Canada: Language Situation

doi:10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/01848-4

Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (Second Edition)

2006, Pages 194-195

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Canada has a multilingual population and two official languages on the federal level, English and French. 23% of the population speak French as their principal language against 68% who speak English. Canadian English resembles American English, but has some characteristics of its own in its vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation and grammar. Canadian French also differs from European French, since it has preserved some archaic features. About 17% of all Canadians speak a language other than English or French as their mother tongue, whether one of about 20 Aboriginal Canadian languages, e.g., Cree or Inuktitut, or an immigrant language, such as Chinese or Italian.

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Grażyna J Rowicka received an M.A. in English studies in Lublin, Poland, and a Ph.D. in general linguistics at Leiden University, The Netherlands. In 1999 she was awarded a Talent Science Fellowship from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). In 2000 and 2001 she was a visiting fellow at the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia, B.C., Canada, where she did research on the phonology and morphology of Aboriginal Northwest Coast languages from the Salish family. Her current work focuses on Quinault, an extinct Salish language of Washington State, USA. She also researches the varieties of English spoken by Native Americans and Canadians on the Northwest Coast. Her other interests involve the phonology and morphology of Slavic languages and language contact, in particular ethnically marked language varieties. She is a lecturer at the Department of Languages and Cultures of Native America, Leiden University, The Netherlands.

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