Читать книгу Language planning and policy in Quebec - Jakob Leimgruber - Страница 25

This chapter began with an overview of the historical context in which Canada as a nation and, eventually, an independent country, emerged. The various layers of European settlement, combined with the political break that occurred after the transfer of sovereignty from France to Britain, are crucial elements in understanding the current linguistic situation in the country as well as the language policies in place. The French–English duality that characterises the history of confederation as well as its present-day language policy is generally recognised and has been institutionalised throughout the country in various ways. In contrast to these two major communities, the numerically and politically marginalised indigenous peoples have been given comparatively little place in the organisation of the country; their languages, with some notable exceptions, are left with little official relevance, and 45 of its currently 83 indigenous languages are severely or critically endangered (Moseley, 2016); Lewis et al. (2016) estimate that 34 are not being passed on through natural intergenerational transmission.

With respect to language policy, Quebec stands out from the other provinces in having a highly elaborate legal framework for regulating language within its borders, complemented by civil society groups supporting the policy (e.g. the recently established Observatoire national en matière de droits linguistiques ‘National observatory on linguistic rights’ (Université de Montréal, 2016)). If the aim of the Charter of the French language was to revitalise its speech community, to valorise the French language, and to ensure its continued relevance in Quebec, then that aim can be seen as largely achieved: French is a majority language in the province, and its statuses as the only official language and as the mandated language of the workplace mean that it is unlikely to disappear in the foreseeable future. Anglophones and Allophones are required to learn French, a requirement that they willingly embrace in view of the benefits associated with bilingualism in Canada’s two official languages – benefits that may be felt well beyond provincial borders. Language policy in Quebec is also tied to immigration policy, which has seen a shift towards migrants from the Caribbean and North and West Africa. Their numerical contribution helps avert the decline of Francophones both outside (e.g. in Manitoba, see Saba 2016) and inside Quebec (Drescher, 2008). The extent to which these migrants decide to stay on in these localities depends much more on personal and economic factors than on the language policy of the Quebec state. Here, the transnational experience of migration trumps language nationalism.