Language Attitudes among Adolescents in Montreal: Potential Lessons for Language Planning in Québec

Abstract

Over the last four decades, numerous laws have been implemented with the aim of strengthening the position of French in Québec. Nevertheless, the French language remains threatened – firstly due to the status of English as the global lingua franca, and secondly due to its role as the language of upward mobility in North America at large. Consequently, there are ongoing debates regarding the need for new language planning measures to protect and promote French. Some of the most prominent proposals in the recent past intended to limit access to Québec's English-speaking collèges d'enseignement général et professionnel, typically abbreviated to cégeps. The aim of these proposals was to prevent young francophones and allophones from integrating socially and professionally into the anglophone community. However, it was unclear whether such proposals would have the necessary attitudinal support at the grassroots level to be successful. This article thus presents the findings of a study which made use of a questionnaire and a matched-guise experiment to elicit the language attitudes of 147 francophone, anglophone and allophone adolescents in Montreal. Considering the findings of this study, the article argues that status and acquisition planning measures limiting access to English-speaking cégeps would likely be unsuccessful due to lacking attitudinal support, and that prestige planning measures would be a more feasible means of protecting and promoting the French language in Québec.