Some non-Canadians hear that Canada has two official languages, English and French, and may assume that that means every Canadian is fluent in both languages. However, that isn’t true – well, unless you go to New Brunswick. Rather, English and French underwent separate emergences in Canada. Here, I go through some of the history of the French language in Canada, specifically Quebec French, the most known and widely spoken variety of Canadian French.
This is part 1 in a three-part series on the history of French in Canada. Stay tuned for part 2 on Acadian French and part 3 on Metis French.
Statistics on Quebec French
Today, 7.1 million people living in Quebec speak French. The French language is tightly wound into Quebec culture. Those 7.1 million speakers make up 84% of Quebec’s population (StatsCan). Meanwhile, Canada has 8.1 million French speakers nationwide. That means Quebece alone makes up 87.7% of all French speakers in Canada.
How French arrived in North America
In 1534, Jacques Cartier and his team of French colonizers first landed in North America and began exploring the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Later, in 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City.
By 1763, when France ceded New France to England in the Treaty of Paris, the colony of New France had 65,000 French-speaking settlers. These settlers were descended from 10,000 people who migrated from France between 1608 and 1700. Those original 10,000 settlers were likely bilingual in French and a patois that was specific to whereever in France these people originated from. However, after landing in New France, these patois quickly declined due to people’s need for a common language, French.
In 1867, Queen Victoria signed the Constitution Act, which established the Dominion of Canada and the province of Quebec. After this, Canadian French began to evolve away from its Parisian influences. In Quebec in the late 1800s, French speaking rural-residents moved into the mostly English-speaking cities looking for work opportunities. Therefore, as English and French speakers began to interact, French began mixing in parts of English, evolving into quebecois.
What is Quebec French?
Quebec French has been a target of criticism by French language purists. Many believed Quebec French should evolve back towards the standardized French it descended from and abandon the anglicisms it adopted from Canadian and American English. However, today, Quebec French is viewed as a separate variety of French than the one spoken in France.
For those of who you took French class in school, you’ll notice some distinct differences between the Parisian French you were taught and how Quebecers speak French.
Phonetic differences
Certain consonants in Quebec French undergo affrication where their Parisian French equivalent do not.
For example, when pronouncing the second person singular pronoun “tu”, in Paris, this is pronounced as /ty/, while in Quebec it’s pronounced as /tsy/.
Vowel sounds are also different in Quebec French. Both European and Quebec French have nasalized vowels – these are vowels which are pronounced with the air pushing through the nose instead of the mouth. Nasalized vowels in Quebec French undergo diphthongization (/ã/ becomes /ãɪ̯̃/ as in ‘les parents’) or become fronted (/ɛ̃/ becomes /ẽ/ as in ‘les parrains’).
Merging of pronouns and verbs
In Quebec French, pronouns and verbs tend to merge into a single unit:
| Parisian French | Quebec French |
| je suis (“I am”) | chu |
| je vais (“I will”) | j’va |
| il (“he”) | y |
| elle (“she”) | a |
Vocabulary differences
| English | Parisian French | Quebec French |
| parking | parking | stationnement |
| shopping | faire du shopping | magasiner |
| car | voiture | char |
| mobile phone | portable | cellulaire |
| breakfast lunch dinner | le petit-déjeuner le déjeuner le dîner | le déjeuner le dîner le souper |
Closing thoughts:
If you would like to read more about the history and evolution of Quebec French, check out the resources below which I referenced above.
- Statistics on official languages in Canada | Government of Canada
- New France | The Canadian Encyclopedia
- Confederation, 1867 | The Canadian Encyclpedia
- A Brief History of Quebecois (a.k.a. Canadian French) | Babel
- Obsessed with Language: A Sociolinguistic History of Quebec (1998) by Chantal Bouchard
- Speaking Canadian French: An Informal Account of the French Language in Canada (1971) by Mark M. Orkin
- Quebec French vs European French: Key Differences in Vocabulary, Accent & Grammar | Translation Agency of Canada
Stay tuned to learn more about the story of the French language in Canada with upcoming posts about Acadian French and Métis French.
Until then, check out some of my other posts on other niche languages and dialects under “Related Posts” below.
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