2001 Volume 53 Issue 1 Pages 1-20
In this paper, the author argued language situation and its formative factors in New Brunswick, Canada. And, the author referred to linguistic territorialization, which is argued in some geographical studies in Canada. In New Brunswick, Canada, Francophones whose ancestors settled from early 17th century has about 30% of whole population in the province. They are called the Acadians because of their historical background. It is supposed that they have a distinct identity and are distinguished from Québecois, Francophones in Québec. The author analyzes Census data published by Statistics Canada mainly. The results are as follows:
First, the author explores the distribution by mother tongue. Many Francophones live in northwestern, northeastern, and southeastern New Brunswick. On the other hand, many Anglophones live in southwestern New Brunswick including Saint John, the largest city in the province, and Fredericton, its capital.
Secondly, the knowledge of the official languages is examined. The ratio of the population of understanding English only decreases and is below 60% in 1991. The ratio of the population of understanding French only, decreases too, and is a little over 10% in 1991. On the other hand, the ratio of the population of understanding both English and French increases and is 29.5% in 1991. This implies that not only Francophone became bilingual but also Anglophone became bilingual.
Thirdly, the author calculates the index of the existence of monolingual to clarify the ratio of monolingual and bilingual person in each linguistic group. As a result, there is regional difference among Francophone regions, and many people could understand both English and French in both linguistic groups in mixed region, especially Westmorland County.
As a result of the above discussion, some formative factors of language situation in New Brunswick are considered as follows:
1) Linguistic persistence by Francophones: First, French language gained the status of the official language in New Brunswick and Canada in 1969. Secondly, separation of the school district by language has an important role in their linguistic persistence. Thirdly, because the endogamy is dominant, French is used in household. Furthermore, as they usually speak French, increase of bilingual person is regarded as an adaptive strategy rather than linguistic assimilation.
2) Becoming bilingual by Anglophones: After French became one of the official languages in New Brunswick, Immersion program which educates English speaking children in French starts in Anglophone School Districts. After this, many young people become bilingual. And, French is one of the important languages in the world. This encourages some Anglophones to learn French.
3) Situation of linguistic territorialization: Moncton, the second largest city in the province, locates in southeastern New Brunswick where Anglophones and Francophones contact each other. Many Francophones flowed into Moncton from the latter half of the 19th century. Furthermore Moncton has many institutions for Francophones such as Université de Moncton, the only French-language university in New Brunswick. But Anglophones learn French rather than move out. Hence, existence of city on linguistic boundary prevents linguistic territorialization.
