Rodrigue Landry

Subjective ethnolinguistic vitality viewed as a belief system

Proceeding on the assumption that inter‐ethnic behaviour is mediated by perceptions of ethnolinguistic vitality, it is postulated that the prediction of inter‐ethnic behaviour should rely on a cognitive theory framework. In this article, cognitive orientation theory is used as a basis for the development of a model of subjective ethnolinguistic vitality viewed as a belief system. Following a discussion of possible limitations for the prediction of inter‐ethnic behaviour of an existing measure of subjective ethnolinguistic vitality, the results of an exploratory study on the relationship between beliefs pertaining to ethnolinguistic vitality and self‐reports of assimilative linguistic behaviour are presented. A questionnaire based on four types of beliefs originating from cognitive orientation theory was effective in discriminating between two subgroups of a francophone ethnic minority. Scores on this questionnaire were also highly related to self‐reported assimilative linguistic behaviour.

French in South Louisiana: Towards Language Loss.

This paper presents a study of the ethnolinguistic vitality of the French community in Louisiana. After a brief overview of the history of French Louisiana and of a model of bilingual development based on the ethnolinguistic vitality framework, the present vitality of the French community in Louisiana is analysed in terms of its demographic, economic, political, and cultural capitals. The aforementioned provide the background of a study in which 403 high school students participated. Four groups of students were formed on the basis of the proportion of francophones in their families. Measured contacts with French through the social network, the media, and schooling were low for all student groups. Except for schooling in French which was uniformly low for all groups, the above results on social and media contacts with French, as well as the scores on self-rated oral French competence, use of French, French identity, and beliefs indicative of the desire to integrate the French community, covary as a functi...

A macroscopic intergroup approach to the study of ethnolinguistic development

Abstract This article analyzes the ethnolinguistic development of linguistic minority group members using two complementary models. The first is a macroscopic model of the factors that influence the ethnolinguistic development of minorities in intergroup contexts. The model comprises three levels of factors: a) the macrosocial, comprising two sublevels (ideological, legal and political framework; institutional and social context), b) the microsocial (linguistic and cultural socialization), and c) the psychological (ethnolinguistic development). The second model analyzes specific hypotheses between the microsocial and psychological levels. This model shows precise relationships between different aspects of language and cultural socialization and important components of ethnolinguistic development (for example, linguistic competencies, group identity, subjective vitality, language motivation, language use). These models take into consideration factors that are related to social determinism and others that favor selfdetermination at the group and individual levels. The second model can be tested empirically with the use of structural equation modeling. Examples of research with Francophone minority group members in Canada are presented. It is contended that these models could be applied to other linguistic minorities.

Self-Determination and Bilingualism.

This article focuses on additive bilingualism for minority group children, more specifically the development of strong literacy skills in English and in the childrens language. The personal autonomization language learning (PALL) model is presented. It specifies eight testable hypotheses. Self-determination theory (SDT) is central in the PALL model. It is argued that autonomy support in both languages is related to basic needs satisfaction (autonomy, competence, relatedness: ACR) which is in turn related to internally regulated motivation for learning the language. Owing to the strong social attraction of English, the model proposes that favouring the learning of the minority language and basic needs satisfaction in that language foster additive bilingualism because of the strong interlinguistic transfer of minority language competencies and of an internal motivational orientation. Self-determination to learn the minority language and minority literacy skills seems to transfer across languages. Research results support the model; these are summarized and educational implications are discussed.

Bilingual schooling of the Canadian Francophone minority: a cultural autonomy model

Abstract The article gives an overview of the sociopolitical context that led to the provision of educational rights to Francophone minorities outside Quebec. It also presents a conceptual framework that distinguishes between French immersion, a bilingual program intended to promote additive bilingualism for majority group members, and French schooling, an approach developed to foster additive bilingualism for minority group members. French schooling is described as a cornerstone to cultural autonomy, a process that leads to cultural survival and ethnolinguistic vitality. The concept of cultural autonomy is defined as well as each of its components: social proximity, institutional completeness, and ideological legitimacy. Finally, the article discusses the challenges of the Canadian Francophone minorities in their quest for cultural autonomy. This cultural autonomy model of minority education is seen as unique and as an approach to minority education that could be applied to other linguistic minorities.

Subtractive bilingualism: The case of Franco‐Americans in Maine's St John Valley

Abstract The present study is part of an ongoing project which analyses the effects of ethnolinguistic vitality on the bilingual development of anglophones and francophones in Canada and the United States. The study, carried out in two school districts of the St John Valley in the state of Maine in the Unites States, compares three subgroups of francophones and anglophones on measures of the strength of their network of linguistic contacts in French and English, their communicative and cognitive‐academic linguistic proficiency in these languages, their vitality beliefs concerning the francophone and anglophone communities, the strength of their ethnolinguistic identities and their degree of use of French and English in various social domains. The results, which are interpreted within the framework of a macroscopic model of the determinants of additive and subtractive bilingualism, are very conclusive in showing that bilingualism for these Franco‐American students is strongly subtractive. The assimilation ...

Official language minorities in Canada: an introduction

Abstract In a past issue of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language, Richard Bourhis (1994) edited a number of articles that dealt with “French-English language issues in Canada.” The issue dealt with language contacts from both a national and a regional basis. The present issue of IJSL focuses on the official language minorities of Canada, that is, English in Quebec (the only province where French is the sole official language) and French outside Quebec, the latter being a minority language in the other nine provinces and three federal territories. French does have official status with English in the small province of New Brunswick, where Francophones constitute one-third of the population. It also has official status with English and some aboriginal languages in the three northern territories. However, language issues in Canadas confederation are diverse and official language minorities experience a wide variety of sociolinguistic contexts. Before we present the structure and content of this special IJSL issue, we give a brief overview of some historical background relevant to this topic of official language minorities in Canada.