Several Sociolinguistic Particularities of French-English Bi-Lingualism in Canada

Introduction. The relevance of the study is explained by the necessity to preserve Frenchspeaking culture and language on the territory of Canada in the conditions of globalization, the spread of American mass culture and the significant impact of English as a global language. The purpose of the work is to describe and analyze the sociolinguistic particularities of the existence of the French language in the English-speaking competitive environment in Canada.

Methodology and sources. During the study, the following sociolinguistic methods were used: descriptive method, comparison method, continuous sampling method, sociolinguistic analysis method, quantitative data processing method, questionnaire survey. The research is based on the material of Сanadian media, legislative acts regulating the state's language policy, data obtained through surveys of Canadian citizens, and 5,234 inscriptions in five Canadian cities which were selected to examine the country's linguistic landscape.

Results and discussion. Under Canadian laws, French and English have equal status in parliamentary readings, in public services and in everyday life, as well as in education, radio and television. However, English is the dominant language and has great prestige throughout Canada. All of the evidence collected shows the decisive superiority of English as the primary means of communication in media, advertising and politics. Existing legislation to protect and promote the use of both official languages is not fully enforced, as evidenced by numerous complaints from Canadians to the Commissioner of Official Languages.

Conclusion. In Canada, a multi-component exoglossic linguistic situation has developed with two official languages – English and French, which is characterized by the existence of natural bilingualism. Linguistic minorities, such as Anglophones in Quebec and Francophones outside Quebec, may experience linguistic discrimination, creating tensions between residents of the same country. French is significantly influenced by the majority English and immigrant languages that dominate the linguistic landscape of Canadian cities.

1. “These Are the Languages Spoken in Canada According to 2021 Census” (2022), ToDo Canada, 17.08.2022, available at: https://www.todocanada.ca/these-are-the-languages-spoken-in-canada-according-to-2021-census/ (accessed 18.03.2023).

2. “The proportion of the population whose first official language spoken is French is the highest” (2022), Statistics Canada, 17.08.2022, available at: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/dailyquotidien/220817/mc-a001-eng.htm (accessed 18.03.2023).

3. “Statistics on official languages in Canada” (2019), Government of Canada, 26.11.2019, available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/official-languages-bilingualism/publications/statistics.html#a3 (accessed 18.03.2023).

4. Alschner, W. and Keyes, J. (2019), “Translatability of Law and Legal Technology – Findings from Corpus Analyses and Bilingual Legal Drafting in Canada”, available at: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Translatability-of-Law-and-Legal-Technology-–-fromAlschner-Keyes/c29fd842624c850411e64cde16867a5147c6764e (accessed 15.05.2023).

5. “Official languages and bilingualism are at the heart of Canadian identity”, Government of Canada, 26.11.2019, available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/official-languages-bilingualism/publications/statistics.html (accessed 19.03.2023).

6. “Bilingualism bonus”, Government of Canada, 31.01.2012, available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/terms-conditions-employment/bilingualism-bonus.html (accessed 19.03.2023).

7. “Official Languages Act”, Government of Canada, available at: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/o-3.01/page-1.html#h-384138 (accessed 07.05.2023).

8. “Official language rights”, Government of Canada, 01.09.2021, available at: https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/rfcp-cdlp.html (accessed 19.05.2023).

9. “Viability of the Official Languages Act of 1969”, The Canadian Encyclopedia, available at: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/official-languages-act-1969 (accessed 27.05.2023).

10. Nelles, M. and Singh, M. (2016), “New Laws for Québec Signage”, Torys, 28.11.2016, available at: https://www.torys.com/Our%20Latest%20Thinking/Publications/2016/11/new-laws-for-quebec-signage/ (accessed 15.05.2023).

11. Elliot, T. (2020), “The OQLF Fined a Montreal Restaurant $1,500 For Having English-Only Signage”, MtlBlog, 15.10.2020, available at: https://www.mtlblog.com/montreal/the-oqlf-fined-montreals-deli-365-1500-for-having-englishonly-signage (accessed 15.05.2023).

12. “Recurring official languages issues” (2019), Newswire.ca, 19.05.2019, available at: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/recurring-official-languages-issues-commissioner-offers-federalgovernment-solutions-for-sustainable-results-801426001.html (accessed 22.05.2023).

13. Leger, I. (2021), “Watchdog finds language equality missing in parts of N.B. health-care system”, CBC News, 27.10.2021, available at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-language-equality-health-care-1.6227439 (accessed 23.05.2023).

14. MacKinnon, B.-J. (2018), “Fredericton police broke language and conduct rules, investigation, finds”, CBC News, 01.02.2018, available at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fredericton-police-language-complaint-french-1.4515232 (accessed 23.05.2023).

15. Butler, P. (2022), “Alberta airports to pay $20K for language rights violations”, CBC News, 27.04.2022, available at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/official-languages-violations-st-johns-edmonton-airport-1.6432342 (accessed 23.05.2023).

16. Martins, C. and Romano, E. (2018), “Federal Court finds that Air Canada violated Official Languages Act”, Lexology, 12.12.2018, available at: https://www.lexology.com/commentary/aviation/canada/weirfoulds-llp/federal-court-finds-that-air-canada-violated-official-languages-act (accessed 23.05.2023).

17. Watson, A. (2022), “Newspapers in Canada”, Statista, 28.04.2022, available at: https://www.statista.com/topics/2969/newspapers-in-canada/#topicOverview (accessed 19.03.2023).

18. Wang, K. (2019), “What foreign language media is available in Canada?”, Language Trainers, 20.11.2019, available at: https://www.languagetrainers.ca/blog/what-foreign-language-media-is-available-in-canada/ (accessed 19.03.2023).

19. Watson, A. (2023), “Distribution of newspaper circulation in Canada in 2022”, Statista, 21.05.2023, available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1208645/newspaper-circulation-by-format-canada/ (accessed 27.05.2023).

20. Eaman, R.A. (2012), “CBC/Radio-Canada”, The Canadian Encyclopedia, 09.04.2012, available at: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadian-broadcasting-corporation (accessed 20.03.2023).

21. “Communications Monitoring Report 2019” (2020), CRTC, 21.01.2020, available at: https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/policyMonitoring/2019/cmr5.htm (accessed 20.03.2023).

22. Götting, M.Ch. (2021), “Number of radio and audio services authorized in Canada from 20122018”, Statista, 30.03.2021, available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/430685/language-radio-audio-service-canada/ (accessed 20.03.2023).

23. “English subtitle in Canadian cinemas”, HINative, available at: https://hinative.com/questions/22323875 (accessed 02.06.2023).

24. Landry, R. and Bourhis, R. (1997), “Linguistics Landscapes and Ethnolinguistic Vitality: An Empirical Study”, J. of Language and Social Psychology, vol. 16, iss., 1, pp. 23–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X970161002.

25. Google maps, available at: https://www.google.ru/maps (accessed 07.05.2023).

26. “Bilingualism (By-law No. 2001-170)”, Ottawa, available at: https://ottawa.ca/en/livingottawa/laws-licences-and-permits/laws/laws-z/bilingualism-law-no-2001-170 (accessed 27.05.2023).

27. “The French Presence in Alberta”, Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada, available at: https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2019/clo-ocol/SF31-141-9-2018-eng.pdf (accessed 27.05.2023).

28. Zapata, K. (2022), “Here's where Calgarians can get their multicultural news, in different languages”, CBC News, 19.08.2022, available at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-multicultural-news-language-census-1.6555890 (accessed 27.05.2023).

29. “People vandalized new bilingual stop signs”, Reddit, available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comments/gosgqm/people_vandalized_new_bilingual_stop_signs_who (accessed 27.05.2023).

30. Resources for Francophone immigrants // Government of Canada. URL: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/new-immigrants/prepare-life-canada/provincesterritories/manitoba.html (accessed 02.06.2023).

31. “Vancouver Population 2023”, World Population Review, available at: https://worldpopulationreview.com/canadian-cities/vancouver-population (accessed 02.06.2023).