The results of the census are shocking.
We are not contemporaneous with a silent linguistic collapse, but with a brutal collapse. Everything goes faster than expected.
But there is no jerk among our elites. More of a sick denial.
They’re willing to recognize that French in America will always be brittle, but it’s a rhetorical concession to then do nothing and declare that things are finally going better than we think.
collapse
The main argument for the rejection is to say that we should disregard the mother tongue criterion as well as that of the language spoken at home when we see that it is precisely French that is breaking down according to these indicators.
We should only be interested in the language used in public.
Nonsense! Imagine if the current trend continues and in 20 years the French will clearly be in the minority in Greater Montreal.
Public language will no longer have the socio-demographic bases to sustain itself. Their status will be nothing but artificial. She will collapse.
Another argument: more than 90% of Quebecers can converse in French. Let’s pretend it’s true. But imagine that among these Quebecers, more than half are culturally English speakers.
Can we seriously believe that they will continue to speak French in public just to please the last few “old-fashioned” Quebecers? North American and Canadian Anglicization will prevail.
demographics
French is at the core of our identity.
It is not just a “useful” common language, but an important language of identity. It is linked to a people who have been rooted here for four centuries.
At the heart of Québec identity, we find not just French, but the struggle for French. And if the historical French-speaking majority and those who have integrated themselves into it over time are no longer there to lead them, no one will do it for them.
