Quebecoise French Ideologies

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As someone who has studied French for several years and taken many French classes, I’ve heard “European French is the proper, or best French” more times than I can count. All of my teachers have taught their classes European French, which is the norm. This is the type of French that is taught in the majority of schools, even ones that are in Canada, in Quebecoise-speaking areas (Ciolac, 2011), because European French is what is thought to be the best, or most proper type of French. It is a widespread and common conception that this French us superior to other varieties of French, such as Quebecois French; but this seems to be a prejudice more towards the Quebec people, their history, and their culture, rather than the language they speak. According to Heller, French embodies certain principals that relate to social values. French is typically a language associated with wealth, and class; a language that has been spoken by noble and higher social classes for centuries (Heller, 1999). However, apparently not all types of French are viewed as equal. Monica Heller did a study at a francophone school in Canada, and her research revealed some of the first-hand accounts of perceived prejudice towards the Quebecoise variety of French. Many of the students that Heller spoke with and studied spoke non-European French, but rather Quebecois, or other varieties of the language. The school was taught in the standard, European French, which inevitably caused some discrepancies with the students and their communication. There are many differences in Quebecois and European French, the use of moé, toé, and ouai instead of moi, toi, and oui for example (Heller, 1999). Quebecoise French is also perceived to me more egalitarian, because of their preferred use of tu over vous, the latter being the more formal word for “you”, used frequently in European French. Seemingly small
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