linguistic discrimination – Educational Sociolinguistics

language is a tool not a status symbol

by: anonymous

One of the articles I found most compelling this semester was the Allen (2006) piece about immigrant student integration in schools in Quebec. In this study the researcher observed and interviewed five students in the accueil program who were over the age of sixteen, eager to complete their secondary studies like their peers in their home countries, and barred from mainstream classes in their second year in Quebec because of their “inadequate” French. These students expressed feelings of discouragement, depression, anxiety, and disappointment. Because they were delayed and held back, many of the students viewed French as a barrier to learning rather than an academic tool for success. What I found the most heartbreaking was a Korean girl’s descriptions of her feelings of failure, blaming herself for her circumstances, and not feeling smart like she had in her home country (Allen, 2006).

Cansada

Ana

Last year, one of my professors – that I am going to call Rosseforp* – apologized in class because they would not have a potluck party on the last day of class like one other professor was going to do. On the day of the party of this other professor, as the whole department had been invited, Rosseforp showed up. I approached them and said “You should ‘borrow’ this party”, and they promptly answered “It’s not ‘to borrow a party’, the correct expression is ‘to crash a party’”, and went away, leaving me with my mouth open, ready to answer that that was not what I meant. I was trying to suggest to Rosseforp that they should “use” the party as if it was their own (thanking people for coming, for example) because most students were in both classes anyway. Isn’t that what the word “borrow” means? We certainly use it more often with concrete objects, as in “borrow a pen”. But it can also be used figuratively, as in “borrow a word from another language” or “borrow an idea”. However, I guess, being a non-native speaker, any deviation from the standard or “acceptable” language (as usually decided by whomever is the self-proclaimed language expert available in the area) will be regarded as a mistake and there will be no attempts to recognize any possible intentional meaning behind the words chosen.

Apartment Sociolinguistics

Andréanne Langevin

With the return of chirping birds and good weather, Montrealers can finally say “Tis the season for apartment hunting!”. As many know, while the rest of Canada celebrates, in Montreal, the tradition is to move on July 1^st. In the spring season, tenants planning on moving begin the great hustle and bustle of finding a new place and signing a lease.

A co-worker of mine (let’s call her Patricia) recently told me something that piqued my interest. Her friend from New Brunswick (let’s call her Clara) had recently messaged in English a potential landlord because she was interested in the apartment they advertised. She did not receive a reply to her rental application, so she called Patricia to the rescue. Pat proposed to help translate the message into French. She sent it again and, you guessed it, Clara received an answer within the next 48 hours.