ERIC Number: ED187114
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1979
Pages: 101
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Is the French Language Losing Its Struggle for Maintenance: An Investigation of Language Usage in Two Bilingual Communities in Maine.
Guerrette, Linda May
Over the last four generations, the language patterns in Maine's bilingual Franco-American communities have undergone a shift characterized by a widespread adoption of English and a decline of the ethnic language. The younger generations generally are unable or unwilling to use the French language and they express negative attitudes towards that language. The status of the French language in two communities in Maine, Van Buren and Lewiston, was studied in a three part investigation concerned with language dominance, the domains of language behavior, and the patterns of alternation between English and French. Twenty families, ten in each community, comprising 3 or 4 generations, were interviewed. In addition to the statistically measurable aspects of dominance, domain and alternation, the attitudes of the informants toward French and English were also studied. It is concluded that the effort to assimilate the Franco-Americans into the mainstream of American life is leading to the apparently irreversible loss of the French language as a medium of communication. (Author/AMH)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Dissertations/Theses - Masters Theses
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Maine
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A