This book analyses comprehensively the complex linguistic situation in Canada focusing particularly on the position of the French language at both national and provincial levels. Language issues in Canada are of great interest to linguists and sociolinguists for many reasons, not least because of Canada’s policy of official bilingualism (Official Languages Act, 1969). The authors address a wide range of topics of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of French and Linguistics as well as readers with a specialist interest in Canadian or Quebec Studies. Individual chapters discuss the historical background to the presence of French in Canada, language policy and planning at federal and provincial levels, the changing linguistic landscape of Canada in the twenty-first century, the multilingual community, language contact, code-switching, immersion education and the language of the L2 speaker, the dynamics of French in Canada, language variation and change. The status of French in Canada is of relevance to all researchers with an interest in multilingualism, a crucial issue in this era of globalisation. The authors bring their expertise as linguists to bear on a subject which is of considerable importance internationally as well as within Canada.

The Authors: Maeve Conrick is Statutory Lecturer in French and Vice-Head of the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences at University College Cork. She publishes on French and English Linguistics and Sociolinguistics, language and gender, language policy, French in Canada. She is former President of the Association for Canadian Studies in Ireland. Vera Regan is Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics, in French and Francophone Studies at University College Dublin. She publishes on Sociolinguistics and Second Language Acquisition, acquisition of French L2, variation in French including French-Canadian forms. She is former President of EUROSLA (European Association for Second Language Research) and currently President of the Association for Canadian Studies in Ireland.

Inhaltsverzeichnis