论文部分内容阅读
Abstract：The article discuss in detail the meaning of Canadian bilingualism， historical origin， language trend and its advantages and disadvantages. The formation of bilingualism is the result that colonizers exclude Indians’ languages， Britain and France-the two founding fathers compete to each other and unite to jointly suppress and impair Indians’languages culture.
Key words： Canada；bilingualism；multiculturalism；official language
The meaning of Canada’s bilingualism
Once Canada is mentioned， we usually think of its vast territory， sparse population， advanced science and technology， multiculturalism. An important part of multiculturalism embodied in bilingualism. Why does Canada form bilingualism on the basis of multiculturalism? What is its benefit? What are the problems caused by bilingualism? The article will discuss these questions.
Bilingualism is a system in which two languages are used. Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics defines： individuals or a certain region or race speak two languages at least. But this definition can not make us clearly know the meaning of Canada's bilingualism. Canada's bilingualism has its special meaning and features. Accurately speaking， Canada’s bilingualism is that two official languages- English and French are used to communicate， especially public institutions can use two languages to serve the public.
We must make certain of one point， Canada’s Official Language Act does not stipulate every Canadian must have bilingual ability. To respect English-speaking and French-speaking Canadian’s language rights and choice， Canada official language act provides that federal administrative office must use bilingual to serve the public. Certainly it indicates some positions of federal government must be taken by the people who can speak both English and French.
Not all Canadian provinces are bilingual provinces， but legal bilingual service must be provided. Some public service organizations， such as tax department， labor department， banks， public transportation， aviation， post and telecommunication， etc， parliament debate also use English or French， the two languages have equal legal position and validity. As it is difficult and expensive to provide bilingual service to all the ethnic groups in Canada， the government set some rules to define when and where and how to offer bilingual service.
The historical origin of Canadian bilingualism
As we all know， actually North America is not a unpopulated area discovered by Europeans. Canada， the vast land， belonged to North American Indian tribes. Far before the arrival of Europeans， Canadian Indians had lived on the land. They had been a race which had social institutions and political entity.
Europeans came to the land at the end of 10th and the beginning of 11th century. It is recorded that the first comers are Norseman or Viking. Then French explorers swarmed here to do fur business with natives. In 1608， Samuel de Champlain established a French settlement which is the present Nova Scotia. Afterwards， over 150 years， French settled in St. Lawrence area， other places in today’s Quebec. Their influence reached today’s Manitoba area in the west. Even though at that time it is estimated that Indians in Canada had been over300，000 at that time， Europeans did not think using which language was a problem which was worthy of considering. It is natural that French became the communicative language.
However， the early colonizers did not think of the land belonged to France originally was ceded to Britain for France’s defeat in the Seven Years War （1756-1763）. With more and more British entered Canada， languages problem became a problem that Britain Canadians and French Canadians hade to consider. Especially after American War of Independence broke out， a large number of Britain colonizers in America who were opposed to independence and loyal to Britain royal family swarmed into Canada， which made the problem more prominent.
It is the unique history that makes Canada forms English and French-the two large language groups. The languages of Canadian Indians which account for a large proportion of Canadian total population， nevertheless， are not taken into account. These native Indians conversely became exiles on their own land. The original over 300，000 Indians， for colonizers’ slaughter， persecution， discrimination and plague， nearly have not increase over many years. Till today， their amount is only 324840 which only accounts for 1.14% in Canadian total population. They genuinely become minorities from masters.
The formation and development of bilingualism
In 1968， Canadian parliament passed official language act. The formal position of English and French were established. From then on， bilingualism has formed in Canada. In order to implement language act， the act also created the position of official language commissioner to watch its implemental situation.
A country confirms a language by means of legislation. The reason is that the language is spoken by few people. French in Canada is in such a situation. The problems of legislation and rights of language were inevitably produced. If we explore Canadian languages problem， we would see it from historical viewpoint and consider its background and development.
The formation of Canadian bilingualism can be divided into three stages：
The first stage： practical bilingualism period （1760-1867）
The stage is namely the time before the confederation was established. In 1760， British conquered French and occupied Canada. They attempted to assimilate French and convert their religious tradition- catholic. But they failed. Therefore， they had to allow the existence of catholic and French in the court， legislature and administrative activities. The British authority was forced to permit the usage of French. Confronting a group who refused to be assimilated， the pragmatic British had to compromise gradually. This period was named “practical bilingualism period”.
The second stage： constitutional bilingualism period （1867-1969）
In1867， the Parliament of Great Britain passed the Britain North America Act in which item 133 stated in Canadian House of Commons， Senate and Quebec legislature， English or French can be used in debate. However， the compilation of files and conference record must use these two languages. The statutes of Canadian Parliament and Quebec legislature should be printed and published with the two languages.
Item 133 started the second stage： “constitutional stage”. But over the 100 years， bilingual policy did not surpass its stated scope. Even if it was only a constitutional protection towards English and French， from reluctance to formal recognition is still a progress in a way. In other words， the position of French is consolidated. But it does not treat French as a official language. It can only be said a bud of formal bilingualism.
The third stage： legislative bilingualism （1969- ）
Since the world warⅡ， the continuous struggle and effort of French Canadians have made the authority pay attention to the official position of English and French and the fate of other minorities’ languages. Meanwhile， population structure， especially the trend that French population outside Quebec are assimilated as English population further helped the polarized development in official languages group. The phenomenon caused people’s thought about the relation between language impartiality and ethnic unity.
Therefore， Canada established the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism（1963-1969） to tackle and harmonize bilingual problem and demand throughout the minorities throughout the country， as long as have a certain amount of population， they should be offered public service with their own languages and given more chance to use their mother tongue. The commission made French become a work language the same as English in federal government， governmental document and exchange letters. In addition， the commission emphasized， in legal bilingual provinces， the scope of language multiculturalism would be left so that bilingualism and multiculturalism can supplement each other.
The greatest achievement of the commission’s work is the Official Language Act： the act announces English and French have “equal position” in parliament and public service. It is applied in an all federal departments， judiciary institutions， administrative institutions and royal enterprises established according to federal law. All the provincial governments， auxiliary departments of public institution and private organizations receive encouragement and economic aid. Bilingualism policy begun to be implemented in public institutions.
But the process of striving for French's position is not very smooth. The trend of French culture assimilated by English culture is more and more obvious. Quebec French group is quite resentful about the phenomenon and resist. In 1974， Quebec stipulated French was the only official language. It lead Quebec to constitute and pass 101 Act （also called French Charter）， which pushed the French’s anti-attack movement to a new upsurge. The relations between British Canadians and French Canadians became dramatically tenser. Separatist movement also became more and more violent.
In April， 1982， Canadian Rights and Freedom Charter came into effect. The charter consolidated previous constitutional principles on language usage in federal administrative departments and confirmed New Brunswick was the only bilingual province. The creative part of the act is that it provides that Canadian minorities can receive education with their own language under Canadian official languages circumstance. It seems that people have begun to acknowledge the insurance of minorities' language education rights is the key of the survival of minorities' language group. The effect of the act could be seen as a new compromise after fights between the two parties. However， the proposal that minorities could receive education with their own language moderates the problem of French position.
The official language act was amended in1988. It stipulates English and French have equal used position in parliament and courts established by parliament. Canadian citizens have the rights served by federal government with any language in Canadian capital region and any place where minorities who use the two languages stipulated by official statute reaches a certain amount or any industry determined by service kind. To ensure that English-speaking and French-speaking citizens enjoy equal employment and promotion chance on the basis of competence in all the federal institutions， their amount should reflect their proportion in Canadian population. The act grants federal employees the rights that they can choose any official language to work in Canadian capital region and stipulated region.
From what we have discussed above we can see explicitly that Canadian bilingualism formed on the unequal basis of excluding native Indians. It is the result that Britain and France-the two founding father nations fight each other and suppress and impair native Indians at the same time.
Canadian languages trends
Even if the statistics about English and French employment population in federal English institutions indicates that French accounts for 27% which is nearly equal to its proportion in total population. English-speaking population accounts for 72% which is much higher than its proportion in total proportion. Other languages employees account for less than 1% which is also much lower than their proportion in total population.
In Quebec， although English employees’ proportion is less than its proportion in Quebec， French employees account for a less proportion in enterprises management， science and technology， and the like which are professional jobs. In senior managerial talents who have higher social position and economic income， British Canadians account for 77.3%， French Canadians only account for 24%.
It is English population’s advantages in social status， economic income and employment choice that make more and more people tend to learn English. In addition， English， in international society， is far more widely used in internet- which is the sign of present information era than French. Therefore， it can be predicted that aforesaid trend will continue in the future.
According to the trend， English-speaking Canadians cannot but become more and more while French-speaking Canadians will become less and less. Bilingualism under multiculturalism circumstance will slowly tend to unipolarize. However， the historical fact that New France belonged to Britain for its defeat makes French Canadians cherish a kind of historical psychological hidden sore. So they are sensitive and pay special attention to their own cultural tradition， only relying on natural and equal competition， in predicted future， explicitly does not have winning hope. Thus， they have no choice but seek to policy protection or demand independence for racial indignation. They will not hesitate though separation from confederation is by no means benefit to Quebec's economy.
The advantages and disadvantages of practicing bilingualism under multiculturalism
Multiculturalism and bilingualism indeed have remarkable significance in protection of racial cultural traditions which have their own features. But undeniably， bilingualism shows following disadvantages：
1 Large expense. As implementing bilingualism demands all the governmental documents and national statutes are published with the two languages， lots of translation， training and harmonization work need to do and subsidy to bilingual employees need to increase， which require plenty of extra money. According to statistics， Canada paid 264，900，000 dollars for implementing bilingualism in1995-1996. it indicates there are 2 dollars in every 1000 dollars of governmental service expenditure spending on bilingualism. It is only a part of government’s expenditure on service. If plus other related expense on implementing bilingualism， the expenditure is more than 0.7 billion at least.But some invisible expense can not calculate forever.
2 If not properly tackled， it is easy to cause separation of the country and social turbulence. Although multiculturalism and bilingualism can increase overall cultural variety of Canadian society and make ethnics supplement each other， it will be easy to make the country disintegrate if their political and economic benefit are not properly tackled. After the first emperor of Qin dynasty annexed other six countries， he asked all the people read the same language， use the same currency， which is the same reason. At present， the separatism movement in Quebec gathers steam. One of the most important reasons is that the common French culture makes French population in Quebec make same response in the same circumstance. Obviously， on this point bilingualism increase the federal government’s difficulty in dealing with such kind of event.
Conclusion
Presently， besides Quebec， the rest provinces are dominated by English. Thus， many French-speaking Quebeckers hold that French is still neglected， French traditional culture is still jeopardized and bilingualism is not implemented perfectly. As a matter of fact， the racial conflict between British Canadians and French Canadians is accumulated over a long history. It is impossible to solve it only relying on implementing bilingualism.
The formation of Canadian bilingualism is determined by its history and cultural background. Since Britain enjoy dominion over Canada， the laws and policies that British colonizers established have adopted assimilative and suppressive strategy. However， it is obviously quite difficult to assimilate a culture that is equal to itself or even has a longer history， especially under such a circumstance that their amount is large and concentrate together. In this case， the best strategy is to harmonize their relations and seek common points while reserving difference. The method Canada adopts is rightly so. The formation of such status quo is not changed according to people's will. It is not a race or a culture sympathizing with another but reach a balance after the conflict between these races and cultures.
References：
［1］Jack c. Richards， John Platt and Heidi Platt. Langman dictionary of language teaching & applied linguistics， new edition， Longman group UK limited， England，1992（second edition）， 1993.
［2］The Canadian encyclopedia， hurting publishers L td.， 1998. Linda Cardinal. The Limits of Bilingualism in Canada， University College Dublin， Ireland.
［3］王莴.加拿大的官方语言：人民的选择［A］.姜梵主编.加拿大社会与进步［C］.北京：中国社会科学出版社，1996.
［4］阮西湖.加拿大政府与土著民族关系探讨［A］.北京：中国社会科学出版社，1996.
［5］朱家衍.枫叶国度［M］.济南：山东大学出版社，1989.Canadian statistics：http：// www. Statcan. ca.
［6］佘志远.英语国家概况.外语教育与研究出版社，2001.
Key words： Canada；bilingualism；multiculturalism；official language
The meaning of Canada’s bilingualism
Once Canada is mentioned， we usually think of its vast territory， sparse population， advanced science and technology， multiculturalism. An important part of multiculturalism embodied in bilingualism. Why does Canada form bilingualism on the basis of multiculturalism? What is its benefit? What are the problems caused by bilingualism? The article will discuss these questions.
Bilingualism is a system in which two languages are used. Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics defines： individuals or a certain region or race speak two languages at least. But this definition can not make us clearly know the meaning of Canada's bilingualism. Canada's bilingualism has its special meaning and features. Accurately speaking， Canada’s bilingualism is that two official languages- English and French are used to communicate， especially public institutions can use two languages to serve the public.
We must make certain of one point， Canada’s Official Language Act does not stipulate every Canadian must have bilingual ability. To respect English-speaking and French-speaking Canadian’s language rights and choice， Canada official language act provides that federal administrative office must use bilingual to serve the public. Certainly it indicates some positions of federal government must be taken by the people who can speak both English and French.
Not all Canadian provinces are bilingual provinces， but legal bilingual service must be provided. Some public service organizations， such as tax department， labor department， banks， public transportation， aviation， post and telecommunication， etc， parliament debate also use English or French， the two languages have equal legal position and validity. As it is difficult and expensive to provide bilingual service to all the ethnic groups in Canada， the government set some rules to define when and where and how to offer bilingual service.
The historical origin of Canadian bilingualism
As we all know， actually North America is not a unpopulated area discovered by Europeans. Canada， the vast land， belonged to North American Indian tribes. Far before the arrival of Europeans， Canadian Indians had lived on the land. They had been a race which had social institutions and political entity.
Europeans came to the land at the end of 10th and the beginning of 11th century. It is recorded that the first comers are Norseman or Viking. Then French explorers swarmed here to do fur business with natives. In 1608， Samuel de Champlain established a French settlement which is the present Nova Scotia. Afterwards， over 150 years， French settled in St. Lawrence area， other places in today’s Quebec. Their influence reached today’s Manitoba area in the west. Even though at that time it is estimated that Indians in Canada had been over300，000 at that time， Europeans did not think using which language was a problem which was worthy of considering. It is natural that French became the communicative language.
However， the early colonizers did not think of the land belonged to France originally was ceded to Britain for France’s defeat in the Seven Years War （1756-1763）. With more and more British entered Canada， languages problem became a problem that Britain Canadians and French Canadians hade to consider. Especially after American War of Independence broke out， a large number of Britain colonizers in America who were opposed to independence and loyal to Britain royal family swarmed into Canada， which made the problem more prominent.
It is the unique history that makes Canada forms English and French-the two large language groups. The languages of Canadian Indians which account for a large proportion of Canadian total population， nevertheless， are not taken into account. These native Indians conversely became exiles on their own land. The original over 300，000 Indians， for colonizers’ slaughter， persecution， discrimination and plague， nearly have not increase over many years. Till today， their amount is only 324840 which only accounts for 1.14% in Canadian total population. They genuinely become minorities from masters.
The formation and development of bilingualism
In 1968， Canadian parliament passed official language act. The formal position of English and French were established. From then on， bilingualism has formed in Canada. In order to implement language act， the act also created the position of official language commissioner to watch its implemental situation.
A country confirms a language by means of legislation. The reason is that the language is spoken by few people. French in Canada is in such a situation. The problems of legislation and rights of language were inevitably produced. If we explore Canadian languages problem， we would see it from historical viewpoint and consider its background and development.
The formation of Canadian bilingualism can be divided into three stages：
The first stage： practical bilingualism period （1760-1867）
The stage is namely the time before the confederation was established. In 1760， British conquered French and occupied Canada. They attempted to assimilate French and convert their religious tradition- catholic. But they failed. Therefore， they had to allow the existence of catholic and French in the court， legislature and administrative activities. The British authority was forced to permit the usage of French. Confronting a group who refused to be assimilated， the pragmatic British had to compromise gradually. This period was named “practical bilingualism period”.
The second stage： constitutional bilingualism period （1867-1969）
In1867， the Parliament of Great Britain passed the Britain North America Act in which item 133 stated in Canadian House of Commons， Senate and Quebec legislature， English or French can be used in debate. However， the compilation of files and conference record must use these two languages. The statutes of Canadian Parliament and Quebec legislature should be printed and published with the two languages.
Item 133 started the second stage： “constitutional stage”. But over the 100 years， bilingual policy did not surpass its stated scope. Even if it was only a constitutional protection towards English and French， from reluctance to formal recognition is still a progress in a way. In other words， the position of French is consolidated. But it does not treat French as a official language. It can only be said a bud of formal bilingualism.
The third stage： legislative bilingualism （1969- ）
Since the world warⅡ， the continuous struggle and effort of French Canadians have made the authority pay attention to the official position of English and French and the fate of other minorities’ languages. Meanwhile， population structure， especially the trend that French population outside Quebec are assimilated as English population further helped the polarized development in official languages group. The phenomenon caused people’s thought about the relation between language impartiality and ethnic unity.
Therefore， Canada established the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism（1963-1969） to tackle and harmonize bilingual problem and demand throughout the minorities throughout the country， as long as have a certain amount of population， they should be offered public service with their own languages and given more chance to use their mother tongue. The commission made French become a work language the same as English in federal government， governmental document and exchange letters. In addition， the commission emphasized， in legal bilingual provinces， the scope of language multiculturalism would be left so that bilingualism and multiculturalism can supplement each other.
The greatest achievement of the commission’s work is the Official Language Act： the act announces English and French have “equal position” in parliament and public service. It is applied in an all federal departments， judiciary institutions， administrative institutions and royal enterprises established according to federal law. All the provincial governments， auxiliary departments of public institution and private organizations receive encouragement and economic aid. Bilingualism policy begun to be implemented in public institutions.
But the process of striving for French's position is not very smooth. The trend of French culture assimilated by English culture is more and more obvious. Quebec French group is quite resentful about the phenomenon and resist. In 1974， Quebec stipulated French was the only official language. It lead Quebec to constitute and pass 101 Act （also called French Charter）， which pushed the French’s anti-attack movement to a new upsurge. The relations between British Canadians and French Canadians became dramatically tenser. Separatist movement also became more and more violent.
In April， 1982， Canadian Rights and Freedom Charter came into effect. The charter consolidated previous constitutional principles on language usage in federal administrative departments and confirmed New Brunswick was the only bilingual province. The creative part of the act is that it provides that Canadian minorities can receive education with their own language under Canadian official languages circumstance. It seems that people have begun to acknowledge the insurance of minorities' language education rights is the key of the survival of minorities' language group. The effect of the act could be seen as a new compromise after fights between the two parties. However， the proposal that minorities could receive education with their own language moderates the problem of French position.
The official language act was amended in1988. It stipulates English and French have equal used position in parliament and courts established by parliament. Canadian citizens have the rights served by federal government with any language in Canadian capital region and any place where minorities who use the two languages stipulated by official statute reaches a certain amount or any industry determined by service kind. To ensure that English-speaking and French-speaking citizens enjoy equal employment and promotion chance on the basis of competence in all the federal institutions， their amount should reflect their proportion in Canadian population. The act grants federal employees the rights that they can choose any official language to work in Canadian capital region and stipulated region.
From what we have discussed above we can see explicitly that Canadian bilingualism formed on the unequal basis of excluding native Indians. It is the result that Britain and France-the two founding father nations fight each other and suppress and impair native Indians at the same time.
Canadian languages trends
Even if the statistics about English and French employment population in federal English institutions indicates that French accounts for 27% which is nearly equal to its proportion in total population. English-speaking population accounts for 72% which is much higher than its proportion in total proportion. Other languages employees account for less than 1% which is also much lower than their proportion in total population.
In Quebec， although English employees’ proportion is less than its proportion in Quebec， French employees account for a less proportion in enterprises management， science and technology， and the like which are professional jobs. In senior managerial talents who have higher social position and economic income， British Canadians account for 77.3%， French Canadians only account for 24%.
It is English population’s advantages in social status， economic income and employment choice that make more and more people tend to learn English. In addition， English， in international society， is far more widely used in internet- which is the sign of present information era than French. Therefore， it can be predicted that aforesaid trend will continue in the future.
According to the trend， English-speaking Canadians cannot but become more and more while French-speaking Canadians will become less and less. Bilingualism under multiculturalism circumstance will slowly tend to unipolarize. However， the historical fact that New France belonged to Britain for its defeat makes French Canadians cherish a kind of historical psychological hidden sore. So they are sensitive and pay special attention to their own cultural tradition， only relying on natural and equal competition， in predicted future， explicitly does not have winning hope. Thus， they have no choice but seek to policy protection or demand independence for racial indignation. They will not hesitate though separation from confederation is by no means benefit to Quebec's economy.
The advantages and disadvantages of practicing bilingualism under multiculturalism
Multiculturalism and bilingualism indeed have remarkable significance in protection of racial cultural traditions which have their own features. But undeniably， bilingualism shows following disadvantages：
1 Large expense. As implementing bilingualism demands all the governmental documents and national statutes are published with the two languages， lots of translation， training and harmonization work need to do and subsidy to bilingual employees need to increase， which require plenty of extra money. According to statistics， Canada paid 264，900，000 dollars for implementing bilingualism in1995-1996. it indicates there are 2 dollars in every 1000 dollars of governmental service expenditure spending on bilingualism. It is only a part of government’s expenditure on service. If plus other related expense on implementing bilingualism， the expenditure is more than 0.7 billion at least.But some invisible expense can not calculate forever.
2 If not properly tackled， it is easy to cause separation of the country and social turbulence. Although multiculturalism and bilingualism can increase overall cultural variety of Canadian society and make ethnics supplement each other， it will be easy to make the country disintegrate if their political and economic benefit are not properly tackled. After the first emperor of Qin dynasty annexed other six countries， he asked all the people read the same language， use the same currency， which is the same reason. At present， the separatism movement in Quebec gathers steam. One of the most important reasons is that the common French culture makes French population in Quebec make same response in the same circumstance. Obviously， on this point bilingualism increase the federal government’s difficulty in dealing with such kind of event.
Conclusion
Presently， besides Quebec， the rest provinces are dominated by English. Thus， many French-speaking Quebeckers hold that French is still neglected， French traditional culture is still jeopardized and bilingualism is not implemented perfectly. As a matter of fact， the racial conflict between British Canadians and French Canadians is accumulated over a long history. It is impossible to solve it only relying on implementing bilingualism.
The formation of Canadian bilingualism is determined by its history and cultural background. Since Britain enjoy dominion over Canada， the laws and policies that British colonizers established have adopted assimilative and suppressive strategy. However， it is obviously quite difficult to assimilate a culture that is equal to itself or even has a longer history， especially under such a circumstance that their amount is large and concentrate together. In this case， the best strategy is to harmonize their relations and seek common points while reserving difference. The method Canada adopts is rightly so. The formation of such status quo is not changed according to people's will. It is not a race or a culture sympathizing with another but reach a balance after the conflict between these races and cultures.
References：
［1］Jack c. Richards， John Platt and Heidi Platt. Langman dictionary of language teaching & applied linguistics， new edition， Longman group UK limited， England，1992（second edition）， 1993.
［2］The Canadian encyclopedia， hurting publishers L td.， 1998. Linda Cardinal. The Limits of Bilingualism in Canada， University College Dublin， Ireland.
［3］王莴.加拿大的官方语言：人民的选择［A］.姜梵主编.加拿大社会与进步［C］.北京：中国社会科学出版社，1996.
［4］阮西湖.加拿大政府与土著民族关系探讨［A］.北京：中国社会科学出版社，1996.
［5］朱家衍.枫叶国度［M］.济南：山东大学出版社，1989.Canadian statistics：http：// www. Statcan. ca.
［6］佘志远.英语国家概况.外语教育与研究出版社，2001.