Language Attitudes among Adolescents in Montreal: Potential Lessons for Language Planning in Québec

The author points out that since the 1960s, numerous laws have been implemented in Quebec with the aim of strengthening the position of French in the province. Nevertheless, she maintains, the French language remains threatened - firstly due to the status of English as the global lingua franca, and secondly due to its role as the language of upward mobility in North America at large. Consequently, there are ongoing debates regarding the need for new language planning measures to protect and promote French. Some of the most prominent proposals in the recent past intended to limit access to Quebec's English-language CEGEPs. The aim of these proposals, the author points out, was to prevent young Francophones and Allophones from integrating socially and professionally into the Anglophone community. However, she maintains, it was unclear whether such proposals would have the necessary attitudinal support at the grassroots level to be successful. The author thus presents the findings of a study which made use of a questionnaire and a matched-guise experiment to elicit the language attitudes of 147 Francophone, Anglophone and Allophone adolescents in Montreal. Considering the findings of this study, the author argues that status and acquisition planning measures limiting access to English-speaking CEGEPs would likely be unsuccessful due to lacking attitudinal support, and that prestige planning measures would be a more feasible means of protecting and promoting the French language in Quebec.

Nottingham French Studies

Vol. 55

no. 2

239-259

July 2016

en