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An English “like no other”?: Language Contact and Change in Quebec

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Shana Poplack ,
James A. Walker  and
Rebecca Malcolmson
Shana Poplack
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
James A. Walker
Affiliation:
York University
Rebecca Malcolmson
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
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Abstract

Although the received wisdom is that English in Quebec, as a minority language, has undergone contact-induced language change, little scientific evidence has been brought to bear on this claim. We describe a project designed to assess the impact of a majority language on the structure of the minority language in a situation of long-term contact. The existence and directionality of change is assessed by comparing the behaviour of linguistic phenomena (1) over (apparent) time, (2) according to intensity of contact, and (3) against French as a non-contact benchmark and putative source. We detail the methods employed in selecting a sample and constituting a corpus, and characterize the speakers and aspects of their speech. Finally, we present an analysis of the sociolinguistic situation of the Quebec anglophone community, and offer an empirical measure of the impact of the French lexicon on Quebec English.

Résumé

Résumé

Malgré le fait qu’il est souvent pris pour acquis que l’anglais au Québec, en tant que langue minoritaire, a subit un changement linguistique provoqué par le contact, peu de recherches scientifiques se sont penchées sur cette question. Nous décrivons un projet dont le but est d’évaluer l’impact d’une langue majoritaire sur la structure de la langue minoritaire dans une situation de contact à long terme. L’existence et la directionnalité du changement sont évaluées en comparant le comportement de phénomènes linguistiques en fonction (1) du temps (apparent), (2) de l’intensité du contact et (3) du français comme facteur de non-contact et de source de changement. Nous présentons les méthodes employées dans la sélection de l’échantillon et la constitution d’un corpus, et nous décrivons les locuteurs et les caractéristiques de leur parler. Finalement, nous présentons une analyse de la situation sociolinguistique de la communauté anglophone au Québec, et nous offrons une mesure empirique de l’impact du lexique français sur l’anglais du Québec.

Type
French-English Contact
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 51 , Issue 2-3: Canadian English in a Global Context , November 2006 , pp. 185 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 2006

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