The Language Situation in Canada with Special Regard to QuebecSeminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English - Applied Geography, grade: 2,0, RWTH Aachen University (Anglistik), course: Variety in English, language: English, abstract: Since its colonisation by Europeans the history of Canada has always been affected by the rivalry between two ethnic groups - the British and the French. This rivalry has slowly faded into a dualism which is still prominent in Canada. This dualism can be found in both Canada's population and culture as well as in the fact that Canada has two official languages, French and English. This bilingualism of Canada will be the subject of this paper. I will not focus on the development of English in Canada in terms of a linguistic analysis though but will analyze the causes for this bilingualism instead. Furthermore I am going to analyze how both the federal government of Canada and the provincial government of Quebec - the only province that has a French speaking majority in the Canadian federation - have dealt with the existence of two major language groups. In a first step I am going to give a general overview over Canada, including its geography, a brief look onto the composition of the Canadian population and the political system of Canada (2.1). The analysis of the political system is important to fully grasp the different levels of competency in Canada which will play a significant role in regard to legislation and jurisdiction of language laws in the Canadian federation and its provinces. Section 2.2 will deal with the history of Canada in relation to language contact. Starting with the early European colonisation (2.2.1) I am then going to analyze the period of British rule in Canada (2.2.2) before I am going to focus onto the time period starting with the foundation of the Dominion of Canada and Canada's independence until today (2.2.3). Section 3 concentrates on the Canadian population in detail. While section 3.1 focuses on the Canadian population by ethnic origin, section 3.2 pays a |
Contents
| 3 | |
The Canadian population | 9 |
Official bilingualism in Canada | 14 |
The exceptional position of Quebec | 17 |
Conclusion | 21 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
according American amount Anglophone approach bilingualism bilingualism in Canada Bill 22 Bill 63 British British North Brunswick Canadian population Canadian society census changes Charter claimed clearly Colonies Commission common concerning Constitution culture decline distinct society dominated English and French English or French English-speaking established ethnic origin European exceptional position existed fact federal government France Francophone Freedom French language French origin French speakers French-speaking Furthermore going groups House ibid increase indicates institutional language spoken legislation linguistic Lower majority McRae million inhabitants minority mother tongue Newfoundland North America Nova Scotia official bilingualism Official Languages Act Parliament passed percentage period political system population group population of Quebec prime minister promote proportion provinces public service receive recommendations regard regulations relation responses role Royal rule schools Senate speak Statistics Canada status Table term territories United