The French-English Margin in Canada

Abstract

French-Canadian culture is local and personal; English culture is expansive and often impersonal. The two most cherished elements of the former are the French language and the Catholic religion. These two are inseparable and any other elements of the culture are dependet upon them. French culture in Quebec differs from that in France. Definite effort on the part of the clergy has reinforced the usual tendency of a colony to preserve obsolescent features of the mother culture Is is viewed as a heritage which must no be polluted even by the mother, France. The speech of the French Canadian preserves archaic forms because of isolation from the main body of French people and receives necessary additions to its vacabulary from another language. Bilingualism, generally speaking, is confined to the Frrnch Canadian, which means a spread of the English language rather than of French. Contacts between French and English are more often of a secondary character than within either group. There are few activities or institutions in which the participation of both races is identical in either number or kind. Prestige is a matter of personal achievement, but the successful French Canadian is likely to be less French and less devoted to his people. In the church and nationality organizations alone can success be attained without compromise.