CSI: Quebec -- Crack French police unit still pursues English-speaking lawbreakers

[Wilson Gray]

All endangered languages should be so fortunate. Normally, only the
"national" language has such police powers, as is or has been the case
in France, Spain, Russia, Germany, Great Britain, etc. Minority
languages are fortunate to be merely left alone as opposed to being
actively stamped out.

-Wilson

On 5/24/07, Dennis Baron <debaron at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dennis Baron <debaron at UIUC.EDU>
> Subject:      CSI: Quebec -- Crack French police unit still pursues
>               English-speaking lawbreakers
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> There's a new post on
> the Web of Language:
>
> CSI: Quebec -- Crack French police unit still pursues English-=20
> speaking lawbreakers 30 years after the passage of protectionist =20
> language law
>
> This summer is the 30th anniversary of the law that makes French the =20
> official language of the Province of Qu=E9bec.  Passed in 1977 on a =20
> groundswell of French-separatist voting, the Charter of the French =20
> Language gives all Quebecers the right to speak and be spoken to in =20
> French at work, in school, in restaurants and shops, and just about =20
> everywhere else.  The province=92s francophones point to the increased =20=
>
> visibility of French on the streets of Canada as evidence of the =20
> law=92s success, while critics of Bill 101 counter that only 17.65% of =20=
>
> all Canadians can sing the national anthem in both official languages =20=
>
> and call for decriminalizing English.
>
> Although both English and French share official status in Canada as a =20=
>
> whole, and over the years the Supreme Court of Canada has restored =20
> some English-language rights inside Qu=E9bec, recently Christine St-=20
> Pierre, the Qu=E9bec government minister responsible for the Charter of =20=
>
> the French language, affirmed that the Office of the French Language =20
> would continue its =93zero tolerance=94 policy toward English.
>
> The Office of the French Language, the body charged with making =20
> French =93the normal and customary language of work, communication, =20
> commerce, management,=94 and just about everything else Qu=E9becois, =20
> possesses extraordinary police powers to investigate complaints, =20
> interrogate suspects, collect evidence, determine guilt, and assess =20
> hefty fines for violations of the law.
>
> Operating as a kind of CSI: Qu=E9bec, inspectors from the Office of the =20=
>
> French Language fan out across high-crime areas of the province -- =20
> typically, the English-speaking suburbs of Montr=E9al and its downtown =20=
>
> shopping district -- looking for errant apostrophes, a sure sign of =20
> an English infraction, since there are no possessive apostrophes in =20
> French.  These forensic linguists measure business signs with laser-=20
> guided graphom=E8tres to see if French lettering is at least twice the =20=
>
> size of everything else.  After pausing for a croissant and a caff=E8 =20=
>
> latte at Le Starbucks on rue Ste Cath=E9rine, they seize gallons of the =20=
>
> contraband Italian coffee and take it back to headquarters in venti-=20
> sized evidence cups.  And they raid bistros in le Quartier Chinois, =20
> lining their pockets with dim sum in grands sacs Ziplocs and =20
> threatening servers who can=92t speak English, let alone French, with =20=
>
> deportation for offering them =93spareribs =E0 l=92ail=94 instead of =
> =93travers =20
> de porc.=94
>
> Find out more about this, and Quebec's new no-francophone-left-behind =20=
>
> policy, on
>
> www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
>
> DB
>
>
>
> Dennis Baron
> Professor of English and Linguistics
> Department of English
> University of Illinois
> 608 S. Wright St.
> Urbana, IL 61801
>
> office: 217-244-0568
> fax: 217-333-4321
>
> www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron
>
> read the Web of Language:
> www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org