French Mother Tongue Research Articles

A francophone political culture? Similarities and differences among French speakers in Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, and France

This paper explores whether language shapes political culture by examining the case of French and a possible transnational francophone political culture. Using original survey data from Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, and France collected in autumn 2020, we find only small within-country differences between francophones and non-francophones and limited transnational alignment. National patterns dominate even in multilingual federations with divided media landscapes and centrifugal politics. Only regarding feminism and drug policy do we find evidence of a common francophone orientation. In both domains, French mother tongue is correlated with the same distinct attitude regarding the role of the state compared to non-French speakers. These findings suggest that language is indeed related to political culture, albeit in a circumscribed manner. We thus contribute to scholarship on political behaviour and multicultural federalism by exploring how language shapes attitudes for individuals and groups alike.

Nationwide study on stress perception among surgical residents

Abstract Objective Declining number of applicants and high attrition of residents are a dire reality. Surgeons in training are confronted to various stressors which interfere with their performance and may promote burnout. This study measures stress levels of Swiss surgical residents while considering age, gender, specialty, position, native language, and experience. Methods Swiss surgery residents taking the Surgical Basic Exam from 2016 to 2020 completed the Perceived Stress Scale 10 (PSS). The PSS measures how unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded respondents evaluate their work life. Scores up to 13 are normal and scores around 20 are highly pathologic. High subscores of helplessness (PH) and lower subscores of self-efficay (PSE) indicate distress. Results 1694 questionnaires were evaluated (return rate 95.7%). Resident median (m) age was 29 years, 56.5% were male and 43.5% female. 72.7% of the residents were in their first 2 years of training, aiming for orthopedic (24%), general surgery (23.8%), urology (6%), or plastic surgery (5.6%). Residents reported a high PSS (m = 15), a high PH (m = 9), and an ordinary PSE (m = 5). Females reported worse PSS (p < 0.001), PH (p < 0.001), and PSE (p = 0.036) than males. Visceral and orthopedic surgeons had significantly better PSS, PH, and PSE. In multivariable analysis, male sex (p < 0.001), aiming at orthopedic (p = 0.017) or visceral surgery (p = 0.004), and French as a mother tongue (p = 0.037) predicted lower stress levels, while graduating from a country not adjacent to Switzerland led to higher stress (p = 0.047). Similarly, male sex (p < 0.001), visceral surgery (p = 0.032), French mother tongue (p = 0.018), and more than 5 years in training independently predicted lower PH. Last, PSE was not influenced by gender, while residents in training for orthopedic (p = 0.004), visceral (p = 0.007) and urology (p = 0.014) specialities, as well as Italian native speakers (p = 0.017) reported less PSE. Conclusion Perceived stress levels are high in both genders in this large, prospective and representative cohort study of Swiss surgical residents. Females endured significantly worse stress and helplessness levels than males. These figures are worrisome as they may directly contribute to the declining attractivity of surgical residencies. Detailed and gender specific analysis of stressors during residency are urgently needed to improve residency programs.

An exploratory study on pro-drop in a written description task in L2 Spanish

Abstract The present article aims at investigating the pro-drop phenomenon in L2 Spanish. The phenomenon of pro-drop or null subject is a typological feature of some languages, which are characterized by an implicit subject in cases of topic continuity. More specifically, behaviour regarding subject (dis)continuity in Spanish differs from French. This paper will offer a contrastive analysis on subject realisation by French learners of L2 Spanish compared to L1 Spanish speakers. So, the goal of this pilot study is to see if a different functioning in pro-drop in the mother tongue also influences the L2. The study is based upon a written description task presented to the two groups of participants: the experimental group of French mother tongue L2 Spanish language learners and the control group of Spanish native speakers.

‘It was a bit stressy as well actually’. The pragmatic markers actually and in fact in spoken learner English

Actually and in fact have been described as pragmatic markers of expectation that can be regarded as interchangeable. This study looks into how learners of English with a Dutch and a French mother tongue background make use of these markers in spoken English, and how this compares with native speaker practice. The functional scope of these markers is indeed found to be almost identical, but actually is extremely more frequent among the native speakers and Dutch-speaking learners than in fact. The latter, on the other hand, is extremely more frequent among the French-speaking learners than among the other two groups. These findings to a large extent betray an influence from cognates in the learners' L1s.

Diabetes education of patients and their entourage: out-of-hospital national study (EDUCATED 2).

To determine the contributing factors in the successful diabetes education of patients and their entourage. Prospective observational study conducted in a pre-hospital setting by 17 emergency services across France (September 2009-January 2011) included all insulin-treated patients (≥18years) provided that at least one family member was present on scene. Data were collected from patients and their entourage: (1) personal details including language proficiency and educational attainment, (2) treatments, (3) diabetes-related data (log sheets, glucose meter, glucagon, glycated hemoglobin, prior hypoglycemic episodes); (4) care by diabetologist, general practitioner and/or visiting nurse. The main end points were ability to measure capillary blood sugar (patient) and awareness of hypoglycemia symptoms and ability to administer glucagon (entourage). Overall, 561 patients and 736 family members were included; 343 patients (61%) were experiencing a hypoglycemic episode (<2.5mmol/L). A total of 141 (75%) patients and 343 (50%) family members could measure capillary blood sugar. They could name a median of 2 [0-3‰] hypoglycemia symptoms although 217 (39%) patients and 262 (39%) family members could name no symptom. Few patients (33%) had glucagon available. In multivariate analyses, the main factor associated with better patient education was care by a diabetologist. Lack of an educational qualification and visits by a nurse were associated with poor patient education, and French mother tongue and care by a diabetologist with better education of the entourage. In France, diabetic patients and their entourage are inadequately educated. Their education benefits most from care by a diabetologist.

The Force of a Law: Derrida, Montaigne, and the Edict of Villers-Cotterêts (1539)

The Force of a Law:Derrida, Montaigne, and the Edict of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) Katie Chenoweth When the year 1539 appears on timelines of French language history, it marks the moment when king François Ier made French the official language of France by signing an edict. This law has come to be known by the name of the place where it was signed: the Edict of Villers-Cotterêts. Officially issued as the Ordonnance générale sur le fait de la justice, this edict contains 192 articles designed to enact large-scale judicial and administrative reform. Its aim was to centralize and secularize political authority in the French kingdom in an unprecedented fashion. Just two articles, numbered 110 and 111, address the question of language use for which the law has become famous: 110. And so that there should be no cause to doubt whether the aforementioned legal decisions have been understood, we wish and order that they should be made and written so clearly that there neither is nor could be any room for ambiguity or uncertainty, nor cause to ask for interpretation [interpretation: interpretation or translation]. 111. And because such things have often occurred regarding the understanding of Latin words contained in legal decisions, we wish that, henceforth, all decision and other procedures, pertaining to our sovereign courts or other lower or inferior courts, whether they be registers, inquiries, contracts, commissions, sentences, wills, or any other acts and writs of justice . . . should be pronounced, recorded, and delivered to parties in the French mother tongue [en langage maternel françois], and not otherwise. ("Ordonnance")1 The singular rhetoric of these two articles has proved forceful enough to afford them a monumental historical status. It has also served to wrest them from the integral body of the edict and its 190 other articles. 1539 and Villers-Cotterêts now signify above all a turning point in the history of the French language, namely, the institution of French as the uniquely recognized language of justice, law, and state administration in France. In this way, 1539 and Villers-Cotterêts are not just any kind of historical markers. They are signs of that which would seem to have happened in an instant—the instant of a decision, the affirmation of a signature, [End Page 67] an irreversible cut—when the French language becomes law by excluding some other language ("and not otherwise") and instituting itself. It would seem to do all this, moreover, in the very language it seeks to legislate. In what seems like an instant, the French vernacular would seem to turn toward itself, gather itself up, and gives itself its own law. No matter which "other" the law excludes (a topic of much debate, as we shall see), Villers-Cotterêts imposes itself through its rhetoric as an inaugural text of French-language sovereignty.2 Widely recognized as the first state language policy in Europe, Villers-Cotterêts and 1539 also stand for a wider-reaching, modern formation of sovereignty in language—and of sovereignty as language. At the same time, nearly a century before the founding of the Académie Française, French takes on an exceptional and exemplary status amongst modern vernaculars; it is in French above all that linguistic sovereignty will be epitomized, and thus also either demonstrated or dismantled. With an eye to the textual and philosophical legacy of the Edict of Villers-Cotterêts, this article will investigate how this (self-) founding text figures in the work of Jacques Derrida and Michel de Montaigne. Both philosophers make reference to the edict in their published work: Derrida mentions it by name on several occasions, going so far as to quote the text of Articles 110 and 111 and to analyze the law's historical context at length; Montaigne makes reference to it only once and somewhat obliquely, assuming readers' familiarity with a law that was, in the 1580s, only decades old and still an active topic of juridical and political commentary. By reading these references to Villers-Cotterêts closely, I wish to demonstrate the significance of the 1539 edict for Montaigne and Derrida and to render palpable its pervasive haunting...

Urban Living is Not Associated with Better Birth and Infant Outcomes among Inuit and First Nations in Quebec~!2009-11-30~!2010-04-12~!2010-07-06~!

OBJECTIVE: There is limited and inconsistent evidence concerning rural versus urban differences in birth and infant outcomes for Indigenous peoples. We assessed birth and infant outcomes among Inuit, First Nations and French mother tongue groups by rural versus urban residence in Quebec, Canada. STUDY DEIGN: A retrospective birth cohort study of 5,184 First Nations, 2,527 Inuit and 652,940 French mother tongue (the majority reference) births in Quebec, 1991-2000. RESULTS: In general, rural living was associated with slightly less favorable birth outcomes for French mother tongue women, but somewhat better outcomes for Indigenous women. For both Inuit and First Nations, rural births were half as likely to be small-for-gestational-age compared to urban births. Among First Nations, the difference in infant mortality rates comparing urban to rural areas was not statistically significant. Compared to infants of French mother tongue women, Inuit and First Nations infants were much less likely to be small-for-gestational-age in rural areas, while such an "advantage" diminished for First Nations and reversed for Inuit in urban areas. The disparities in infant mortality among First Nations versus French mother tongue births were greater in urban than in rural areas. These patterns of results remained after adjusting for maternal characteristics. CONCLUSION: Living in urban areas was not associated with better birth and infant outcomes for Inuit and First Nations in Quebec despite universal health insurance coverage, strongly indicating a need for improved socioeconomic conditions, perinatal and infant care for Indigenous people living in urban areas.

Functional limitations and overweight among migrants in the Histoire de Vie study (Insee, 2003)

Background In France, epidemiological data on immigrant population are limited since characterization of immigrants is viewed as a sensitive issue. The Histoire de Vie survey has enabled the description of the association of immigration characteristics and two health indicators. Methods Health-related functional limitations and overweight status (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m 2) were studied among 18 to 64 years old using indirect age standardization. Immigration status was characterized in four different ways: via the migratory pathways of interviewees and their parents (French born to two French-born parents, second-generation, immigrated at the age of 15 or younger, immigrated at the age of 16 or older), citizenship (French by birth, French by naturalisation, non French), geographical origin (France, Europe, outside Europe) and language(s) spoken at home (French mother tongue, French for persons who do not have French as mother tongue, French and another language, another language). The analyses were conducted separately in men and in women and stratified by occupational status (upper and lower). For functional limitations, the analysis was repeated excluding participants whose limitations occurred before the age of 19, which was the average age of immigration, to assess a possible healthy migrant effect. Results Compared to French men born to two French parents, an increased rate of functional limitations was observed among men born in Europe and/or who had at least one parent born in Europe (SMR: 1.4; 95% CI: 1.06–1.81) and a reduced rate among participants born outside Europe or who had at least one parent born outside Europe (SMR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.46–0.86); these differences remained when social status was taken into account. Among women, a tendency towards a lower rate of functional limitations was found in lower social status groups among those who immigrated as adults, among non French citizens and among non Europeans. Restricting the analysis to individuals free of limitations at the age of 19 did not suggest a healthier migrant effect. Among men, the risk of being overweight did not differ according to immigration characteristics. Women who immigrated in their adult life (SMR: 1.42; 95% CI: 1.18–1.74), who had foreign citizenship (SMR: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.18–1.74) and who still spoke their mother tongue at home (SMR: 1.53; 95%CI: 1.23–1.88) were more likely to be overweight than non migrant women. These results were observed in lower social groups but not in upper social groups. Conclusion These results demonstrate a heterogeneous relationship between immigration status and health, according to age at immigration, gender and origin while the migrant second-generation appears quite close to the population born French to two French-born parents. Further studies are needed to provide data on a wider range of health indicators. In the future, health surveys should document detailed information to allow for a full characterisation of the migrant population.

What place for literature in the education of French-speaking countries? A comparison between Belgium, France, Quebec and Switzerland.

This contribution attempts a partial synthesis of a large international study (Collès, Dufays &amp; Maeder 2003), which explores the teaching and learning of Romance languages in France, French Belgium, French Switzerland and Quebec. Each author analysed in their country or region the official instructions related to primary and secondary school and the plans of action related to teachers' training. All dealt with the same questions. Considering those data, the analysis here focuses particularly on the section of the report concerning the teaching and learning of literature in French mother tongue lessons. Specifically, I address three questions: 1. Over the last 50 years, what place and value has been given to literature in the official programs for primary and secondary schools in the 4 countries or regions, compared to the other subjects considered as part of teaching French? 2. What are today's prescriptions as far as literature is concerned? In relation to the contemporary debate between different paradigms, is literature first handled in terms of skills or in terms of knowledge ? Which values are these knowledges and skills bound to? 3. What about the teachers' literature training? Are there important changes in this field which might be similar to the changes in the official prescriptions? Where were and are the teachers trained ? What were and are the nature of, the level required and the relative weight given to this particular training?

L’évaluation en traduction pédagogique, technique et scientifique

From September 2004 to January 2006, we analysed 545 tests of English to French translations, written by French mother tongue university students. The analysis showed that errors can be divided into four major categories: comprehension, expression, research and proofreading, which correspond to the major steps a professional translator has to respect. Our objective is to present an error tree taking into consideration the analysed errors but also other potential ones, to facilitate evaluation and also help students adopt a pro-active attitude. This error tree is intended to take into account procedures a professional translator has to go through and it is considered evolutive.

L’évaluation en traduction pédagogique, technique et scientifique

From September 2004 to January 2006, we analyzed 545 tests of English to French translations, written by French mother tongue university students. The analysis showed that errors can be divided into four major categories : comprehension, expression, research and proofreading, which correspond to the major steps a professional translator has to respect. Our objective is to present a error tree taking into consideration the analyzed errors but also other potential ones, to facilitate evaluation and also help students adopt a pro-active attitude. This error tree is intended to take into account procedures a professional translator has to go through and it is considered evolutive.

カナダの英語圏都市におけるフランス語系住民の言語維持とフランス語系コミュニティの発展―ノバスコシア州ハリファクスの事例―

After 1969 when the French language became one of Canada's two official languages its sta tus gradually improved. In particular, the Canadian Charter of Freedom and Human Rights, included in the Constitution Act 1982, and the Mahe case heard by the federal Supreme Court in 1990 as a clarification of the charter promoted improvements to the education system for francophones outside Quebec. In other words, institutional support for francophones has been developed especially in the realm of education. While traditional francophone communities outside Quebec are mostly situated in rural and remote areas, francophone communities have been developed in English-dominant Canadian cities as a result of migration. This study, therefore, attempts to examine language maintenance of francophones and development of their community in the Halifax region, Nova Scotia, as a case of English-dominant Canadian cities, based on the author's field survey carried out in 2003, and which included some interviews.Concerning the demolinguistic situation in Nova Scotia, an analysis of census data from 1951 to 2001 confirms that the French mother tongue population and the bilingual population in Halifax County increased. In addition, age composition among francophones in Halifax County is much healthier than that of traditional francophone counties.Most francophones in the Halifax region were born in Quebec or the Maritimes, and moved to the Halifax region to work or enter university, and in some cases, met their future spouses there. Because Halifax is the most important city in Atlantic Canada, many departments and agencies of the federal government have a regional office. Consequently, there are many job opportunities for bilingual people. As a result, it is natural for francophones to work in the Halifax region as bilingual. In 1991, a French school and francophone school board was established in the Halifax region : finally the provincial-wide francophone school board was established in 1996. Of course, education is an important factor for language maintenance. However, the francophones in the Halifax region who want their children to keep the French language not only send their children to a French school in the region, but also make them speak French in conversations with the family members. Much effort is required to keep the French language in English-dominant Canadian cities. However, they succeeded in overcoming these difficulties and developing their community.Previous studies on language maintenance emphasized institutional support such as education, and its importance is clear in this study. However, institutional support since the 1980s in Nova Scotia seems to be belated in rural and remote areas. On the other hand, the social characteristics of the francophones in the Halifax region make institutional support effective.

The Second Language Component of Primary French Immersion Programs in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract This article provides a critical description of a long-standing Canadian bilingual program that completely immerses Anglophone students in a French academic context. Support from the target language culture, along with environmental reinforcements, contribute to the academic success of the students and the steady program enrollment. For Anglophone Montrealers, the immersion programs have been a staple of the public school system since the early 1970s. Owing in part to a law that has made French the official language in Quebec, Anglophones have flocked to bilingual education programs with aspirations of becoming functionally bilingual. With minor adjustments according to parental demands, curricular objectives are designed first to meet Anglophone students' needs, and second to match those of the French mother tongue students. While the successes of immersion programs are well documented in the literature, Anglophone students rarely develop a linguistic competence in French indistinguishable from their Francophone counterparts.

Mother tongue and marriage; the French and English in Canada

Linguistic intermarriage has important consequences both for the groups and individuals concerned. This paper examines marriage within and between the English and French mother tongue groups [in Canada] using individual level data. Characteristics such as education ethnic origin and official language ability were found to be significant factors but the social or demographic context was also important. A sizable effect of language ability was found but the magnitude varied with the demographic context. (SUMMARY IN FRE) (EXCERPT)

An analysis of the first marriage patterns of Canadian women

The authors use the Coale-McNeil marriage model to study the evolution and determinants of female 1st marriage patterns in Canada with data from the 1971 and 1981 censuses. The results indicate a tendency toward a stabilization of the mean age at 1st marriage and toward a decline in the proportion ever-marrying for younger cohorts. However the changes that are reported are not as large as those shown in recent marriage vital statistics data. A major reason for that difference is that the 1981 census data include some common law marriages. An analysis of the determinants of marriage patterns shows that French mother tongue birth in Quebec and in foreign countries Catholic religion education and urban residence effect positively the mean age at 1st marriage while birth in Quebec Catholic religion education and urban residence affect negatively the probability of ever-marrying. (authors)

Prevalence and Consequences of Nonmedical Use of Drugs among Canadian Forces Personnel: 1982

A single-stage systematic probability sample survey on nonmedical use of drugs was conducted among Canadian Forces (CF) personnel (n = 6,118) in 1982. Overall, 14% of CF personnel reported cannabis use and 4% reported multiple drug use within the 12 months preceding the survey. Prevalence rates are presented for nine classifications of drugs. Higher use rates are linearly and inversely related to age of CF member. Somewhat lower positive correlations are found between annual use of cannabis and never having married, having completed secondary or vocational school, French mother tongue, and being reared in central Canada. For military service correlates, higher use is reported with each lower rank among members serving overseas or in Quebec. For multiple drug use, two principal correlates are younger age and never having married or currently not married. All drug use is positively correlated with consumption of alcohol. Drug use correlates highly with the occurrence of physical symptoms, social disruption, and deterioration of work performance, with markedly higher rates of these adverse effects among multiple users. In comparison with the United States military population in 1980, CF members indicate considerably lower nonmedical drug usage in every category. CF rates are generally comparable to those among Canadian civilians of similar age groups.

The Language Crisis: An Exchange of Views

This is a brief response to the two articles by Charles Castonguay and Roderic P. Beaujot which appeared in the Winter 197 9 issue. Although readers may be growing weary of linguistic problems and policies, a topic on which this journal has published five articles in less than a year, I hope they will bear with me for one more comment. My reason for asking them to do so arises from the fact that the Castonguay and Beaujot articles are almost identical in viewpoint and my conviction that the alternative point of view deserves to be heard. The essential argument of both Castonguay and Beaujot can be summarized in four propositions, as follows: (1) The French language is weak, and growing weaker in most of Canada. (2) Therefore, most of Canada should be officially English unilingual. (3) The English language is strong, and growing stronger, in Quebec. (4) Therefore, Quebec should be officially French unilingual. Since logic is often alleged to be a French virtue, the fallacy of this argument is presumably apparent to the authors, although they may have hoped it would escape the attention of anglophone readers. Moreover, the factual basis for the argument is just as weak as the logical connections between its parts. It is probably true that the French language outside of Quebec is still in danger, although we will only be able to assess the real effect, if any, of the Trudeau policies when we are in a position to compare the 1981 census data with those of 1971.However, there is no basis at all for the assertion, frequently made by Quebec nationalists, that French is losing ground in Quebec itself. Castonguay actually refers to an 'existing net trend towards anglicisation in Acadia and even in Quebec itself, especially in the core Montreal area.' However, the first of the tables that accompany Beaujot's article suggests a different conclusion. If the numbers of Quebec residents having English, French, and other mother tongues in 1976 are compared with the numbers in 1971, a simple calculation reveals that French mother tongue increased by 4.4 per cent in the five year period prior to the victory of the Parti Quebecois, while English increased by only 3.3 per cent and 'others' actually decreased (for the first time in history) by 8.4 per cent. Since the English group in Quebec augments itself by assimilating immigrants, and not to any significant extent by assimilating francophones, this indicates that the pool of potential anglophones in Quebec is diminishing. In fact the table also reveals that the absolute number of persons with mother tongues other than French diminished slightly in Quebec between 1971 and 1976. It will probably have diminished considerably by 1981. One problem in attempting to conduct a rational dialogue with Quebec nationalists is the fact that almost any assertion about Quebec's anglophone minority can be used as the basis for a nationalist argument. If the anglophone minority is strong, the nationalists argue that this proves the existence of undeserved privileges that should be taken away from it. If the anglophone minority is weak, the nationalists argue that it can be ignored as part of some new accommodation between Quebec and the rest of Canada. Castonguay indeed assures us that a sell-out of the Quebec anglophones (euphemistically described as 'a language policy based on the principle of territorial bilingualism') could 'help to alleviate the basic

English-Canadian and French-Canadian Attitudes Toward Women: Results of the Canadian Gallup Polls

This paper examines the reaction of French and English mother tongue respondents to a variety of questions on women which were asked in the Gallup Polls between 1964. and 1973. These questions probe attitudes toward: 1) the acceptability of female physicians, lawyers and politicians; 2) the acceptability of married women working, both with and without family obligations; and 3) equality between men and women and the women’s liberation move ment. The analysis reveals that French mother tongue respondents tend to be more egalitarian than English mother tongue respondents with respect to women occupying male sex-typed occupations and with respect to equality in the public sector. However, once the mother and husband roles are involved, French Canadians are more likely than Anglo-Canadians to concur with the traditional stance that women should remain at home and husbands should be dominant. The analysis also reveals that for both mother tongue groups, differences in responses by sex exist, with women generally being slightly more egalitarian in their attitudes than males. However, the interaction between sex and language which was noted by Hobart iri his study of marital relations is virtually absent.