In earlier chapters remarks were cited suggesting that in various ways language is an important issue for both French and immigrant informants. There are, in fact, several issues, depending in part on what language is under discussion and in what contexts.

It will be apparent from accounts of the education system, the social services, and the housing institutions that one focus of concern is the immigrants' lack of command of French, especially of the standard language. First, a poor grasp of French on the part of children and adult females is connected with incomplete or unsuccessful participation in the French system: schools, employment, the community at large. Second, it leads to difficulties for the personnel of French institutions. Their clients often have to be dealt with at one remove, for example, by way of interpreters or intermediaries, a point discussed further in Chapter 11. Third, there is concern at the differential knowledge of French displayed by different categories of the immigrant population (adult male workers, housewives, children). Fourth, this is thought to be associated with tension between members of North African families. Differential linguistic ability is part of the gap between parents and children and between husbands and wives. This is linked to the second point in that access to the institutions on the part of North African families (and vice versa) is frequently via children, not parents. This is believed to place the latter in a “minority status” vis-à-vis the former.