*Drums Fingers Irritatedly On Desk*

[redbrunja]

Okay, this is just ridiculous.

I'm trying to write a 8-12 page paper on efforts to preserve french language in Quebec, and I'm finding nothing. Now, this is a subject my teacher told me would be a snap to research - the morning I went to discuss this with her, she said she'd heard something on this subject on the radio that very morning.

However, those swanky online databases that WWU undoubtedly pays thousands each year so I can search? Giving me no love.

Proquest? Nothing.

Jstore? Nothing written after 1935.

I'm having better luck with wikipedia, google, and npr.org.

Shesh.

Comments

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i would have thought that to be easy to research as well as often as we hear about it even around here

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

You'd think. I've had one person tell me that Quebec isn't trying to preserve there language the way Parisians are, which strikes me as strange because there are deparments in both france and Quebec relating to making sure that there are offical french words instead of just loan words.

However, if people are talking about it, they're doing it in frustrating, ways that are impossible to find.

Suffice it to say, I'm switching my topic to something that actually has information avalible in a format I can work with.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

that's probably the smartest idea.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I didn't even finish telling this story to my mother before she was like, 'switch topics.' And she mentioned that I should have done that sooner, which was probably true as well.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

sometimes you don't just want to abandon ship because something's a little more difficult. Other times, there's no choice

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

True. However, since I have a habit of beating my head against he wall with situations like this, for me it's more knowing when to cut my loses.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

trust me, i've been there to

This is why your research is turning up bunk

[nimblnymph.livejournal.com]

The reason why is because the French Canadians are NOT trying to preserve their particular flavor of French. FC is a very different, more gutteral French than Parisian. It's like looking at the Spanish spoken in Spain and Mexico. They have a lot in common, but you can't speak Mexican Spanish in Spain and have it be understood.

If you're going to research the subject of preserving a language, here's something that might come in handy (seeing as this is what my major is in and I've done these two topics before?:

Parisian French. There IS an effort the preserve and expand on the dialect. They actually have a school/government owned building that new words are created in. What with all the changing in science and technology all over the world, they want to integrate this into their everyday usage BUT they want it to sound French. Most of the time, they use cognates, but there are a few where they create entirely new words just to preserve the beauty of the French language.

There's a MASSIVE effort in preserving the native languages of the varying African tribes. A lot of the reason why so many of the tribal dialects are dying out is because of genocide, integration of the tribes, foreign influence. There's a huge cultural preservation center in South Africa that has a HUGE online library full of research on the subject. You can do all kinds of different angles on this.

Anyway, if you need any help, you've got a linguistics major at your disposal. I've got site links, notes, personal experience... whatever you need.

Oh, *Thank You* (You're Going To Regret Making That Offer*

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Thank you for telling me this. I've decided to focus on Parisian french, and have already been able to find more information about this. I would *love* to have all the information that you have about that subject. (When you say cognates, you mean they do a literal translation of the word like chein chaud for 'hot dog'? Dictionary.com was remarkably unhelpful with that word.)

I've got site links, notes, personal experience... whatever you need.

I'll take them. ^_^ Thanks so much for helping me with this - you have no idea what a relief it was to have someone let me know that, no, I'm not crazy and haven't lost all the reserach skills I possess.

Re: Oh, *Thank You* (You're Going To Regret Making That Offer*

[nimblnymph.livejournal.com]

No, a cognate is a word that sounds the same as your natural language. An example would be technology. In French, it's technologie, or something of the like spelling. Sorry... Just woke up, so spelling is off. If you look at any of the main European languages (French, Spanish, Italian and German) you'll notice a lot of words that are cognates of each other. The reason for this is because ALL of them are based off of the root language of Latin. Like, in Spanish, the word for library is bibliotequa. In French, it's biblioteque. Again, don't quote my spelling right now. I haven't had any coffee yet.

When the Nords, Normans and Moors did their traveling/conquering of England, they brought these words with them and mixed them into the everyday Gaelic, Celtic and old English, thus creating the melting pot language we speak today.

Well, that completes your linguistic history class for today. Coffee time. You have my email, so just hit me up if you need something. I've got the afternoon off so I'm gonna try and dig around the find where all my written notes (and possibly my term papers) are for you. It could be just the geek in me, but it's actually a rather interesting subject.

Re: Oh, *Thank You* (You're Going To Regret Making That Offer*

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Ah, I totally knew about that, just not what they were called. I love cognates so much in french. (Still bitter that English doesn't count as a romance language.)

I remember learning about how English developed was the best part of my (early, early, early) British Literature Class (aka become all the cool writers were born).

I'll probaly send you an email once I've scoped out what the library has to offer and hit up the reference libraians - I've already found twice the info on Parisian French then I did on Quebecois.

Thanks! Enjoy the glorious coffee.

[silver-spotted.livejournal.com]

that sounds like a really interesting topic . . . I was all set to do some investigating for you, because I am Canadian Studies nerdy like that, but I see you have switched topics. Ah well.

good luck on the paper!

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Well, thank you for the thought. It is an interesting topic and I know there has to be information out there about it, as well as a huge current debate about all the efforts Quebec goes to to keep there people speaking french.

However, when it takes me four hours of research and I have nothing that seems quoteable, and an hour of research gets me three books that have information I can actually use, it's time to cut my loses and twice topics.

Thanks for the thought, though.

[silver-spotted.livejournal.com]

i see . . . that's no fun . . . definitely a situation to cut your losses

continued good luck! :)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yep. And thanks! I could always use a little luck when writing these papers.