Quebec French

Quebec French or Québécois French is a dialect of French spoken natively by the great majority (82.8%, census 2001) of people in Quebec, Canada. It developed out of 17th and 18th century French and in many respects it resembles that more closely than the contemporary French now spoken in France, although it also includes elements of various provincial dialects and Oïl languages.

Related Topics:
Québécois - French - Quebec - Canada - France - Dialect - Oïl languages

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Quebec, depending on one's perception of its status as a rightful dialect, the language may be called le français québécois, le franco-québécois or simply le québécois. The somewhat pejorative Joual strictly refers to a particular working-class dialect, but is sometimes used to refer to the entire Québécois dialect.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As of 2004, about 6,700,000 Canadians speak French as a first language, (most of them speaking le québécois or its sister Acadian French), and unlike with most dialects, these figures are not shrinking. For comparison, this is about 9% of the 77 million francophones in the world, and over 20% of the 32.5 million population of Canada.

Related Topics:
First language - Acadian French - Francophone

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although Quebec French is sometimes thought of as an almost exclusively non-standard variant, and certain aspects of it are sociolinguistically stigmatized, most aspects of Quebec French that distinguish it from the French of France are found throughout the different registers of speech and writing, including standard and formal usage.

Related Topics:
Standard - Sociolinguistically

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two similar but nonetheless distinct dialects spoken in the province tend to be confused with Quebec French. Those are Saguenay French, spoken in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, and Gaspésie French, in Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

Related Topics:
Saguenay French - Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean - Gaspésie French - Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~