Linguistic Consequences of Language Contact and Restriction: The Case of French in Ontario, Canada (Oxford Studies in Language Contact)

This study of minority languages documents the linguistic consequences of contact and restriction. First providing sociohistorical and sociolinguistic backgrounds, the book analyzes the effect contact with English and language-use restriction has had on the evolution of the French dialect spoken in predominately English-speaking Ontario, Canada. Addressing such fundamental theoretical issues as the interplay between linguistic and extralinguistic causes of structural change and the mechanisms of linguistic change in bilingual communities, this work will appeal to linguists interested in language contact and linguistic change.