Allophone (Canada)

In Canada, an allophone is a resident whose mother tongue or home language is neither French nor English.[1][2] The term parallels anglophone and francophone, which designate people whose mother tongues are English and French, respectively. Native speakers of aboriginal languages are generally not treated as allophones.

Origin of term

The word "allophone" (from Greek ἀλλόφωνος allóphōnos "speaking a foreign tongue")[3] is formed from the Greek roots ἄλλος (állos), meaning "other", and φωνή (phōnḗ), meaning "sound" or "voice". The term became popularized during the Quiet Revolution as French Canadian society in Quebec sought to integrate immigrants, most of whom had traditionally integrated into the English-speaking community. As integrating immigrants was deemed essential to assure the survival of French-speaking Quebec in light of plummeting birth rates, demographers devised this category to monitor the integration of immigrants into French- and English-speaking communities. Because allophones often adopt English, French or both languages at home or learn one language before another, they can be grouped into English or French communities based on home language or first official language learned.

Demographics

Canada

In 2006, 20% of the population of Canada were allophones.[4]

Ontario

In 2001, 24.2% of the population of Ontario were allophones.[5]

Quebec
Quebec allophone population by mother tongue 2001 [6]
Language Single Multiple
Total
1. Italian 124,695 6,065
2. Arabic 76,285 10,245
3. Spanish 70,100 4,825
4. Greek 41,980 1,755
5. Haitian Creole 34,885 5,710
6. Chinese 33,490 705
7. Portuguese 33,360 1,455
8. Vietnamese 21,635 1,125
9. German 17,690 995
10. Polish 17,160 685
11. Armenian 13,935 405
12. Romanian 12,660 460
13. Russian 12,420 355
14. Tamil 11,095 860
15. Persian 10,495 395

Allophones constitute an increasing share of the Quebec population and are the main source of population increase in the province, reflecting both increased levels of immigration, declining birthrates among established anglophone and francophone populations, and a shift in immigration from English-speaking countries to Asia and the Americas.[7] In 1971, allophones were 6.6% of the population; by 2001, this had increased to 10.0%. Speakers of Arabic, Spanish and Haitian Creole experienced the greatest growth from 1996 to 2001.[8]

Increasing numbers of allophones speak French at home: about 20.4% of allophones in the province reported that they spoke French most often at home in 2001, compared with 16.6% in 1996 and 15.4% in 1991.[8] Most allophones live in Montreal, Quebec's largest metropolitan area. They tend to migrate out of the province: between 1996 and 2001, over 19,170 migrated to other provinces; 18,810 who migrated to Ontario.[9]

Most of allophone students in Quebec attend francophone schools.[10]

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gollark: Which is silly for a variety of reasons - even if you agree with the concept of randomly reweighting votes based on area, at least do it honestly and directly and not in such a bizarre, convoluted and arbitrary way?
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See also

Notes
  1. Corbeil, Jean-Pierre; Blaser, Christine (2007). "2006 Census: The Evolving Linguistic Portrait, 2006 Census". Statistics Canada.
  2. Bélanger, Claude (23 August 2000). "Allophone[s]". faculty.marianopolis.edu.
  3. ἀλλόφωνος. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
  4. "CYB Overview 2008 > Languages". Statistics Canada.
  5. "Mother Tongue and Home Language in Ontario". Government of Ontario, Ministry of Finance.
  6. "97F0007XCB2001002".
  7. "Profile of languages in Canada: Provinces and territories". Statistics Canada.
  8. "Profile of languages in Canada: Provinces and territories". Statistics Canada.
  9. "Net population gains or losses from interprovincial migration by language group, provinces and territories, 1991-1996 and 1996-2001". Statistics Canada.
  10. Marin, Stéphanie (2017-03-31). "Les allophones fréquentent les écoles francophones au Québec" [Allophones attend French-language schools in Quebec]. LaPresse.ca (in French). Retrieved 2020-06-11.
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