LPAQ · Language policies and attitudes in Quebec

Language policies and attitudes in Quebec

The project ‘Language planning and attitudes in Quebec (LPAQ)’ had five main objectives: a description of Quebec’s language planning and policies and their implementation, a documentation of actual language use among a cross-section of the population, the elicitation of speakers’ attitudes towards language policies and towards individual languages, the charting of visible language in public space (so-called linguistic landscape), and the contextualisation of the Quebec situation within the emerging field of sociolinguistics of globalisation. These objectives were achieved by a combination of methods, which included close reading of original legislation, questionnaire surveys, linguistic landscape documentation, ethnographic observation, interviews with stakeholders, and an attitudes survey. Linguistic landscape data was collected in the form of photographic evidence taken of relevant visible linguistic manifestations in public space. A total of 1,106 photos were taken in various neighbourhoods of Montreal, but also beyond the island and in neighbouring provinces; systematic evidence-gathering on selected streets was complemented with more targeted approaches in neighbourhoods deemed of interest. The resulting database provides information on geolocation, raw text, languages, authorship and type of sign. Results show a combination of traditional linguistic distributional patterns, attempts at abiding by language legislation, instances of low-level subversion, as well as some more creative ways of avoiding or bending the legislation for commercial advantage. The initial hypothesis that languages other than French and English would have an interesting presence was confirmed; their interaction is not always in line with legislation (e.g. Chinese restaurants with very large Chinese name and smaller French/English descriptions). ‘Ludic’ linguistic landscaping was observed in shop names that combine the two languages (such as ‘identi-t’, see Figure 1) to create a blended word that belongs to both (or neither) of the competing languages. Language use data and attitudes were elicited in the form of a questionnaire survey; online and on-street collection resulted in 620 useable responses. Results include the finding that all but one respondent use more than one language in daily life, with age-grading resulting in older participants being mostly bilingual and younger ones mostly trilingual. Most participants report having a functional command in both French and English, regardless of their first language. Spanish is the third-most common language, Italian a more distant fourth. Attitudinal data show age-grading with regards to the legislation, with younger Anglophones happier with the current situation than older ones, and younger Francophones more positively disposed towards English than older ones. Proficiency in the ‘other’ language also has an effect on some indicators. Language use and choice of official language among Allophones is another indicator of the success of language policies. Systematic ethnographic observation in cafés situated in six different neighbourhoods resulted in the documentation of 1,094 instances of service encounters, with higher use of bilingualism in the central business district and a higher use of French and English in the east and the west of the city respectively. Switches in the course of the interaction, often from French to English, show the dynamics of policy (first greeting typically in French) and actual use (e.g. recognition of English accent followed by switch). Here too, language-‘intermediate’ forms are observed, specifically in the greeting ‘hello’, which exhibits very fine-grained phonetic variation on a continuum from French [alo] to an English [həloʊ], e.g. in the form of [halo], which integrates elements of both languages (English [h] and French vowels). The available language legislation has been collated into a database accessible on the project website www.jakobleimgruber.ch/lpaq/legislation.html, where links to the official versions in both French and English are given. Further clarification on certain aspects of the legislation has been further obtained directly from the Office québécois de la langue française, such as in the case of ‘stop’ signs appearing alongside ‘arrêt’ signs (and even some signs featuring both words) – the bilingualism suggested by the presence of these two versions is negated by the Office, which points to a ministerial order from 1992 legalising both words as being part of the French vocabulary. As a result, signs with either word are legally compliant, though not those with both words, which are considered synonyms, and, therefore, redundant. In one (predominantly anglophone) municipality, the almost exclusive use of ‘stop’ signs was justified, in a reply to my enquiry, as more ‘international’, in addition to being French (and English). The findings from fieldwork have begun to be integrated into a larger comparative framework drawing on the language planning efforts in Wales and Singapore. The eventual goal of an integrated manuscript to be submitted as a habilitation is to be reached within two years after the end of the project; for the time being, findings and comparative work have been presented at a number of international conferences and in a book chapter under review. The results from the questionnaire survey contain some insights that may usefully inform policy making, such as the presence of age-grading and attitudinal stances towards policies themselves. Contact details: Dr. Jakob R. E. Leimgruber English Department, University of Freiburg Rempartstrasse 15 79085 Freiburg im Breisgau Germany www.jakobleimgruber.ch/lpaq

Data: CORDIS, © European Union