La Langue est gardienne’: French language and Identity in Franco-American Literature

Despite the increasing dominance of English, the ability to speak French remains an important touchstone of Franco-American identity.1 Proximity to home and relative ease of travel ensured that many Franco-Americans remained connected to Québec long after migration (Leblanc, Richard) and many among the Franco-American elite remained committed to traditionalist discourses of French Canadian nationalism (Leblanc, Roby).Despite shifts and changes in these discourses, language in many Franco-American communities, like Québec, remains intimately tied to identity.2 Unlike Québec, however, French does not delineate public space for many Franco-Americans, and although it 1 The term Franco-American typically designates descendants of Québécois and Acadian migrants from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who settled in the northeast United States, particularly in New England and New York. 2 "Reconnaissons-le, nous craignons, nous ne voulons pas amorcer une discussion pour remettre en question le paradigme premier de l'équation, qui veut que langue et religion soient indissociablement liées pour définir l'espace culturel.Pour la religion, c'est devenu une donnée variable.Pour la langue, c'est autre chose.Et si c'était que nous n'avons pas le choix" (Carrière 150).continues to articulate a private, familial space for a significant number, 3 the majority of younger Franco-Americans are heritage language speakers or monolingual Anglophones (Fox).Despite this steep decline of language proficiency among younger generations, speaking French remains a principal marker of authenticity.The centrality of this marker is easy to understand in older Franco-Americans, the majority of whom are francophone and grew up speaking French.4 Yet the importance of French for Franco-American identity is also apparent among younger, anglophone generations.Many middle-aged Franco-Americans articulate their ethnic identity by claiming a connection to French, irrespective of language skills.Even if they never spoke French, learning French is often conceived as the reacquisition of a language lost, not as a new language that needs to be 3 The Franco-American community is diglossic, "A diglossic situation exists in a society when it has two distinct codes which show clear functional separation; that is, one code is employed in one set of circumstances and the other in an entirely different set" (Wardhaugh 89).While French might be their first language, many Franco-Americans attended public schools and were taught to read and write in English.This separation between oral and written expression overlays the functional separation between informal (French) and formal (English) registers.4 Grégoire Chabot parodies these francophone elders for their absolutist rejection of English in his vignette "Languestapomanie.""Pauvre Henri" is dragged away from a "colloque franco-américain" for having asked the anglophone waitress for a glass of water in English.learned from scratch. 5 The correlation between language and identity is harder to discern in younger monolingual Franco-Americans, but it is their continued allegiance to the equation of language and ethnic identity that prevents many of them from self-identifying as Franco-American.Many younger Franco-Americans willingly categorize their relatives as "French" but without French language skills, they no longer feel that they are or can be.6 While Franco-Americans may or may not be francophone, many nonetheless seem committed to the idea that speaking French is intimately tied to Franco-American identity.Franco-American literary production exists in this domain, heavily laden with cultural codes deeply rooted in French-speaking Québec.This article will argue that even though French may no longer be the lingua franca of Franco America, it nevertheless retains its social significance within Franco-American communities, functioning as an important signifier of ethnic identity.I will examine the role of French in two recently 5 An example of this dynamic can be seen in a Zone Libre special on Franco-American language reacquisition attempts in Waterville, Maine and Susan Poulin and Gordon Carlisle's play "Pardon my French!" 6 A tale often told is of the school teacher who asked how many of the students were "French," to which no one raised a hand.(The term "Franco-American" is rarely used by Franco-Americans.Most self-identify as "French.")When this same teacher then asked how many students had a "mémére," 2/3 of the class did.I encounter a similar dynamic in my own teaching.Many of the students who take "FAS 101: Introduction to Franco-American Studies" are Franco-American; most if not all do not identify themselves as "French" because they do not speak it.They do not hesitate, however, to claim that their parents or grandparents are "French."

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