Researcher: Dr. Raymond Mougeon, Department of French Studies, Glendon, York University.

Research Questions: (1) What are the main aspects of linguistic change in Ontario French spoken in minority settings? (2) By studying how teenagers speak, what can we learn about our linguistic identity?

Methodology: Dr. Mougeon analyzed data on the speech of adolescents from four Francophone communities in Ontario (a majority community: Hawkesbury, and three minority communities: Cornwall, North Bay and Pembroke). This vast corpus was collected via recorded interviews in 1978 and 2005. More than 20 sociolinguistic variables have been analyzed so far, with some revealing results.

Results and Conclusions: In the minority communities, linguistic change is strongly influenced by restricted use of French and contact with English. In the majority community, spoken French retains the traditional features of vernacular Canadian French. Variations in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation are influenced by the demographic importance of the francophone community on a local level and the importance of the role played by French language schools in the transmission of the community’s cultural and linguistic heritage.

Dissemination of Results: Dr. Mougeon’s research has led to numerous chapters, articles and papers. His most recent work (co-edited with France Martineau, Terry Nasdadi and Mireille Tremblay) is titled Le Français d’ici: études linguistiques et sociolinguistiques sur la variation du français au Québec et en Ontario.

Impact on the discipline: This project is the first real-time study of linguistic change in a minority language. It adds to the understanding of French in Ontario and elucidates many of the effects of language contact and restriction.

Impact on Society and Potential Users: Adaptation of teaching manuals to be more representative of the students’ sociolinguistic reality. Enhanced teacher training aiming at the teaching of linguistic variation in accordance with Franco-Ontarian identity.

Other Involved Parties: SSHRC, Terry Nadasdi, Katherine Rehner, Centre for Research on Language Contact

Keywords: linguistic contact, Ontario French, linguistic change, minority languages, language pedagogy