Publications

Publication details [#17581]

O'Donnell, Paul E. 2000. Crossing the Line in Quebec and Catalonia: The Consequences of the Linguistically “Mixed” Marriage. Language Problems and Language Planning 24 (3) : 233–247.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Place, Publisher
John Benjamins
ISBN
0272-2690
Journal DOI
10.1075/lplp

Annotation

The linguistically “mixed” marriage stands at the crossroads of important factors in the future of French in North America and Catalan in Europe: reversing language shift. While Quebec and Catalonia initially appear strikingly similar, one could easily conclude that if the couple exogamique is good for the future of Catalan, it will also favor francisation in Quebec. Strong evidence indicates that demographic, linguistic, socioeconomic, and even “life-style” factors may make linguistic exogamy favorable to Catalan, but marginally disadvantageous to Quebec French. With “mixed” couples (whether married or not) increasing in number in both countries, the linguistic outcome of the “mixed” household becomes increasingly important to language planners.