglicization of the French population failed, and it became obvious that coexistence was required. In 1774, Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
passed the Quebec Act
Quebec Act
The Quebec Act of 1774 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain setting procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec...
, restoring French civil laws and abrogating the Test Act
Test Act
The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and Nonconformists...
, which had been used to suppress Catholicism.
The birth of Canada as a federal State
In 1791, Parliament repealed the Quebec Act and gave the king authority to divide the Canadian colony into two new provinces: Upper CanadaUpper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
, which later became Ontario, and Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
, which became Quebec.
In 1867, three colonies of British North America agreed to form a federal state which was named Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It was composed of four provinces:
- OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, formerly Upper Canada - QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, formerly Lower Canada - Nova ScotiaNova ScotiaNova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
- New BrunswickNew BrunswickNew Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, former Acadian territory
In Quebec, French became again the official language; until then it was the vernacular language but with no legal status.
French dialects in Canada
As a consequence of geographical seclusion and, due to the British Conquest, the French language in Canada presents three different but related dialects. They share certain features which distinguish them from European French. The name Canadian FrenchCanadian French
Canadian French is an umbrella term referring to the varieties of French spoken in Canada. French is the mother tongue of nearly seven million Canadians, a figure constituting roughly 22% of the national population. At the federal level it has co-official status alongside English...
is now usually viewed as an umbrella term for all of these varieties.
- Quebec FrenchQuebec FrenchQuebec French , or Québécois French, is the predominant variety of the French language in Canada, in its formal and informal registers. Quebec French is used in everyday communication, as well as in education, the media, and government....
is spoken in QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. Closely related varieties descended from it are spoken by francophone communities in OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Western CanadaWestern CanadaWestern Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...
, LabradorLabradorLabrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...
and even in the New EnglandNew EnglandNew England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
region of the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and differ primarily by their greater conservatism. The term Laurentian French has limited currency as an umbrella term for these varieties, and Quebec French, somewhat confusingly, is also used. The term Canadian French was formerly used to refer to this dialect specifically, (presumably because Canada and Acadia were distinct parts of New France, and even British North America until 1867), but is now not usually felt to exclude Acadian French. - Acadian FrenchAcadian FrenchAcadian French , is a regionalized dialect of Canadian French. It is spoken by the francophone population of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by small minorities in areas in the Gaspé region of eastern Quebec, by small groups of francophones in Prince Edward Island, in several tiny pockets...
is spoken by the AcadianAcadianThe Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
s in the Canadian Maritimes and some parts of QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
and NewfoundlandNewfoundland and LabradorNewfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
. It is the ancestor of Cajun FrenchCajun FrenchCajun French is a variety or dialects of the French language spoken primarily in Louisiana, specifically in the southern and southwestern parishes....
. Acadian French shares many characteristics with Quebec French, however, differs in pronunciation. - Chiac is a dialect originating primarily out of the Moncton/Shediac area of New Brunswick. It incorporates many English words, sayings, pronunciations and linguistic rules. Disputes have arisen surrounding the legitimacy of Chiac as a French dialect. Chiac has slowly advanced into other areas of Acadia among youth.
- Brayon French is spoken primarily in northwestern New Brunswick, parts of northern Maine, and the Bonaventure and Beauce-Appalaches regions of Quebec. It closely resembles traditional Quebec French in pronunciation but with a unique sound and incorporates a few Acadian words.
- Métis FrenchMétis FrenchMétis French, along with Michif and Bungi, is one of the traditional languages of the Métis people, and the French-dialect source of Michif.-Michif:...
or Métis, along with Michif, is one of the traditional languages of the Métis people, and is spoken in the prairiesCanadian PrairiesThe Canadian Prairies is a region of Canada, specifically in western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political. Notably, the Prairie provinces or simply the Prairies comprise the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are largely covered...
. - Newfoundland FrenchNewfoundland FrenchNewfoundland French or Newfoundland Peninsular French refers to the French spoken on the Port au Port Peninsula of Newfoundland. The francophones of the region are unique in Canada, tracing their origins to Continental French fishermen who settled in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and not to the...
is spoken by a limited population in NewfoundlandNewfoundland and LabradorNewfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
. It is an endangered dialectEndangered languageAn endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....
. - JoualJoualJoual is the common name for the linguistic features of basilectal Quebec French that are associated with the French-speaking working class in Montreal which has become a symbol of national identity for a large number of artists from that area...
is spoken primarily by the working class of Montreal. It resembles but is not related to Brayon French. - MagouaMagouaMagoua , which may derive from a word in an Algonquian language which means loon, is a particular dialect of basilectal Quebec French spoken in the Trois-Rivières area, between Trois-Rivières and Maskinongé. Long before a military fort was constructed there, Trois-Rivières became in 1615 the...
is spoken in the Trois-Rivieres/Maskinonge region of Quebec. It is classified as a dialect of basilectal Quebec French. The name is thought to be derived from Algonquin origins. - Chaouin is spoken just outside of the Trois-Rivieres region of Quebec.
All of these dialects mix to varying degrees elements from regional languages and folk dialects spoken in France at the time of colonization. For instance, the origins of Quebec French lie in 17th- and 18th-century Parisian French influenced with folk dialects of the early modern period
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and other regional languages (such as Norman
Norman language
Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
, Picard
Picard language
Picard is a language closely related to French, and as such is one of the larger group of Romance languages. It is spoken in two regions in the far north of France – Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy – and in parts of the Belgian region of Wallonia, the district of Tournai and a part of...
, and Poitevin-Saintongeais
Saintongeais
Saintongeais is a dialect spoken halfway down the western coast of France in the former provinces of Saintonge, Aunis and Angoumois, all of which have been incorporated into the current départements of Charente and Charente-Maritime as well as in parts of their neighbouring départements of...
) which French colonists brought to New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
. The influence of these dialects on Acadian French is acknowledged to be stronger than on Quebec French. The three dialects can also be historically and geographically associated with three of the five former colonies of New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
, respectively Canada
Canada, New France
Canada was the name of the French colony that once stretched along the St. Lawrence River; the other colonies of New France were Acadia, Louisiana and Newfoundland. Canada, the most developed colony of New France, was divided into three districts, each with its own government: Quebec,...
, Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
, and Terre-Neuve (Newfoundland).
In addition, there is a mixed language
Mixed language
A mixed language is a language that arises through the fusion of two source languages, normally in situations of thorough bilingualism, so that it is not possible to classify the resulting language as belonging to either of the language families that were its source...
known as Michif
Michif language
Michif is the language of the Métis people of Canada and the United States, who are the descendants of First Nations women and fur trade workers of European ancestry...
which is based on Cree
Cree language
Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. It is spoken by Métis
Métis
A Métis is a person born to parents who belong to different groups defined by visible physical differences, regarded as racial, or the descendant of such persons. The term is of French origin, and also is a cognate of mestizo in Spanish, mestiço in Portuguese, and mestee in English...
communities in Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
and Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
as well as adjacent areas of the United States.
Finally, more recent immigration (post-World War II) has brought francophone immigrants from around the world, and with them other French dialects.
Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
is the only province whose sole official language is French. Today, 81.4 percent of Quebeckers are first language francophones. About 95.0 percent of Quebecers speak French as either their first, second or even as their third language. However, many of the services the provincial government provides are available in English for the sizeable anglophone population of the province (notably in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
). For native French speakers, Quebec French
Quebec French
Quebec French , or Québécois French, is the predominant variety of the French language in Canada, in its formal and informal registers. Quebec French is used in everyday communication, as well as in education, the media, and government....
is noticeably different in pronunciation and vocabulary from the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, sometimes called Metropolitan French, but they are easily mutually intelligible in their formal varieties, and after moderate exposure, in most of their informal ones as well. The differences are primarily due to changes that have occurred in Quebec French and Parisian French since the 18th century, when Britain gained possession of Canada.
Different regions of Quebec have their own varieties: Gaspé Peninsula
Gaspé Peninsula
The Gaspésie , or Gaspé Peninsula or the Gaspé, is a peninsula along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, extending into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
, Côte-Nord
Côte-Nord
Côte-Nord is the second largest administrative region by land area in Quebec, Canada, after Nord-du-Québec...
, Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean is a region in Quebec, Canada. It contains the Saguenay Fjord, the estuary of the Saguenay River, stretching through much of the region...
, Outaouais, and Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Abitibi-Témiscamingue is a region located in western Quebec, Canada, along the border with Ontario. It became part of the province in 1898. It has a land area of 57,674.26 km2 . As of the 2006 census, the population of the region was 143,872 inhabitants.-History:The land was first occupied...
have differences in pronunciation as well as in vocabulary. For example, depending on one's region, the ordinary word for "kettle" can be bouilloire, bombe, or canard.
In Quebec, the French language is of paramount importance. For example, the stop sign
Stop sign
A Stop sign is a traffic sign to notify drivers that they must stop before proceeding.-Specifications:The Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals proposed standard stop sign diameters of 0.6, 0.9 or 1.2 metres. UK and New Zealand stop signs are 750, 900 or 1200 mm, according to sign...
s are written ARRÊT (which means STOP in English), even if other French-speaking countries, like France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, use STOP. On a similar note, movies originally made in other languages than French (mostly movies originally made in English) are more literally named in Quebec than they are in France (e.g. The movie The Love Guru
The Love Guru
The Love Guru is a 2008 comedy film, directed by Marco Schnabel and starring Mike Myers and Jessica Alba along with Romany Malco and Justin Timberlake. In addition to starring in the film, Myers wrote The Love Guru with Graham Gordy and produced it with Gary Barber. The film was released by...
is called Love Gourou in France, but in Quebec it is called Le Gourou de l'amour). Also, Québécois
French-speaking Quebecer
French-speaking Quebecers are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Quebec....
do not always use the same words as the French. Here are some examples:
| English | Quebec French | Metropolitan French |
|---|---|---|
| weekend | fin de semaine | week-end |
| parking | stationnement | parking |
| courriel | e-mail/mél | |
| spam | pourriel | spam |
| (to) chat | clavarder | chater |
| podcasting | baladodiffusion | podcasting |
| beverage | breuvage | boisson |
| lunch | dîner | déjeuner |
| dinner Dinner Dinner is usually the name of the main meal of the day. Depending upon culture, dinner may be the second, third or fourth meal of the day. Originally, though, it referred to the first meal of the day, eaten around noon, and is still occasionally used for a noontime meal, if it is a large or main... |
souper | dîner |
The use of the French Language in Quebec
To assure the radiance of French in Quebec, the National Assembly created the following institutions:- the Quebec Office of the French Language(1961)
- the Quebec Toponymy Commission
- the Superior Council of the French Language
- the French Language Service Commissioner
In 1977, the passing of the Charter of the French Language
Charter of the French Language
The Charter of the French Language , also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the only official language of Quebec, and framing fundamental language rights for everyone in the province...
establishes the linguistic policy of Quebec. In his first article, it announces that French is the official language of Quebec. It leads to raise the question of the legitimacy of regionalisms and of the attitude towards loan words.
Two camps set against each other:
| Endogenists: | Exogenists: |
|---|---|
| The Quebec French is as well as the other varieties of French. | The French speakers of the whole world try to avoid regionalism in writings and in formal circumstances. It is also what Quebeckers should do. |
| Standard French Standard French Standard French is an unofficial term for a standard variety of the French language... is an absolute which does not exist. |
Standard French is an absolute and French of France is the variety which is the most similar to this absolute. |
| The Quebec French has his regionalism (quebecisms) and French of France also does (gallicism Gallicism A Gallicism can be:* a mode of speech peculiar to the French;* a French idiom;* in general, a French mode or custom.* loanwords, words or phrases borrowed from French.... s). |
French of France has regionalisms, but much less than Quebec French does. Moreover, regionalisms are only found in the country side or in Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region... outskirts since it is Paris which dictates the French norm. |
| The culture of Quebec beams everywhere in the French-speaking world. It is a sign of its viability and of the faculty that people have to understand the French speakers of Quebec. | If the artists of Quebec write in a language which is not understood of by all French speakers, why would these feel concerned and would they buy products of Quebec? |
| The Quebec French is rather well understood, wherever in the French-speaking world. | The Quebec French is correctly understood only in Quebec and in surrounding areas (Ontario). Making a norm of it would isolate Quebec and could favour the anglicisation Anglicisation Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to... of those who aspire to an international language. |
Nowadays, the Quebec Office of the French Language appears to incline towards the side of endogenism, while the French Academy seems to incline towards the side of the exogenism.
The use of anglicisms
The Quebec FrenchQuebec French
Quebec French , or Québécois French, is the predominant variety of the French language in Canada, in its formal and informal registers. Quebec French is used in everyday communication, as well as in education, the media, and government....
has recourse to many anglicism
Anglicism
An Anglicism, as most often defined, is a word borrowed from English into another language. "Anglicism" also describes English syntax, grammar, meaning, and structure used in another language with varying degrees of corruption.-Anglicisms in Chinese:...
s, which characterize it in comparison with other varieties of French.
The Quebec Office of the French Language’s "Banque de dépannage linguistique" distinguishes different kinds of anglicisms:
- The entire anglicisms are words or groups of loan words from the English Language. The form is often exactly the same as in English, i.e. : "glamour", "short" and "sweet", but sometimes there is a slightly adjustment to the French language, i.e.: "drabe", which comes from the English word "drab".
- The hybrid anglicisms, which are new words, a combination of an English word to which a French element is added. This element (a suffix, for instance) sometimes replaces a similar element of the English word. "Booster" is an example of hybrid anglicism: it is made up of the English verb "to boost", to which the French suffix –er is added.
- Plenty of anglicisms are semantic anglicisms: they are French words used in a sense which exists in English, but not in French. Ajourner in the sense of « to have a break », pathétique in the sense of "miserable" (pitiful), plancher in the sense of "floor" (level of a building) and préjudice in the sense of "(unfavorable) opinion".
- The syntactic anglicisms concern the word order of a sentence and the use of prepositions and conjunctions. The expression "un bon dix minutes", for instance, comes from the English language; in French, they rather say "dix bonnes minutes". The use of the preposition "pour" after the verbs "demander" and "chercher" is also a syntactic anglicism.
- The morphological anglicisms are literal translations of the English forms. With this kind of loan words, every element comes from the French language, but what results from it as a whole reproduces, completely or partly, the image transmitted in English. Technicalité, for instance, is formed under the English influence and doesn’t exist in French. À l'année longue, appel conférence and prix de liste are other morphological examples of anglicisms.
- Finally, the sentencial anglicisms are loan set phrases or images peculiar to the English language. The expressions ajouter l'insulte à l'injure and sonner une cloche are sentencial anglicisms.
The abundance of the anglicisms in the Quebec French leads some people to speak about "Sabirisation", because of the mixture of both languages. The law 101 could prevent the advance of the phenomenon and even postponed it.
In conclusion, according to the Robert Dubuc's article "Régionalismes et communication", for the French-speaking community of Quebec, « il n’y a de salut hors de la maîtrise de ses moyens linguistiques dont le français commun constitue l’armature essentielle et efficace. »
Syntactic and semantic characteristics
In general, the same norms as in common French are applied. Only certain words have a different gender.From the semantic point of view, we note the use of the word "pis" for "et", the word "là" to punctuate the end of a sentence or after a word, and finally the use of "à" instead of the possessive "de", for instance, « la maison à Jacques ».
The use of the 'tu' form
The Quebeckers frequently use the "tu" form. This use is often qualified as the imitation of the English-speaking use of "you", which is the only pronoun referring to the second person, but only in spoken language. There is, however, a movement which is trying to reintroduce the respectful "vous".Conclusion
Finally, the language of Quebec is not universal. Noteworthy differences exist when certain regions of Quebec are compared. This difference is tangible between country and urban regions, but they don’t prevent the understanding between regions.Historical Review
The colonists initially living in the present-day provinces of New-Brunswick and Nova ScotiaNova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
were principally constituted of Bretons, Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
, Basques, and Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
. Conquered by the English, they suffered massive deportations to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and in most cases to Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Others went into exile to Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
or to nearby islands. Those who stayed were persecuted. At the end of the 18th century, more liberal measures granted new lands to those who had stayed, and measures were taken to promote the return of numerous exiled people from Quebec and Miquelon
Miquelon
Miquelon may refer to*Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a territorial collectivity of France**Miquelon-Langlade, the less populous of two communes which are part of Saint Pierre and Miquelon***Miquelon, Miquelon-Langlade, the capital thereof...
.
The number of Acadians rose rapidly, to the point of gaining representation in the Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly is the name given in some countries to either a legislature, or to one of its branch.The name is used by a number of member-states of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as a number of Latin American countries....
.
Progressively and with little conflict, the Acadians succeeded in recovering a place in their fatherland.
This feeling of identity is also present in Louisiana due to the creation of CODFIL, the Council for the Development of French In Louisiana. The aim of this agency is to develop, to use, and to preserve the French language as it exists in Louisiana.
Origins of the language
The linguists do not agree about the origin of the language. The Acadian language is influenced by the oil dialect. Indeed, therein we find, among others, the alveolar r and the pronunciation of the final syllable in the plural form of the verb in the third person.But it is especially the only place outside the island of Jersey (an Anglo-Norman island close to Normandy) where Jersey language speakers can be found.
Some characteristics
Commonly known as Acadian FrenchAcadian French
Acadian French , is a regionalized dialect of Canadian French. It is spoken by the francophone population of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by small minorities in areas in the Gaspé region of eastern Quebec, by small groups of francophones in Prince Edward Island, in several tiny pockets...
, the variety of French spoken in Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
possesses features which are different from those of Quebec French
Quebec French
Quebec French , or Québécois French, is the predominant variety of the French language in Canada, in its formal and informal registers. Quebec French is used in everyday communication, as well as in education, the media, and government....
. It is historically related to Cajun French
Cajun French
Cajun French is a variety or dialects of the French language spoken primarily in Louisiana, specifically in the southern and southwestern parishes....
.
French is one of the official languages, with English, of the province of New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
. Apart from Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, this is the only other Canadian province that recognizes French as an official language. Approximately one third of New Brunswickers are francophone, by far the largest Acadian
Acadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
population in Canada.
According to Albert Valdman in " French and Creole in Louisiana " (1997), the characteristics of the acadian are progressively weakened by the massive contact with Quebeckers.
According to Pascal Poirier (1884: 63), the Acadian pronunciation " gets closer to the pronunciation in the vicinity of Tours and of the France Centre".
According to Raphaële Wiesmath’s work Le français acadien: analyse syntaxique d'un corpus oral recueilli au Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada (2006), some characteristics of Acadian are «la désinence verbale –ont à la troisième personne du pluriel, la palatalisation de –k et de –g (quinze se prononcerait alors avec [ʧ] et gueule avec [ʤ] ) et « l’ouisme » (bonne : [bun] ).» It would principally concern old persons’ oral language.
Yves Cormier’s Dictionnaire du français acadien (ComiersAcad) includes the majority of acadian regionalisms.
From a syntactic point of view, the main point is the use of the "je" both for the first person singular and for the third plural, the same phenomenon takes place with "i" for the third persons. Acadian still differentiates the "vous" form from the "tu" form.
Finally as all other varieties of French in Canada, English influenced the dialect and several words which are similar to the English language can be found, those words are formerly French words used in the English language.
The Acadian community is concentrated in primarily rural areas along the border with Quebec and the eastern coast of the province. Francophones in the Madawaska
Madawaska County, New Brunswick
Madawaska County , also known as the "New Brunswick Panhandle", is located in northwestern New Brunswick, Canada. Over 90% of the county's population speaks French...
area may also be identified as Brayon
Brayon
Brayons are a francophone people inhabiting the area in and around Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada. In French, they are called or feminine , and both terms are also used as adjectives, as in Brayon culture, or .) Given their location in New Brunswick, a Canadian Maritime province, they are...
, although sociologists have disputed whether the Brayons represent a distinct francophone community, a subgroup of the Acadians or an extraprovincial community of Québécois.
The only major Acadian population centre is Moncton, home to the main campus of the Université de Moncton
Université de Moncton
The Université de Moncton is a French language university located in Moncton, New Brunswick serving the Acadian community of Atlantic Canada...
. Francophones are, however, in the minority in Moncton.
In addition to New Brunswick, Acadian French has speakers in portions of mainland Quebec and in the Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
, and Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
. In these provinces, the percentage of francophones is much smaller than in New Brunswick. In some communities, French is an endangered language
Endangered language
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....
.
Ontario
Although French is the native language of just over half a million Canadians in OntarioOntario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, francophone Ontarians represent only 4.4 percent of the province's population. They are concentrated primarily in the Eastern Ontario
Eastern Ontario
Eastern Ontario is a subregion of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies in a wedge-shaped area between the Ottawa River and St. Lawrence River...
and Northeastern Ontario
Northeastern Ontario
Northeastern Ontario is the region within the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and east of Lakes Superior and Huron.Northeastern Ontario consists of the districts of Algoma, Sudbury, Cochrane, Timiskaming, Nipissing and Manitoulin; and the single-tier municipality of Greater...
regions, near the border with Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, although they are also present in smaller numbers throughout the province. Forty percent of Franco-Ontarian
Franco-Ontarian
Franco-Ontarians are French Canadian or francophone residents of the Canadian province of Ontario. They are sometimes known as "Ontarois"....
s no longer speak the language at home. However, Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
is the city which counts the biggest number of Franco-Ontarian
Franco-Ontarian
Franco-Ontarians are French Canadian or francophone residents of the Canadian province of Ontario. They are sometimes known as "Ontarois"....
s.
The Franco-Ontarians are originally coming from a first wave of immigration from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, from a second wave from Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. The third wave comes from Quebec, but also from Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, from the Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
,…
The province has no official language defined in law, although it is a largely English-speaking province. Ontario law requires that the provincial Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly is the name given in some countries to either a legislature, or to one of its branch.The name is used by a number of member-states of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as a number of Latin American countries....
operate in both English and French (individuals can speak in the Assembly in the official language of their choice), and requires that all provincial statutes and bills be made available in both English and French. Furthermore, under the French Language Services Act
French Language Services Act
The French Language Services Act is a law in the province of Ontario, Canada which is intended to protect the rights of Franco-Ontarians, or French-speaking people, in the province....
, individuals are entitled to communicate with the head or central office of any provincial government department or agency in French, as well as to receive all government services in French in 25 designated areas in the province, selected according to minority population criteria. The provincial government of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
's website is bilingual. Residents of Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Windsor
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
, Sudbury and Timmins
Timmins
Timmins is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada on the Mattagami River. At the time of the Canada 2006 Census, Timmins' population was 42,997...
can receive services from their municipal government in the official language of their choice.
Also, there are several French speaking communities on Military bases in Ontario, such as the French speaking community at CFB Trenton
CFB Trenton
Canadian Forces Base Trenton , is a Canadian Forces base located northeast of Trenton, Ontario. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force and is the hub for air transport operations in Canada and abroad...
. These communities are founded by French Canadians in the Canadian Forces
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
who are stationed in Military residences together.
The Franco-Ontarian
The term Franco-OntarianFranco-Ontarian
Franco-Ontarians are French Canadian or francophone residents of the Canadian province of Ontario. They are sometimes known as "Ontarois"....
accepts two interpretations. According to the first one, it includes all French speakers of the Ontario, wherever they come from. According to second one, it includes all French Canadians born in Ontario, whatever their level of French is.
The modern franco-ontarian language is close to the Quebec French with some rare exceptions of expressions and pronunciations. We notice once again, the influence of English, with a big recourse to tonic stresses, but nevertheless a French vocabulary is still used.
According to Mr Laurier (1989), the semantic and stylistic value of the use of the subjunctive is progressively disappearing.
In the article «Le français canadien parlé hors Québec : aperçu sociolinguistique » (1989), Edward Berniak and Raymond Mougeon underline some characteristics:
- the use of the possessive à
- the transfer of rules from English to French (e.g.: « J’ai vu un film sur/à la télévision » which comes from « I saw has film on television », or « Je vais à la maison/chez moi» coming from " I'm going home "
- the loaning of English conjunctions, for instance, "so" for ça fait que or alors.
Unfortunately, the use of French among franco-ontarians is in decline due to the omnipresence of the English language in a lot of fields.
Historical review
The island is discovered by Jean Cabot in 1497. Newfoundland is annexed by Great BritainGreat Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
in 1583. It is the first British possession in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
In 1610, the Frenchmen become established in the peninsula of Avalon and go to war against the Englishmen.
In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht
Treaty of Utrecht
The Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht, comprises a series of individual peace treaties, rather than a single document, signed by the belligerents in the War of Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713...
acknowledges the sovereignty of the Englishmen.
The origin of Franco-Newfoundlanders is double: the first ones to arrive are especially of Breton
Breton people
The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The...
origin, attracted by the fishing possibilities. Then, from the XIXth century
19th century
The 19th century was a period in history marked by the collapse of the Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Holy Roman and Mughal empires...
, the Acadians who came from the Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
and from the Magdalen Islands
Magdalen Islands
The Magdalen Islands form a small archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with a land area of . Though closer to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, the islands form part of the Canadian province of Quebec....
, an archipelago of nine small islands belonging to Quebec, become established.
Up to the middle of the 20th century, Breton fishers, who had Breton as their mother tongue, but who had been educated in French came to settle. This Breton presence can explain differences between the Newfoundland French and the Acadian French
Acadian French
Acadian French , is a regionalized dialect of Canadian French. It is spoken by the francophone population of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by small minorities in areas in the Gaspé region of eastern Quebec, by small groups of francophones in Prince Edward Island, in several tiny pockets...
.
In the 1970s, the French language appears in the school of Cape St-George in the form of a bilingual education.
In the 1980s, classes of French for native French speakers are organized there.
Characteristics of French of Newfoundland
According to Patrice Brasseur’s articles « Les Représentations linguistiques des francophones de la péninsule de Port-au-Port » (2007) and «Quelques aspects de la situation linguistique dans la communauté franco-terreneuvienne» (1995) as well as according to the French Academy, some characteristics of French in Newfoundland can be kept in mind:- the affrication of [k], noted tch or, most often, ch (with the frequent examples of coeur and quinze and cuiller and cuisine),
- the big use of English terms,
- the progressive extinction of the subjunctive form
- the use of septante, octante, and nonante
Western Canada
Manitoba also has a significant Franco-ManitobanFranco-Manitoban
Franco-Manitobans are a community of French Canadians and other French-speaking people living in Manitoba. Most Franco-Manitobans have roots in Quebec. However, many are of Métis and Belgian ancestry while others have ancestors that came directly from France, its former colonies and other...
community, centred especially in the St. Boniface area of Winnipeg, but also in many surrounding villages. The provincial government of Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
boasts the only bilingual website of the Prairies; the Canadian constitution makes French an official language in Manitoba for the legislature and courts. Saskatchewan also has a Fransaskois
Fransaskois
Fransaskois are francophones or French Canadians living in the Prairie province of Saskatchewan. The term franco-saskatchewanian may also be used on occasion, although in practice it is rare due to its length and unwieldiness.-Population:...
community, as does Alberta with its Franco-Albertan
Franco-Albertan
The Franco-Albertans are an extended community of French Canadians or French-speaking people living in Alberta. They are centred in the Bonnie Doon area of Edmonton, and there are tens of thousands of Franco-Albertans living in communities such as Legal north of Edmonton, Bonnyville, Plamondon, and...
s, and British Columbia hosts the Franco-Columbian
Franco-Columbian
Franco-Columbians or Franco-Colombiens are French Canadians or French speaking Canadians living in the Canadian province of British Columbia....
s.
Michif, a dialect of French originating in Western Canada, is a unique mixed language
Mixed language
A mixed language is a language that arises through the fusion of two source languages, normally in situations of thorough bilingualism, so that it is not possible to classify the resulting language as belonging to either of the language families that were its source...
derived from Cree
Cree language
Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana...
and French. It is spoken by a small number of Métis living mostly in Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
and in North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
.
Northern Canada
French is an official language in each of the three northern territories: the YukonYukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
, the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
, and Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
. Francophones in the Yukon are called Franco-Yukonnais
Franco-Yukonnais
Franco-Yukonnais are francophone and/or French Canadian residents of Yukon, a territory of Canada.French has full official language status in the Yukon.-Demographics:...
, those from the Northwest Territories, Franco-Ténois
Franco-Tenois
Franco-Ténois, originating from the acronym TNO of the French term for the Northwest Territories of Canada refers to the widespread community of francophones that reside in the Northwest Territories....
(from the French acronym for the Northwest Territories, T.N.-O.), and those in Nunavut, Franco-Nunavois.
French-speaking communities in Canada outside of Quebec
- Franco-OntarianFranco-OntarianFranco-Ontarians are French Canadian or francophone residents of the Canadian province of Ontario. They are sometimes known as "Ontarois"....
s (or Ontarois) - AcadianAcadianThe Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
s (in New BrunswickNew BrunswickNew Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, Nova ScotiaNova ScotiaNova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
and Prince Edward IslandPrince Edward IslandPrince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
; also present in portions of QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
and NewfoundlandNewfoundland and LabradorNewfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
) - Franco-ManitobanFranco-ManitobanFranco-Manitobans are a community of French Canadians and other French-speaking people living in Manitoba. Most Franco-Manitobans have roots in Quebec. However, many are of Métis and Belgian ancestry while others have ancestors that came directly from France, its former colonies and other...
s - FransaskoisFransaskoisFransaskois are francophones or French Canadians living in the Prairie province of Saskatchewan. The term franco-saskatchewanian may also be used on occasion, although in practice it is rare due to its length and unwieldiness.-Population:...
(in SaskatchewanSaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
) - Franco-AlbertanFranco-AlbertanThe Franco-Albertans are an extended community of French Canadians or French-speaking people living in Alberta. They are centred in the Bonnie Doon area of Edmonton, and there are tens of thousands of Franco-Albertans living in communities such as Legal north of Edmonton, Bonnyville, Plamondon, and...
s - Franco-ColumbianFranco-ColumbianFranco-Columbians or Franco-Colombiens are French Canadians or French speaking Canadians living in the Canadian province of British Columbia....
s - Franco-Terreneuviens
- Franco-TénoisFranco-TenoisFranco-Ténois, originating from the acronym TNO of the French term for the Northwest Territories of Canada refers to the widespread community of francophones that reside in the Northwest Territories....
(in the Northwest TerritoriesNorthwest TerritoriesThe Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
) - Franco-Yukon(n)ais (in the Yukon)
- Franco-Nunavois (in NunavutNunavutNunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
)
See also
- Official bilingualism in Canada
- French in the United StatesFrench in the United StatesThe French language is spoken as a minority language in the United States. According to year 2000 census figures, 1.6 million Americans over the age of five speak the language at home; making French the fourth most-spoken language in the country behind English, Spanish, and Chinese...
- French languageFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
- French phonologyFrench phonologyThis article mainly discusses the phonological system of standard French based on the Parisian dialect. French is notable for its uvular r, nasal vowels, and three processes affecting word-final sounds: liaison, a certain type of sandhi, wherein word-final consonants are not pronounced unless...
- Languages of Canada
- Quebec French lexiconQuebec French lexiconThere are various lexical differences between Quebec French and Metropolitan French / Standard French in France. These are distributed throughout the registers, from slang to formal usage....
- Canadian FrenchCanadian FrenchCanadian French is an umbrella term referring to the varieties of French spoken in Canada. French is the mother tongue of nearly seven million Canadians, a figure constituting roughly 22% of the national population. At the federal level it has co-official status alongside English...
- French CanadianFrench CanadianFrench Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
External links
- "French language: Canadian French today" The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Hurtig Publishers.
- Canadian French - English Dictionary
- 2001 Census: Language
- Office québécois de la langue française
- Grand dictionnaire terminologique
- Salon Québécois Internet's Largest Canadian French Glossary