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Dialect Topography of Québec City English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

J.K. Chambers  and
Troy Heisler
J.K. Chambers
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Troy Heisler
Affiliation:
Université Laval
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Abstract

Québec City has had an anglophone community for 250 years. A representative sample of this community was surveyed using the methods known as Dialect Topography. The analysis establishes the distinctiveness of Québec City English but at the same time shows that it is firmly planted in the Canadian English speech community. It is shown that there are significant correlations with three social factors: (1) Language Use Index, which allows a calculation of the extent of each respondent’s use of English in the francophone setting; (2) age, the principal correlate of changes in progress; and (3) Regionality Index, which separates indigènes, the natives of the region, from interlopers, recent arrivals. Although the results show that the distinctiveness may be threatened by the persistence of interloper variants, in most respects Québec City English favours the same variants as the rest of Canada, albeit with different frequencies and often with a unique historical development.

Résumé

Résumé

Un sondage a été effectué auprès d’un échantillon représentatif de la communauté anglophone de la ville de Québec en utilisant la méthodologie de la Topographie de dialecte. L’analyse des résulats établit le caractère distinct de l’anglais parlé à Québec mais fait également ressortir son appartenance à la communauté linguistique canadienne-anglaise. L’accent est mis sur des corrélations significatives avec trois facteurs sociaux: (1) l’Index d’utilisation de la langue, qui permet un calcul de l’emploi de l’anglais pour chaque répondant; (2) l’âge, le corrélat principal des changements en cours; et (3) l’Index de régionalité, qui sépare les locuteurs nés dans la région des nouveaux arrivants. Quoique les résultats montrent que le caractère distinct de l’anglais de la ville de Québec peut être menacé par la persistance des variantes dues aux nouveaux arrivants, dans la plupart des cas les mêmes variantes que celles du reste du Canada sont favorisées, mais avec des fréquences différentes et souvent avec un développement historique distinct.

Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , March 1999 , pp. 23 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1999

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