Variation in Canada

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines representatives of three generations of bilingual speakers in a rural community of western Canada, exploring the effects of long-term exposure to English on the French language, contrasting phonological, morpho-syntactic, and lexical features across generations. Despite the fluent bilingualism of all speakers, our results substantiate the perception that the impact of English on French is greater for the youngest generation. This influence, coupled with the effects of what has been called ‘incomplete learning’ and the consequences of the normal variation in popular speech, illustrate the evolving status of French in a minority context where contact with and assimilation to English are pervasive. Despite this fragility, all speakers in the corpus manifest loyalty to their first language, recognizing its utility and its importance for their identity as Franco-Albertans.

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