1. Objectifs

Intentions :
« This article examines the preservation of ancestral languages by looking at the extent to which allophone immigrants [...] have transmitted their mother tongue to Canadian-born children. » (p. 20)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
2002 Ethnic Diversity Syrvey (EDS). Cette étude comprenait un échantillon de 42 500 répondants âgés de 15 ans et plus.

Instruments :
Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

« Preserving a ancestral language is a challenfe for many linguistic minority communities. This study focused on Canadian-born individuals whose parents were both born in another country and had a language other than English or French as their mother tongue. Just under one-third responsents used their parent’s mother tongue at home on a regular basisé The percentage of those who used the ancestral language with friend was even smaller. A multivariate analysis showed that for those who no longer lived with their parents, the probability of speaking the ancestral language regularly at home was only 20%. This situation seems to suggest that, in most cases, the ancestral language will not be transmitted to the next generation. Respondents with the highest probability of regularly using their parents’ ancestral language at home are the ones who acquired the language as their mother tongue and who, up to the age of 15, spoke it with their parents most of the time; those with a lower income; those born in Quebec; those married to or living with someone who also knows the ancestral language; those living with their parents; and those with a strong sense of ethnic or cultural belonging. » (p. 26)