Whose French? Language Attitudes, Linguistic Insecurity and Standardisation

Abstract

As Gérald Larose and his team of commissioners were well aware, questions of status planning are inextricably linked to those of corpus planning. In other words, the recommendations made by the Commission with the view to ensuring the continued use and scope of French in Quebec cannot escape questions about the nature of the French to use. Since the nineteenth century, Francophones in Quebec have been dogged by the thorny matter of whether to adopt French as commonly used in Quebec (also called français d’ici) or French as used in France (often confused with the notions of français standard and français international). While the latter has always enjoyed great social prestige in Quebec, this has traditionally not been the case for the former, hence concerns about the quality of language, such as those expressed in the citation above. But as C. Bouchard (2005: 387) notes, ‘[t]he notion of quality of language is relative, because quality can only be measured in relation to a norm’. While it was originally supposed that only French as used in France could assume the role of a prestigious social norm, the last few decades have witnessed a re-evaluation of Quebec French. More precisely, a third possibility has arisen, namely a socially acceptable, locally-defined variety which has come to be known as Standard Quebec French. As a compromise between the two previously proposed models, the latter attests to the desire of French-speaking Quebecers to remain part of la francophonie, yet at the same time express their unique identity within this arena.

As highlighted by the great architect of the Charter of the French language, Camille Laurin, ‘the status of a language is linked to its quality and the improvement of its quality will only reinforce its status’. This is still true today. More than ever, the status of the [French] language depends on our desire to promote here in Quebec a French of quality which, while all the while taking into account our specificities, corresponds to the international norm. Only in this way will Quebecers be proud of their language, will they inspire others to speak it and will they add to the global linguistic and cultural heritage a language of quality, shaped by the realities of its continent. (Gouvernement du Québec 2001a: 78)

Comme le soulignait le grand architecte de la Charte de la langue française, Camille Laurin, « le statut de la langue est lié à sa qualité et l’amélioration de sa qualité ne fera que renforcer le statut de la langue. » Cela s’avère encore exact aujourd’hui. Plus que jamais, le statut de la langue dépend de notre volonté de promouvoir ici, au Québec, un français de qualité qui, tout en prenant en compte nos spécificités, correspond â la norme internationale. C’est à cette condition que les Québécoises et les Québécois seront fiers de leur langue, qu’ils donneront le goût aux autres locuteurs de la parler et qu’ils contribueront à verser dans le patrimoine mondial linguistique et culturel une langue de qualité, pétrie des réalités de son continent.