The Hierarchization of French Varieties in an English-Dominant Context of Canada

Abstract

The following study focuses on learners of French in an English-dominant context and contributes to a better understanding of language hierarchization by investigating attitudes toward different varieties of French. It aims to identify a possible correlation between the evaluation of different varieties of French and the participants’ socio-demographic and linguistic backgrounds and examines how learners of French express their preferences regarding French varieties. One hundred and fifty-six learners of French participated in the online experiment, 17 of whom participated in a follow-up interview. The quantitative analyses of the online experiment revealed that participants who lived in more than one country gave higher scores to all accents, and that participants who had studied French longer tended to hold more favourable attitudes toward European French. The qualitative analysis of the follow-up interviews indicate that participants expressed a preference for learning and speaking European French compared to other varieties. These results point to the importance of exposing French learners to as many varieties, both local and international, as possible.