Copyright by Rozen Neupané 2020 The Dissertation Committee for Rozen Neupané Certifies that this is the approved version of the following Dissertation: A multidisciplinary approach to studying language attitudes and language use in the Ottawa-Gatineau region Committee: Barbara E. Bullock, Supervisor Carl S. Blyth Patience Epps Junyi Jessy Li Almeida Jacqueline Toribio A multidisciplinary approach to studying language attitudes and language use in the Ottawa-Gatineau region by Rozen Neupané Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2020 Dedication आमा कोिपला नौपाने र बुवा भगवान नौपानेलाई ! Acknowledgements Comment commencer cette thèse sans remercier tous ceux qui m’ont appuyé durant cette épreuve. Above all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Barbara Bullock. Without your constant support and encouragement, I would have been unable to make it this far. Tu m’as accompagné durant les moments les plus ardus de ce processus et tu m’as guidé lorsque je peinais à trouver mon chemin. Pour cela et pour bien d’autres raisons, je t’en serai toujours reconnaissant. I am equally grateful to the Julia Walther Fund and the Department of French and Italian at the University of Texas at Austin for the generous support throughout my graduate career. I am also thankful to my committee members, Carl Blyth, Patience Epps, Jessy Li and Jacqueline Toribio. Your feedback and your guidance have been invaluable to me throughout my graduate career. म मेरी आमा कोिपला नौपाने, मेरो बाबा भगवान नौपाने र मेरी िददी सनु नौपानेपित पिन आभार वक गनर चाहनु। हजुरहरको पेरणा, आिशवारद र हौसलाले मलाई यँहासम पुराएको छ। हामा पदयाताका समझनाहर र िहमाल र पहाडका मनोरम काँखमा सँगै िबताएका कणहर नै मेरा जोस र साहसका सोत हन्। Je suis également reconnaissant à ma douce moitié pour sa patience, sa bienveillance et sa présence à mes côtés. Je tiens aussi à remercier mes participant.e.s without whom this research would not have been possible. Finalement, merci à tou.te.s mes ami.e.s, tant à Austin qu’à Gatineau, à Ottawa, à Québec, à Katmandou, à Montréal, à Wheeling et ailleurs dans le monde. Merci de m’avoir accompagné dans mes folies, d’avoir partagé avec moi vos joies et vos tristesses et de m’avoir soutenu sans cesse ! v Abstract A multidisciplinary approach to studying language attitudes and language use in the Ottawa-Gatineau region Rozen Neupané, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2020 Supervisor: Barbara E. Bullock This dissertation focuses on the language behavior of individuals from the Ottawa– Gatineau metropolitan region (OGR) and the ways in which it correlates with their language attitudes as expressed in social media and in person. Although attitudes are believed to be intrinsically related to behavior, there is a lack of consensus among social psychologists regarding the nature of this relationship. Furthermore, there is a paucity of work exploring the link between language attitudes (LA) and language behavior. I intend to address this gap through my dissertation. The OGR is a fertile ground for such a study. It is a largely stable bilingual region where a total of 48.5% of the population speaks English and 30.3% speaks French as their mother tongue (Statistics Canada, 2016). However, the region is not a homogenous linguistic community. It is linguistically divided by the Québec-Ontario provincial border with the largely francophone Gatineau on the Québec side and the mainly anglophone Ottawa on the Ontario side of the border. The two cities are also different in terms of vi language policies and language planning measures adopted by their respective municipal and provincial governments. In this study, I established language use patterns through ethnographic observations in local cafés, farmer’s markets and grocery stores and through people’s use of French and English on Twitter. Language attitudes were assessed through a language attitude questionnaire (Kircher, 2009) distributed among people in different public spaces in the OGR and through a study of tweets from individuals in the region. The analysis reveals important differences in language attitudes and language use among francophones and anglophones. We also noticed that the two official languages do not enjoy the same status and that attitudes towards Québec/Canadian French (QF/CF) are more negative than attitudes towards European French (EF) or the French language in general. Finally, we discovered that language attitudes and language use had an important influence on each other, but this relationship was dependent on other factors as well. vii Table of Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xiv List of Figures .................................................................................................................. xvi Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................1 1.1. Introduction ..........................................................................................................1 1.2. Problem statement ................................................................................................2 1.3. Purpose of the study .............................................................................................4 1.4. Research questions ...............................................................................................5 1.5. Organization of the dissertation ...........................................................................6 1.6. Background and context ......................................................................................7 1.6.1. Canada as an English colony ................................................................7 1.6.2. Unification of Canada ...........................................................................9 1.6.3. La révolution tranquille and its aftermath ..........................................10 1.6.4. Language planning and policies in Canada outside Québec ...............14 1.6.5. French and English in the Ottawa-Gatineau region ............................17 1.7. Conclusion .........................................................................................................19 Chapter 2: Methodologies used in language Attitude research .........................................20 2.1. Attitude: .............................................................................................................20 2.1.1. The tripartite model of attitude ...........................................................21 2.1.2. The relationship between attitude and behavior .................................22 2.1.3. Language attitude and the dimensions of solidarity and status ...........25 2.2. Approaches to studying language attitudes .......................................................27 2.2.1. Societal treatment approach ................................................................28 viii 2.2.1.1. Analysis of pre-existing documents ........................................28 2.2.1.2. Participant observation ............................................................29 2.2.2. Direct approach ...................................................................................31 2.2.2.1. Questionnaire (design and precautions) ..................................32 2.2.2.2. Open-ended vs. closed-ended questions .................................35 2.2.2.3. Scalar vs. non-scalar measures ...............................................35 2.2.2.4. Interview .................................................................................37 2.2.3. Indirect approach ................................................................................39 Chapter 3: Language attitude research in French-Canada .................................................44 3.1. Historical account of attitudes towards Canadian French .................................44 3.1.1. Anglicismes and Canadian French ......................................................44 3.1.2. Purity of Canadian French and linguistic uniformity in French- Canada .....................................................................................................47 3.1.3. The archaic nature of Canadian French ..............................................48 3.1.4. The myth of French-Canadian Patois .................................................49 3.1.5. Resistance and opposition to the myth of French Canadian patois ....51 3.1.6. The complex relationship between French Canadians and the English language .....................................................................................52 3.2. Language attitudes in Québec since the 1960s ..................................................53 3.3. Trends and patterns of language use in Québec ................................................65 3.3.1. Language behavior of Québec francophones ......................................65 3.3.2. Language behavior of Québec anglophones .......................................68 3.3.3. Language convergence and maintenance ............................................69 ix Chapter 4: Study 1 - Language attitudes expressed through questionnaire .......................73 4.1. Research instrument ...........................................................................................73 4.1.1. Overview of the questionnaire ............................................................75