{"id":3584,"date":"2021-03-25T13:25:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T13:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/?p=3584"},"modified":"2024-02-07T19:54:48","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T19:54:48","slug":"quebecois-french-as-an-inclusion-criterion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speechneurolab.ca\/en\/quebecois-french-as-an-inclusion-criterion\/","title":{"rendered":"Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois French as an inclusion criterion"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Photo credit: <\/span>Carte du monde<\/a> adapted from <\/span>Vardion<\/a>, transformed in SVG by <\/span>Simon Eugster<\/a> under licence <\/span>CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>
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\u201cWhy must Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois French be my main language so that I can participate in your research project?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

This is a question we are frequently asked and that deserves to be answered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Contrary to popular belief, there isn\u2019t only one unique French language (and the same is true for all languages), but rather a great variety of French! Let\u2019s begin with some historical context. With colonization, French spread outside of Europe to all the\u00a0<\/span>inhabited\u00a0continents of the globe. In Quebec City, at the time of New France,\u00a0the<\/span>type<\/span>of<\/span>French\u00a0<\/span>spoken was similar to that used in Paris or other regions of France. However, French evolved in France and all the former colonies in a parallel manner, in part due to contact with other languages, such as English, in the case of Quebec.\u00a0<\/span>Today, Quebec French distinguishes itself by particularities in its vocabulary and expressions (for example, referring to a car as a \u201cchar\u201d, or the expression \u201ctire-toi une buche\u201d – literally, \u201cpull a log\u00a0<\/span>for yourself\u201d [to sit on]) and sentence construction (for example, the \u201ctu interrogatif\u201d, as in \u201cIl pleut tu?\u201d*), but\u00a0<\/span>also pronunciation. For example, when it is placed before the vowels \/i\/ and \/u\/, the \/t\/ is pronounced \u201c\/ts<\/sub>\/\u201d, with a tiny \/s\/ (for example, the word tuque (toque \u2013 a winter hat or beanie \u2013 in English) is pronounced \u201cts<\/sub>uque\u201d), and the d is pronounced \u201cdz<\/sub>\u201d (for example, d\u00eener (dinner in English) is pronounced \u201cdz<\/sub>\u00eener\u201d). Vowel pronunciation also varies. For example, the difference between the words \u201cbrun\u201d and \u201cbrin\u201d (brown and bit, respectively**) is markedly greater in Quebec French than in the type of French spoken in Paris.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

It should be noted that within a same country, many types of French can coexist, such as Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois French, Ontario French, Manitoba French and Acadian French in Canada. Not to mention the multitude of regional accents that can be found within the same variety! One needs only think of the accents heard in Quebec French, which vary by region \u2013 Montreal, Quebec, Lac-Saint-Jean, Charlevoix, Beauce\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

So, why does this matter to us?<\/p>

To study the mechanisms that allow us to perceive and produce speech, our lab uses stimuli (for example, recordings of vowels or syllables) that were created by speakers of Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois French, since it\u2019s the most common variety in Quebec City, where our studies take place. While the multiple varieties of French\u00a0<\/span>are a wealth in real life, in\u00a0<\/span>the context of our studies, these linguistic differences could affect our participant\u2019s answers. By making sure that the participants have a common linguistic knowledge base and experiences, we can compare their\u00a0<\/span>results to speech\u00a0or language<\/a><\/span>\u00a0tests knowing that the differences observed between the participants are not related to their language. The main language is thus a\u00a0controlled variable<\/em>!<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Since the Quebec variety of French is sufficiently different from other varieties \u2013 such as the Belgian, Beninese, French, Swiss, Senegalese, and Togolese varieties \u2013 we must make sure that our participants are familiar with this variety so that they\u00a0<\/span>can perform well on our tests.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

To mention one example: vowels are pronounced very differently throughout the French-speaking countries. If we ask our participants to identify Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois vowels, their performance will vary according to their linguistic baggage, which isn\u2019t the\u00a0<\/span>object <\/span>of our studies. Our projects rather aim to understand the relationship between the brain and language and how this relationship evolves with age and the practice of musical activities. That\u2019s why we must make sure that the participants all share a common language variety!<\/span><\/p>

* In formal French, a declarative sentence is turned into a question by switching the verb and the pronoun\u2019s positions, as follows:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Il\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>pleut. (It is raining.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Pleut-il<\/strong>? (Literally, \u201cRaining it?\u201d meaning Is it raining?)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Another way to turn it into a question is by adding \u201cest-ce que\u201d:\u00a0Est-ce qu\u2019<\/strong>il pleut?<\/span><\/p>

In Quebec, mainly in informal contexts, the second person singular pronoun\u00a0\u201ctu\u201d (you) can be added at the end of a declarative sentence to turn it into a question. In this case, it doesn\u2019t act like a pronoun, in that it doesn\u2019t depend on what other pronouns or subjects are present \u2013 \u201ctu\u201d rather serves to make the sentence into a question, just like switching the verb and pronoun or adding \u201cest-ce que\u201d does.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

** This difference is akin to the difference between American and British English\u2019s pronunciation of the word\u00a0water: Americans might say \u201cwaw<\/em>ter\u201d (like the word\u00a0awe<\/em>) while\u00a0British people might say \u201cwoa<\/em>ta<\/em>\u201d (oa as in\u00a0boat<\/em>).<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Bibliography:<\/p>

Brasseur, A. (2009).\u00a0Les marqueurs phon\u00e9tiques de la perception de l\u2019accent qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois.<\/em>\u00a0[M\u00e9moire de ma\u00eetrise, Universit\u00e9 Laval].\u00a0http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/20.500.11794\/20701<\/a><\/p>

Chevalier, G. (2008). Les fran\u00e7ais du Canada : faits linguistiques, faits de langue.\u00a0Alternative Francophone, Vol. 1(1)<\/em>, 80-97. http:\/\/ejournals.library.ualberta.ca\/index.php\/af<\/a><\/p>

Lapointe, F. Les vari\u00e9t\u00e9s de fran\u00e7ais dans le monde.\u00a0\u00a0Retrieved March 23, 2021 from the website:\u00a0https:\/\/www.csn.qc.ca\/francisation_info\/les-varietes-de-francais-dans-le-monde\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>

\u0160eleg, M. (2010) Les particularit\u00e9s lexicales du fran\u00e7ais qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois. Verbum, 1, 55-62. https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/330717173<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Suggested readings:<\/p>