Quebec English

Encyclopedia : Q : QU : QUE : Quebec English

Quebec English is the common term for the set of various linguistic and social phenomena affecting the use of English in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian Province of Quebec and more specifically in the Greater Montreal Area.

Contents

1 True ''Couleurs''
2 Pardon my French!

2.1 First-language English-speaker Phenomena

3 My English is ''broke''.

3.1 French-language Phenomena in English (not restricted to Quebec only)

4 See also

True Couleurs

There is no linguistic evidence for the existence of a distinct regional dialect or variety of Quebec English, the more so in that there are no distinctive phonological features and very few restricted lexical features common among all first-language speakers of English from or raised in Quebec. Nonetheless, it has been clearly demonstrated that most second-language speakers of English, be they francophones or allophones, do use an interlanguage of French and English or simply have a distinct pronunciation of their own due to social isolation in ethnic enclaves. Therefore, “Quebec English” is often a misnomer for the practices by these second-language speakers of English, especially so since alone or together they outnumber first-language English-speakers.

Not including Montreal’s fairly recently frenchified public face, there is virtually nothing that separates Quebec first-language speakers of English from the greater pan-Canadian and English North American sprachraum. With this in mind, note that first-language speakers of English are a minority only in Quebec (under 10%), though at the same time they form part of an overwhelming majority both in Canada (67%) and in North America (over 98%). In fact, there is actually more American television and music available in Quebec than UK or English-Canadian cultural products combined.

Moreover, the vast majority of Quebec born-and-raised first-language English-speakers (roughly 90%) live in the Greater Montreal area. In addition, there is a strong influx of outside-Quebec first-language speakers of English living or visiting Quebec, and more particularly Montreal. For example, there are tens of thousands of Americans and non-Quebec-resident Canadians who either attend Concordia University or McGill University, in English, for three or more years, or work for American or Canadian companies in the Greater Montreal area. In the summer months, roughly half of all tourists are anglophones from the U.S. or from Canadian provinces other than Quebec. These human geography realities are a significant force in keeping the anglophone enclaves connected to the rest of the English-language continent.

It is revealing, however, to take stock of the various language phenomena due to contact between English and French encountered in Quebec, and particularly in the Greater Montreal area, and practised either by first or second-language speakers.

In the next two sections, the symbol N@ denotes that a language practice is neither used nor deemed acceptable in English-language writing and broadcasting in Quebec. The same lack of acceptability holds true by any outside-Quebec anglophone's notion of English.

Pardon my French!

First-language English-speaker Phenomena

1 The use of French-language toponyms and official names of institutions/organizations for which there is no English-language translation. Though not normally italicised in English written documents, they are pronounced as in French, especially in broadcasting. Note that the reverse language status situation holds true when using French in the province of British Columbia, where many of that province's entities have a designation only in English.

the Régie du Logement[link], the Cégep du Vieux-Montréal

Québec Solidaire, the Parti Québécois

Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Trois-Rivières

Particular cases: Pie-IX (as in the boulevard, bridge and métro station) is pronounced /pinœf/ or /pinʌf/, not as "pie nine". Also, sometimes a final written consonant is included or added in pronunciation such as for "Bernard" (rue Bernard). Montreal is always pronounced as an English word whereas rue Lambert-Closse is known simply as "Clossy Street". English-speakers generally pronounce the French Saint- (m.) and Sainte- (f.) in street and place names as the English "saint"; however, Saint-Laurent is pronounced as in French /sɛ̃lɔrɑ̃/. Sainte-Foy is pronounced "saint-fwa" /seɪnʔ.fwa/ not "saint-foy" /seɪnʔ.fɔɪ/, which would be used elsewhere in English-speaking North America. Saint-Denis is pronounced on the Saint model with a silent s in Denis. Verdun, as a place name, has the expected English-language pronunciation, /Vɝɹ.'dʌn/, while English-speakers from Verdun traditionally pronounce the eponymous street name as "Verd'n", /'Vɝɹ.dn/.

Saint-Léonard, a borough of Montreal, is pronounced "Saint-Lee-o-nard" /seɪnt.li.o.'nɑɹd/, which is neither English nor French.

Used by both Quebec-born and outside English-speakers, acronyms with the letters pronounced in English, not French, rather than the full name for Quebec institutions and some areas on Montreal Island are common. For instance, SQ --> Sûreté du Québec (pre-Bill 101: QPP --> Quebec Provincial Police), NDG --> Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and DDO --> Dollard-des-Ormeaux. This pattern is also used for unofficial English-language place names such as TMR for Town of Mount Royal.

Finally, some French place names are very difficult for English-speakers to say so much so that even those proficient in French may use an English pronunciation among themselves. Examples are Vaudreuil, Belœil and Longueuil in which pronunciation of the segment /œj/ (spelled "euil" or "œil") is a challenge. These are most often pronounced as "voh-droy" /vo.drɔɪ/, "bel-oy" /bɛl.ɔɪ/ and "long-gay" /loŋ.geɪ/ or less often "long-gale" /loŋ.geɪl/. Those unable to exact the French pronunciation include some but not most English-speaking newscasters in Quebec.

2. N@ (when written) - The practice of using English versions of place names that are officially in French. Not restricted to monolingual, older English speakers of British Isles ancestry, this practice is only considered non-standard/unacceptable in newsprint, broadcasting or signage. In casual conversation, it goes rather unnoticed and is perfectly acceptable.

Pine St., Park Ave., Mountain St., Dorchester Blvd. - often used without St., Blvd., Ave., Rd., etc. (Former names for the newer designations "avenue des Pins", "av. du Parc", "rue de la Montagne", "boulevard René-Lévesque")

Guy and Sainte-Catherine Streets (have always been French; English pronunciation, though)

Town of Mount Royal (English name instead of official "Ville Mont-Royal"); see Wikipedia article title

Pointe Claire (English pronunciation and typography, instead of official "Pointe-Claire")

3. The use of an extremely limited number of Quebec French terms for everyday places (and occasional items) that have English equivalents; all of these are said using English pronunciation or have undergone an English clipping or abbreviation. They tend to be preceded by the definite article in contexts where they could normally take “a(n)”.

the autoroute - instead of highway, since all road signs and designations are in French

the dep - instead of corner store, deli or convenience store; from dépanneur

the guichet - instead of ATM or money machine, even when all ATMs are labelled “ATM”

the SAQ - instead of liquor store (pronounced “sack”; from the provincial government monopoly Société des alcools du Québec; pronounced in French as individual letters S-A-Q)

a vernissage - instead of preview or private viewing or opening at an art gallery

the metro - this is debatable since 1. "métro" is pronounced the English way by all first-language English speakers when referring to the Paris Métro and 2. Boston, San Diego, Washington D.C. etc. also have metros

(no article) poutine - gravy fries, fries with gravy/sauce, fries with gravy ‘n’ cheese; however, the quality and type of ingredients (cheese curd, etc.) are actually quite different in Quebec and poutine is thus a different dish altogether

4. French-language first and last names using mostly French sounds. Often there is English stress on the first syllable when used by monolingual Canadian/Quebec anglophones and sometimes a final written final consonant is pronounced whereas in French it would not, e.g. Bouchard --> /buʃard/. Nonetheless, an individual's pronunciation of French-language names varies depending on his or her proficiency in French pronunciation or habit of using an English phonological framework.

Mario Lemieux

Marie-Claire Blais

Jean Charest

Jean Chrétien

Robert Charlebois

exception - Céline Dion (pronounced entirely in English)

It is important to note here that many second-language English speakers in Quebec also apply the above practices but do so as interlanguage or translation, not as a part of standard, local English or near-native proficiency.

My English is broke.

French-language Phenomena in English (not restricted to Quebec only)

High-frequency, second-language phenomena by either allophones or francophones occur, predictably, in the most basic structures of English. Commonly called “Frenglish”/”franglais”, these phenomena are a product of interlanguage, calques or mistranslation and thus do not constitute so-called “Quebec English”. This is even truer because such phenomena are identical among most French speakers throughout the world who speak English as a foreign language.

A. N@ - The use of French collocations.

Close the T.V. - Turn/shut off the TV.

Close the door. - Lock the door.

Open the light. - Turn on the lights.

Take a decision. - Make a decision.

Put your coat. - Put your coat on.

B. N@ - The use of French grammar or no grammatical change. Many of these constructions are grammatically correct but only out of context. It’s both the calquing and transfer from French and the betrayed meanings that make these sentences foreign to English.

He speak/talk to me yesterday. --> He spoke/talked to me yesterday. (verb tense)

Me, I work in Laval. --> I work in Laval. (vocal stress on “I”)

It/He have many books. --> There are many books. (from French il y a meaning “there is/are”)

I like the beef and the red wine. --> I like beef and red wine. (overuse of definite article to mean “in general”)

You speak French? --> Do you speak French? (absence of auxiliary verb; otherwise it means surprise, disbelief or disappointment when out of context)

I don’t find my keys. --> I can’t find my keys. (lack of English modal auxiliary verb)

At this moment I wash the dishes. --> I’m washing the dishes right now. (verbal aspect)

My computer, he don’t work. --> My computer won’t work. (human pronoun, subject repetition, uninflected auxiliary verb)

I would like a brownies. --> Could I have a brownie? (plural –s thought to be part of the singular word in relexification process; other examples: “a Q-tips”, “a pins”, “a buns”, “a Smarties”, “a Doritos”, etc.)

I would like shrimps with broccolis. -–> Could I have some shrimp and broccoli? (use of regular plural instead of English unmarked plural or non-count noun; this is not a case of hypercorrection but of language transfer).

Do you want to wash the dishes? --> Will/would you wash the dishes? (lack of English modal verb; modal vouloir from French instead - Veux-tu laver la vaiselle?)

C. N@ - Pronunciation of phoneme /ŋ/ as /n/ + /g/ (among some Italian Montrealers) or /n/ + /k/ (among some Jewish Montrealers, especially those who speak Yiddish) due to ethnic enclave isolation such as within municipalities, boroughs or neighbourhoods on the Island of Montreal such as Saint-Léonard and Outremont/Côte-des-Neiges/Côte-Saint-Luc. These phenomena occur as well among some Yiddish speakers and some Italian speakers in New York City and in other diaspora areas.

D. N@ - The use of false cognates (faux-amis); this practice is quite common, so much so that those who use them abundantly insist that the false cognate is the English term even outside of Quebec. Note that these French words are all pronounced using English sounds and harbour French meanings. While the possibilities are truly endless, this list provides only the most insidious false cognates found in Quebec.

a stage – an internship (pronounced as in French or in English)

college – cégep (collège, cégep; collégial, cégepien)

Chinese pâté – shepherd's pie (pâté chinois; most francophones do not know that shepherd’s pie is not a Quebec-only dish)

a cold plate – some cold-cuts (reversed gallicism - assiette de viandes froides)

(a) salad – (a head of) lettuce

a subvention – a (government) grant

an acetate – a transparency

a parking – a parking lot/space

a location – a rental

a good placement – a good location

So-so. – Fine. or Just fine. (from Ça va.)

It’s ok. – It’s fine. (also from Ça va.)

Perfect. – Fine or Just fine. (from Parfait.)