Le paysage linguistique : reflet d'une réalité bilingue à Moncton, Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada

Abstract

The linguistic landscape of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, seems particularly interesting because Moncton is situated at the edge of the Acadian French-speaking territory. It therefore represents a mixed region where French- and English-speaking inhabitants share space. Near Moncton lies Dieppe, a community with 74% of French-speaking inhabitants, but also Riverview, where 80% of the population is English-speaking. Both cultures collide in downtown Moncton. The results of this study show that even though English is clearly the dominant language, apparently existing as an independent culture, as seen in unilingual signs and symbols, French occupies its own, yet shared, space in this linguistic landscape. There is a surprising interaction between English and French, visible in signs that mix both languages by using syntactic differences, which seems to indicate that the inhabitants of Moncton are used to both languages and are relatively at ease with it.