The importance of language to minorities in urban areas : Acadian identity in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Abstract

This thesis explores how Acadians in Halifax Regional Municipality use French to index their identity, including the importance of language in doing so. Halifax, Nova Scotia is home to an English majority as well as immigrants from other provinces and all over the world. The Acadians are a community held together by their culture, language, historical context, and shared trauma from the 1755-1763 deportations. This thesis also explores how Acadians are maintaining their cultural and linguistic identity here and the hurdles they face in doing so. One such hurdle that this research suggests is that Acadian varieties of French may be at risk when confronted with language ideologies that can lead to assimilation and pressures such as a move towards a standard French. This can be seen in results from qualitative interviews with Acadians in Halifax and in statistics such as the decline in French as a first language which from 1971 to 2016 has gone from 3.5% to 1.7% of the province’s population (Statistics Canada 2017b). This thesis applies linguistic and anthropological theories of identity to analyze the current situation of the Acadian community in HRM and to look at the potential situations in the future. This research suggests that French can be a tool used by Acadians, but it is not the only tool. Additionally, you can identify as Acadian without having any knowledge of the French language so it may be a more important tool to some than to others. Finally, this thesis suggests that the Acadian identity as a whole is not at risk of being lost in the mix of other minority and majority identities that make up the city.