Language Attitudes towards Canadian French and English, 1691-1902: The Emergence of the Canadian Voices

This dissertation examines the origins and development of attitudes (in the guise of beliefs and stereotypes) towards Canadian French and Canadian English during the 18th and 19th centuries, as expressed primarily by foreign travellers to North America. By conducting a comparative study of these two languages, a bridge is built between French Canadian studies on Canadian French, and Anglophone Canadian studies on Canadian English, two fields which have historically been distinct and separate.The time period under study (1691-1902) is marked by major political and social changes (e.g., the English Conquest, the Confederation), all of which had major, lasting effects on the development and status of both languages. In order to study the evolution of language attitudes during this period, I used content analysis on the metalinguistic commentary found in a wide variety of texts, including travel journals, scholarly and newspaper articles, monographs, and prescriptive texts, written in French and English.My analysis shows that British commentators were the most critical of both languages (and peoples), and relied almost entirely on beliefs and stereotypes rather than empirical evidence to support their claims. As colonial peoples in the process of renegotiating their linguistic and cultural identities, French and British Canadians were strongly affected by these beliefs, particularly following Confederation. From this point forward, we see evidence for what I have termed the "Emergence of the Canadian Voices" that is, Canadians' rejection of foreign opinion about their language and culture, and a move towards an endogenous linguistic norm, which was supported by the increasing use of linguistic studies on both languages. Examining how these "Canadian Voices" developed provides an important insight into the politically charged discourse about the French and English languages in the late 19th century, and is essential for understanding the complex and fiercely debated language question in Canada today.Ph.D