French in Canada

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See also: Canadian French

French is the mother tongue of about 6.7 million Canadians (23% of the Canadian population) [1]. While most native French speakers live in Quebec, where it is the majority language, about one million native francophones live in other provinces, forming significant minorities with French-language supporting institutions in the provinces of Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.

French is one of Canada's two official languages at the federal level; the other is English, which is the language of the majority. French is also the sole official language in Quebec, while it is co-official with English in New Brunswick. Where justified by the number of affected people, the federal government provides services in both official languages throughout the country. In addition, all senior management positions in the federal government have a bilingualism requirement by agreement with the PSAC (union of federal civil servants), which offers extensive language training services to the civil service. The provincial governments of Ontario, New Brunswick, and Manitoba also provide service in French where justified by the number of affected people. In the cases of Ontario and New Brunswick, the provincial services include government-funded education. This has sometimes been a politically sensitive issue, not because of the costs, but because the French-language schools are largely parochial schools run by the Catholic Church.

1 French dialects in Canada
- 1.1 Canadian French
2 The language across Canada
3 French-speaking communities in Canada outside of Quebec
4 See also

[edit] French dialects in Canada

As a consequence of geographical and political/historical (British Conquest) isolation, the French language in Canada presents three distinct dialects (distinct from French in Europe, but also among each other within Canada):

Quebec French (Canadian French) is spoken mainly in Quebec, but also by French-speaking communities in Northern Ontario, Western Canada, Labrador and even in the New England region of the USA (mainly Aroostook County, Maine).
Acadian French is spoken by the Acadians in the Canadian Maritimes and some parts of Quebec and Newfoundland. It is an ancestor of Cajun French.
Newfoundland French is spoken by a few people in Newfoundland. It is an endangered dialect.

These dialects are not Old French – a much earlier stage of the language that spanned 1000 to 1300 CE and, in many ways, resembled Latin. Their origins in Canada actually lie in the 17th and 18th century regional varieties of early Modern French, also known as Classical French, and of other Oïl languages (Norman, Picard, etc.) that French colonists brought to New France. 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, Michif is a mixed language based on Cree and Quebec French.

[edit] Canadian French

Using the label "Canadian French" instead of "Acadian French" and "Quebec French", either separately or combined is akin to over-applying the label "British English" despite significant historical and linguistic differences. For example, labelling Scottish Standard English (SSE) or Hiberno-English (HE) in the Republic of Ireland (due to a shared region and spelling) as "British English" instead of "English in the British Isles" ignores the significant long-term and current distinctions among those dialects. Speakers of the various English dialects in the British Isles do not label SSE or HE as "British English" just as Canadian francophones do not label Quebec French or Acadian French as "Canadian French."

In addition, the liberal use of the label "Canadian French" is in some ways similar to the English and French uses of "Flemish" / "le flamand". These terms are almost always over-generalized to signify Dutch - the standard, common, and official language spoken by the Flemish Community of Belgium. For a detailed explanation, see the introductions for the articles on Flemish and on Dutch.

When referring to Acadian French and Quebec French together or to French as one of Canada's official languages, it is therefore clearer to say "French in Canada". The reason is that language demographics and linguistic structures unique to Quebec French are often labelled "Canadian French". This labelling thus obfuscates the influences of Quebec French while eclipsing the realities of Acadian French. As a result, when most people refer to "Canadian French", it should be understood as pertaining to Quebec French given that most people have never heard Acadian French being spoken, nor are they aware of the latter's existence.

[edit] The language across Canada

[edit] Quebec

Quebec is the only province whose sole official language is French. However, many of the services it provides are available in English for the important anglophone population of the province (i.e. Montreal). Quebec French is noticeably different in pronunciation and vocabulary from Metropolitan French in France, but they are easily mutually comprehensible. The differences are due to the long history of French in North America and the fact that French immigrants to New France kept speaking the French of the Ancien régime (and slowly changing their language as all language communities do) while the French Revolution led to the standardization of bourgeois Parisian French in France. Today, 81.4 percent of Quebecers or Québécois are francophone.[2] Different regions of Quebec have their own style, due to their isolation for many years: Gaspé Peninsula, North Coast, Quebec City, Lac St-Jean, Outaouais, and Abitibi have clear differences in choice of words and pronunciation, based on culture, lifestyle, and origins.

The Outaouais region is located near Ottawa. French-speaking people there use English words and deviations. You will find phrases like:

"Tooter de la horn": To toot the horn.
"Se faire couper les cheveux bawled": To get a bald head haircut.

In eastern regions, the pronunciation is the greatest differentiator. Some French Montrealers (Montréal) consider the language of French-speaking persons from the Magdalen Islands peculiar.

[edit] Atlantic Canada

French is one of the two official languages 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 [3], the largest Acadian population in Canada. Most commonly known as Acadian French, the variety of French spoken in Atlantic Canada possesses features different from those of Québécois French. It also has speakers in the provinces of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Newfoundland is also home to its own distinct dialect of French, Newfoundland French. Acadian French is historically related to Cajun French.

Although not traditionally associated with Acadia, the Magdalen Islands, an archipelago of 9 small islands belonging to Quebec, also have historical ties with Acadian French.

In Acadia, French is a minority language. In some communities, it is an endangered language.

[edit] Ontario

Although French is the native language of just over half a million Canadians in Ontario, francophone Ontarians represent only 4.4 percent of the province's population and are concentrated near the border with Quebec (Eastern Ontario), in Sudbury, and much of north-eastern Ontario. Nonetheless, they are also present in smaller numbers throughout the province as well. However, a third of Franco-Ontarians no longer speak the language at home.

The province has no official language, 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 English and French. Furthermore, an individual is entitled to communicate with the head or central office of any provincial government department or agency in French, and an individual is entitled to receive all government services in French in 23 designated areas in the province. The provincial government of Ontario's website is bilingual.

[edit] Prairies

Manitoba also has a significant Franco-Manitoban 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-Albertans. British-Columbia, on the other hand, hosts only a small francophone population, the Franco-Columbians.

Although not a dialect of French, Michif, a unique mixed language based on Cree and French, is spoken by a small number of Métis living mostly in the province of Manitoba.