Ebook: English as a minority language in Quebec

// World Englishes. 2012. Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 493–502.The variety of English spoken by about half a million people in the Canadian province of Quebec is a minority language in intensive contact with French, the local majority language. This unusual contact situation has produced a unique variety of English which displays many instances of French influence that distinguish it from other types of Canadian or world English. The most obvious instances involve the adoption of French words or senses of words, though influence at other levels of linguistic structure can also be observed. This paper discusses the historical background of the contact situation and how this motivates hypotheses about its linguistic effects. It then presents both anecdotal and quantitative survey data that demonstrate empirically the distinctive character of Quebec English. It concludes by categorizing the individual examples considered into a typology of five distinct patterns of influence arising from language contact.