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 Languages of Canada

There a multitude of languages spoken in Canada. Canada's two official languages are English and French. On July 7, 1969, under the Official Languages Act, French was made commensurate to English throughout the federal government. This started a process that led to Canada redefining itself as a bilingual and multicultural nation. Of Canada's 32.2 million population, Anglophones and Francophone represent 56.3% and 28.7% of the population respectively. The rest of the population represent Chinese, Italian, German, and Aboriginal languages.

The number of languages listed for Canada is 89. Of those, 85 are living languages and 4 are extinct.

Living languages

Here are a few examples:

  • Acadian French
  • Haida
  • Inuktitut
  • Dene
  • French Dialects
  • Mohawk
  • Slavey
  • Newfoundland English
  • Ojibwe

Acadian French (le français acadien) is a dialect of French spoken by the Acadians in the Canadian Maritimes provinces and the Saint John River Valley in northern Maine. Like other Canadian French dialects, it diverged from the French of France about 400 years ago at the time of the French colonization of the Americas, and therefore sounds archaic and Old World to other Francophones, characterized by vocabulary and other traits reminiscent of the language of Rabelais and Molière. Cajun, a French dialect of Louisiana, is descended from Acadian French.

Many speakers of other dialects of French, such as the French of France and even other Canadian dialects, have difficulty understanding Acadian speech.

See also Chiac, a distinct variety of Acadian French heavily influenced by English, and Saint Mary's Bay French, a distinct variety of Acadian French spoken around Saint Mary's Bay, Nova Scotia.

The Haida language is the language of the Haida people. It contains no less than 46 consonants and only three vowels. Though once considered to be a member of the Na-Dené language family, it is now considered to be a language isolate.

It is extremely endangered, with only 35-50 living speakers, all of whom are over the age of 70.

Currently Haidas in all three dialect communities are working to reactivate the language. In Skidegate aging speakers gather on a daily basis to work on the "southern" or Skidegate dialect and have produced a series of recordings. In Massett the group is younger and are working to reintegrate the "northern" or Massett dialect in their daily lives. In Alaska the community has built a web based language tool complete with on line recordings of the "Kaigani" dialect. As of spring 2006 a very limited edition manual will be available to Haida working as Watchman in the field. The manual which uses a unique graphic style called haida manga is part of the informal bu growing haida efforts to create teaching tools. Haida manga was also used in a 2001 publication called a "Tale of Two Shamans" ISBN 1-894778-01-4. This publication includes work originally translated by John R Swanton (1906) and re presented by linguist J. Enrico (2001).

Inuktitut (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ, literally "like the Inuit") is the name of the varieties of Inuit language spoken in Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree-line, including parts of the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and to some extent in northeastern Manitoba as well as the territories of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and traditionally on the Arctic Ocean coast of Yukon.

It is recognised as an official language in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. It also has legal recognition in Nunavik - a part of Quebec - thanks in part to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, and is recognised in the Charter of the French Language as the official language of instruction for Inuit school districts there. It also has some recognition in Nunatsiavut - the Inuit area in Labrador - following the ratification of its agreement with the Canadian federal government and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Canadian census estimates that there are roughly 30,000 Inuktitut speakers in Canada, including roughly 200 who live regularly outside of traditionally Inuit lands.

The Cape Breton accent describes variants of Canadian English spoken on Cape Breton Island, a small island off the north-eastern coast of the province of Nova Scotia in Canada. Most of the inhabitants of European ancestry descend from people long resident on the island, and the community has had time to develop a local dialect. Much of the population is descended from Highland Scottish settlers fleeing the Highland Clearances. But there has long been a French-Acadian element on the island, as well as Irish, Italian and Eastern European influences.

The accents can be divided into three categories: the Western or Gaelic accent (Judique, Mabou, the Margarees), the Industrial accent (Sydney, Glace Bay) and the French Acadian (Communities surrounding Cheticamp, L'Ardoise and Isle Madame)

Dene Suline (also Dëne Sųłiné, Dene Sųłiné, Chipewyan, Dene Suliné, Dëne Suliné, Dene Soun’liné) is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of central Canada (parts of Alberta, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Saskatchewan) and is also called Dene. Chipewyan is part of the Athabaskan family and is related to the Navajo language. This language is spoken by 4,000 out of 6,000 ethnic Chipewyans.

Dene Suline is one of the official languages of the Northwest Territories, the others being English, French, Cree language, Dogrib, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, and Slavey

French is the mother tongue of about 6.7 millions Canadians (23% of canadian population). While French is the language of the majority in Quebec, about one million native Francophones live in minority in the other provinces.

French is one of Canada's two official languages at the federal level; the other is English and is the language of the majority. French is also the sole official language in Quebec, while it is co-official with English in New Brunswick. In the other provinces, federal and provincial public services in both official languages, where population size warrants it.

French Dialects in Canada

As a consequence of geographical and political/historical (British Conquest) isolation, the French language in Canada presents three distintive dialects (distintive from French in Europe, but also between each other within Canada):

  • Quebec French (/Canadian French) is spoken mainly in Quebec, but also by French-speaking communities in Ontario, Western Canada, Labrador and even in the New England region of the USA.

  • Acadian French is spoken by the Acadians in the Canadian Maritimes and some parts of Quebec and Newfoundland. It is an ancestor of Cajun French.

  • Newfoundland French is spoken by a few people in Newfoundland. It is an endangered dialect.

Note that the term Canadian French refers strictly to one of these dialects, namely Quebec French (the most widely spoken dialect), and not the French language of all Canada. Quebecers prefer to say Quebec French, while Francophones of other provinces might prefer the use of Canadian French. It is just a question of identity, not a difference in meaning. The three dialects can be historically associated with three of the five former colonies of New France, respectively Canada, Acadia and Newfoundland.

Also, Michif is a mixed language based on Cree and Canadian French.

Mohawk is a Native American language spoken in the United States and Canada. It is part of the Iroquoian family. Mohawk has two major dialects, Akwesasne and Kahnawake; the differences between them are largely phonological (e.g., Akwesasne has /l/ while Kahnawake has /r/).

Slavey (also Slave) (pronounced: [slevi]) is an Athabaskan language spoken among the Slavey First Nations people of Canada.

In older literature, the name of the language was spelt Slave; however, the connotations of this, along with the pronunciation of the homograph slave (the final e should be pronounced) have caused the change to Slavey instead.

The language can be written using Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics or the Roman alphabet.

Slavey was the native language spoken by the fictional band in the Canadian television series, North of 60. Nick Sibbeston, a former Premier of the Northwest Territories, was a Slavey language and cultural consultant for the show.

Newfoundland English is a name for several dialects of English specific to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, distinct from Canadian English. Some specific Newfoundland English dialects are similar to the accent heard in the southeast of Ireland, while others are similar to those of West Country England, or a combination of both, due to mass immigration from a limited number of ports in those specific regions. It would be reasonable to say that for many speakers of American English, Newfoundland English dialects are among the most difficult English dialects to understand.

In Newfoundland, the heaviest speakers of these dialects do not live in the capital, but in outport communities. The generations are slowly losing their roots with the language, with only 25% of Newfoundland youth speaking it fluently. Another 56% speak in a "Newfoundland Accent" only when they are angry, annoyed or trying to get a point across, and 92% of the older generation are completely fluent.

These separate dialects developed because of Newfoundland's history as well as its geography. Newfoundland, was one of the first areas settled by English speakers in North America beginning in small numbers in the early 1600s before peaking in the early 1800s, most of the population remained rather isolated on the island, allowing the dialects time to develop independent of that on the North American continent.

Newfoundland English was recognized as a separate dialect by the late 1700s when George Cartwright published a glossary of Newfoundland words. Newfoundland remained separate from Canada as a British colony (apart from a period of self-government from 1855 to 1934) until 1949. Newfoundland is an island in the Atlantic Ocean separated by the Strait of Belle Isle from the mainland portion of Labrador, a large region of sparsely populated sub-arctic land.

Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa or Anishinaabemowin (ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᒧᐎᓐ in Eastern Ojibwe syllabics) is the third most commonly spoken Native language in Canada (after Cree and Inuktitut), and the fourth most spoken in North America (behind Navajo, Cree, and Inuktitut). It is spoken by the Ojibwe people (Anishinaabeg). As their fur trading with the French increased the Ojibwes’ power, the language became the trade language of the Great Lakes region, and was for hundreds of years an extremely significant presence in the northern US. In the Ojibwe language, the proper term for itself is Anishinaabemowin or Nishnaabemwin, which includes the Algonquin language and Mississauga language, though they are not considered Ojibwa due to not being part of the Council of Three Fires. Ojibwa forms of Anishinaabemowin are often called Ojibwemowin and Saulteaux form as Nakawêmowin. Many consider the Severn Ojibwe as a separate language functioning as a transitional language between Ojibwe and Cree; Severn Ojibwe call themselves Anishinini and their language as Anishininimowin.

SOURCES: Wikipedia Ethnologue