Multilingual montreal: listening in on the language practices of young Montrealers.

Lamarre, Patricia ; Paquette, Julie ; Kahn, Emmanuel 等

ABSTRACT/RESUME

In Montreal, the number of young bilinguals and trilinguals is on the increase, contributing to an increasingly complex language dynamic and, possibly, the breakdown of traditional linguistic frontiers and a significant change in intergroup relations. In this study, we look at how languages are used by young Montrealers in different types of settings, geographic zones, and social networks. Data collected through 190 short in Situ observations reveals that Montreal remains a city divided geographically into linguistic zones. Young Montrealers, however, are not bound by their neighborhoods, rather, they move across the city for work, schooling, and leisure activities. Observations of sites in respect to their social function suggests that factors other than geography appear to influence language practices. Within institutional settings, language practices tend to be more conservative. Informal settings, such as cafes and large public events, as well as spaces less clearly identified with a language "community," are more likely to be characterized by bilingual and multilingual practices. Our observations clearly indicate the complexity of the language practices of young Montrealers and the need for a dynamic approach to the study of language use. We propose an approach that follows individuals through the different settings and social networks they traverse in the course of a day, as well as one that takes into account the power relations underlying interactions.

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Les jeunes Montrealis bilingues et trilingues sont de plus en plus nombreux. Ils rendent compte de I'evolution des relations intergroupes et appellent une remise en question des frontieres linguistiques traditionnelles. L'etude des pratiques langgieres de jeunes dans differents milieux montrealais (contextes varies, quartiers et reseaux sociaux) et les 190 situations d'observations documentees revelent un contexte urbain ou les espaces geographiques demeurent linguistiquement structures. Ces 'zones' linguistiques sont neanmoins traversees quitidiennement par les jeunes qui frequentent, de par la ville, ecoles, travail, lieux de loisirs varies. Et de fait, les pratiques languagieres observees temoignent d'une variabilite de profils bien au dela des structures linguistiques associes tel ou tel lieu urbain. En contexte formel par exemple (tel une institution Governmentale). les pratiques langagieres seraientplus conservatrices et orientees vers un groupe linguistiue donne. En contexte informel (cafes, evenements publics) ou dans des circonstances ou l'effet hegemonique d'un groupe est moins present, les pratiques sont diversifiees, souvent bilingues ou multilingues. Enfin, les pratiques langagieres quotidiennes mises a jour, dans une variabilite de contextes La fois geographiques, sociaux et relationnels, temoignent de dynamiques langagieres complexes inscrites dans des interactions traversees par des relations de pouvoir.

FRENCH MONTREAL, MULTILINGUAL MONTREAL?

Greater Montreal, with its population of over three million, is home to roughly 47 percent of the population of Quebec. Approximately 67 percent of Montrealers speak French as a first language, 12 percent English, and 18.5 percent a first language that is neither French nor English (Statistics Canada 2001). Despite the demographic weight of the Francophone population, Montreal in the 1 960s was described as "well on its way to becoming a multicultural English-speaking city" (Levine 1990), revealing to what degree English was dominant (1) in the city (Government of Canada 1969; Gouvernement du Quebec 1972). This description no longer holds today, thanks to a rapid transformation of the language dynamics in Montreal since Quebec's Quiet Revolution.

In the late 1960s, the political mobilization of the Francophone population around language brought about efforts to make Montreal "une ville francaise," a city that speaks French. To improve the status of French, Quebec's "Charter of the French Language, "commonly referred to as Bill 101, was adopted in 1977. Bill 101 has often been described as legislation2 aimed at changing the language dynamics of Montreal, where most Quebecers who speak a language other than French live. Quebec's language politics have essentially been fought on the battleground of Montreal, with the prize being Montreal itself (Levine 1990).

Although there remains a great deal of polemic on the vitality of French, Quebec's language policy has proven quite successful and is sometimes held up as an example of how the status of a minority language can be transformed (Bourhis 2001; Fishman 1991). In effect, many of the goals of Bill 101 have been attained. Children of new immigrants are now almost all enrolled in French schools and Allophones (speakers of languages other than French or English) are learning French in increasing numbers. Furthermore, French is now the main language of public interaction (Beland 1999). But while Montreal is a much more French city than it was twenty-five years ago, it is by no means a unilingual city. Census data reveals a steady increase in the number of people who can speak French in the province, but also growth in the number of Quebecers able to speak both official languages. Despite efforts at "francisation," Quebec remains the Canadian province with the highest proportion of French-English bilinguals: 37.8 perce nt as compared to 10.2 percent in the rest of Canada (Marmen and Corbeil 1999:4041). It is also the province with the highest proportion of Allophones declaring skills in both official languages as well as a minority language: 47 percent of Allophones in Quebec are trilingual as compared with 5.4 percent in the rest of Canada (Marmen and Corbeil 1999:44). At present, one in six Montrealers is trilingual or multilingual (Jedwab, cited in Authier 2002). A trend toward bilingualism and multilingualism is not only evident, but likely to increase given the census data for Montrealers between fifteen and twenty-four (Marmen and Corbeil 1999; Jedwab 1996).

To date, there has been very little research devoted to the bilingual language practices of Montrealers, and even less to the multilingual practices of Allophone Montrealers (Meintell998; Lamarre 2001). Research has focussed on whether French is gaining ground as the dominant language in the city, which is not surprising considering the central place this occupies in local politics and the persistent fear that French could become a threatened minority language even within the province of Quebec. At the present time, we know little about the bilingual and multilingual practices of the people who have grown up, live, and work in Montreal, a city where English/French bilingualism is often taken for granted.

Despite the growing number of Montrealers able to speak more than one language, there is still a tendency in Quebec to think of language communities as isolated, as the "solitudes" described in MacLennan's novel set in Montreal in the I 940s (1945). Furthermore, mother tongue is often confused with ethnic identity and used to define intergroup relations in binary terms of French/English or as triangular, French/English/Allophone (see Piche, this issue). In its research program, the GRES (Groupe de recherche, ethnicite et societe) questions this model of intergroup relations and rejects the notion of language communities as having ethnic and cultural traits. As Meintel and Fortin (2001) have asked, in Montreal today, what do we mean by terms such as Anglophone, Francophone, or indeed, Quebecois?

For some time, academics and policy makers have called for a broad pluralistic definition of "Quebecois." The government of Quebec has clearly opted for a civic definition as opposed to one defined by ethnicity and ancestry (Government of Quebec, 1990) (3) Yet academics and politicians alike still have difficulty talking about language communities. For example, Beland (1999) has recently asked whether we should measure the vitality of a language community by the number of people who speak that language as a mother tongue or who have adopted that language as a home language (linguistic transfer)? Or should we rather measure it by the number of people who use it in everyday interaction at work, in public, and/or in educational institutions? Beland's questions are linked to the measurement concerns of demographers, but they also bring out ideological issues (narrow versus more inclusive notions of linguistic identity), as well as political strategy: whose interests does it serve to argue that the French languag e continues to be threatened or, conversely, that Bill 101 has been successful and there is no longer reason for concern?

The study of ethnic and intergroup relations and the integration of immigrant populations in Quebec is closely tied to issues of language use and linguistic identity. However, most of the research on the latter issues is profoundly influenced by language shift theory (Weinreich 1953) and the notion that bilingualism is a transitional phase within eventual linguistic integration. This makes historical sense when we think of the high rate of language loss for Francophones living outside of Quebec (Government of Canada 1969), but it needs to be questioned in the context of present-day Montreal. Research is needed that looks at bilingualism and multilingualism in new ways, for example, 1) as a potentially stable societal phenomenon in situations of language contact (Ferguson 1964; Grosjean 1982); and 2) as a form of capital valuable not only locally, but in an increasingly globalized linguistic marketplace (Lamarre and Dagenais in press; Heller 2000). Breaking with what can be called a "unilingual ideology" (Hel ler 2000), the latter perspective goes beyond the competition for dominant status between languages and takes a closer look at bow bilingual and multilingual repertoires are drawn upon in different kinds of social interaction and spaces and how they are tied to more complex expressions of identity. It is from this perspective that a subteam of the GRES (Lamarre, Meintel, and Heller) approached the study of interactions between young Montrealers and their language practices.

Two studies of the language practices and intergroup relations of young Montrealers were undertaken by our team. The first is based on observations in two colleges (in Quebec called CEGEPS (4)): one French language and one English language institution. (5) Findings from the research (Lamarre, Paquette, Ambrosi and Kahn 2003; Rapport Patrimoine Canada 2003) reveal that the language of instruction of an institution was the one most frequently heard in informal settings where students gathered, despite the multicultural and multilingual traits of the student population. (6) Observations also show, however, that students draw on their bilingual and multilingual repertoires within friendship networks and that codeswitching (bilingual and trilingual) is common in this age group (eighteen to twenty-two years). Interviews demonstrate that students associate their colleges with "official language communities"; yet they describe the student populations as multicultural and multilingual, revealing much about the role of educational institutions in the reproduction of language "communities." Another study (7) explores language practices and identity among young Allophone multilingual CEGEP students (Lamarre and Dagenais, in press; Lamarre and Paredes Rossell 2003). Interviews reveal that they perceive multilingualism as a valuable form of linguistic capital that will provide greater access to job opportunities in Quebec, as well as in North America and internationally. Interviewees also describe their multilingual repertoires as valuable social and symbolic capital, rather like a collection of "passports" into different social networks, including those within their own ethnic community. Multilingual youth feel they are better able to move across ethnic and linguistic boundaries than unilinguals. French, however, is recognized by all as "the" most important language for participation in the social and economic life of Montreal, revealing to what degree its status has changed over the past three decades. Nevertheless, in their discussion of the value of multilingualism and the specific languages within their repertoires, French/English bilingualism emerges as the most valuable form of linguistic capital in Montreal. It is also clear that specific languages are associated with specific sites or social networks: minority languages within the home, the church, community organizations, and the extended family; English or French with schooling and extracurricular activities and frequently with school-based networks of friends; and finally, English-French bilingualism in the workplace. Confirming our observations in the colleges, codeswitching and the use of multiple languages are reported as most likely to occur in informal settings and among friends.

What emerges from these two studies is that young Montrealers often value their multilingual repertoires and draw on them in different ways as they move through their daily lives. How they use languages seems to be associated with how they perceive the linguistic "identity" of a site or social network. These two studies made it clear that research was needed that would go beyond educational institutions to examine the language practices of young Montrealers in other types of settings, leading to the study that we present here.

Research and Objectives

Initially, it was hoped that this exploratory study would provide information on which to base a broader research project by identifying sites for future ethnographic observations of the language practices of young Montrealers. The pilot research quickly proved to be a rich source of information in itself and worthy of analysis such that we added the following objectives: 1) to collect empirical data that would provide a portrait of how young Montrealers are using languages in Montreal, and 2) to examine their language practices in relation to sites with different functions, located in different geographic zones and neighborhoods, and involving different social networks.

In this study we chose to extend the age group and look at young Montrealers between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five. This would allow us to catch the language practices of a generation that has grown up and gone to school in the rapidly changing sociolinguistic context since Bill 101, as well as catch the practices of young Montrealers in the workplace.

Theoretical Framework of the Study

Recent theories of language socialization in bilingual and multilingual societies and of critical sociolinguistics provide the theoretical framework for this study. Schiefflin and Ochs (1985) suggest that we think of language socialization as having two dimensions. The authors propose that children are socialized to use languages (Heath 1983), but they are also socialized through language, acquiring cognitive skills (Vygotsky 1978) as well as knowledge and concepts of the world they live in (Sapir in Mandelbaum 1949; Whorf 1941). Much of the research in the area of language socialization has been faithful to these premises and sees the acquisition of language and literacy as related to the construction of social and ethnic identity.

Obviously, language socialization becomes more complex in bilingual and multilingual contexts, a relatively new area of investigation (Bayley and Schecter 2003; Martin-Jones and Jones 2000). Until quite recently, most of the work on language socialization focussed on the home and the school. While this informs us about two major sites of language socialization, it neglects others such as the workplace and the friendship networks of young adults. Recently, Carrington and Luke (1997) have proposed that we think of language socialization as a life-long process. This definition seems entirely relevant to Montreal where census data (Jedwab 1996) reveals important differences in when and how different cohorts acquire second and third languages. For instance, Anglophones are becoming bilingual before the age of fifteen, thanks to bilingual programs in English schools. Francophones tend to become bilingual later, after the age of fifteen, as they move into post-secondary institutions and the workplace. Similarly, you ng Allophones in Quebec, who mostly attend French language schools, tend to learn English between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four. In their case, however, this means acquisition of a third language, since they have acquired French as a second language in school. Recent census data clearly reveals the importance of schools as sites that can either hinder or promote the acquisition of languages (Lamarre and Van der Craen, in preparation), but also shows the need for a broader multisite and dynamic approach to understanding language socialization in Montreal.

A further weakness in existing research on language socialization is that until quite recently it relied primarily on an interactionist approach to ethnography. Traditionally, interactionist approaches tend to deal with how situations are defined by participants and propose analyses that fail to take into account the fact that definitions of situations are rarely neutral. As Bourdieu (1977) proposes, all social practices carry vested interests, even when actors are unaware of them and the stakes are not material ones. In this study, we use an ethnographic approach grounded in previous work on language socialization, but one that is framed by a critical sociolinguistic perspective (Heller 2003; Bloomaert 1999). Heller describes critical sociolinguistics as a perspective that builds on traditional interactionist approaches to sociolinguistics (Gumperz 1982), but that relates language practices and discourse to social categorization (identity) and social stratification (power) by drawing on sociological framewo rks proposed by Bourdieu (1977, 1982), Giddens (1984), and Goffman (1986).

Finally, our analysis obliges us to question the relevance of an approach that considers sites as distinct, separate, and unconnected. It demonstrates the need for a theoretical stance that takes into account the interrelationship between physical space and the individual, while looking at the daily trajectories of people though the city (De Certeau, 1980). We will pick up these last points and the need for a non-static approach to the study of language behaviour in the discussion of findings and in our conclusions.

Data Collection and Analysis

In order to get a sense of how language was being used in different parts of the city, many short in situ observations (lasting from fifteen to sixty minutes) were carried out in various urban settings frequented by Montrealers in the target age group. Observations were made over a period of eight months by three graduate students in anthropology who were of the right age to mix with the targeted population without attracting undue attention. The choice of sites was based on the researchers' and assistants' everyday knowledge of the city as well as informal discussions with students in university courses and other young people. Zones and sites traditionally associated with different language communities (French, English, or specific ethnic minority communities) and covering a broad range of social functions were included. Observations were made in cafes, video stores, cinemas, shopping centres, community centres, employment centres, health care institutions, and in different forms of public transportation, to name just a few.

Spreading observations over eight months allowed us to take into account seasonal changes. For example, the summer months provided many public outdoor settings for observation, ranging from dog parks to soccer fields, as well as public events closely associated with Montreal's cultural life, such as the Jazz Festival, the Just for Laughs Festival, Francofolies, Festival Nuits d' Afrique, the Montreal Grand Prix ,and celebrations such as St. Jean Baptiste Day, Canada Day, and St. Patrick's Day, as well as public demonstrations with a strong turnout of younger Montrealers (e.g., those for the legalization of marijuana and against free trade).

All in all, one-hundred and ninety observations make up the corpus. All the observations were recorded in text form and systematically entered into a computer data base. Social characteristics of the participants (approximate age, sex, ethnic origin, insofar as apparent, and clothing style) were recorded, as well as types of interaction, the function or motive of interaction, and the wider group physically present. Information collected on language practices included languages used, context of use, turn taking, codeswitching, topics of conversation, etc. When possible, short verbatim extracts of interactions were transcribed. Early analysis of data quickly led us to adopt an approach whereby social actors and the sites they frequented were considered closely related and bidirectionally influenced (De Certeau 1980; Shields 1996; Tilley 1994). Observations were broadened to include more detail on the sites to account for more than their function: information such as layout, furnishings and equipment, decor and ambiance (audial and visual features).

Relying on observations as the sole technique for data collection involves certain limitations. For example, it is sometimes difficult to describe the social actors involved in an interaction, particularly with respect to age and ethnicity. Given that our observations were very short and not complemented by interviews or other techniques, the best we could do was make guesses when it came to these two traits. (8) A further problem was the noise level of certain sites, which sometimes made it difficult to catch which languages were being used. In our opinion, the most critical limitation of the data collection technique adopted is that it is built on a conceptualization of sites in terms of circumscribed space-time and as distinct individual spaces of observation. While we collected a wide range of data on what was going on in the city at different moments in time and in different places, we felt restricted to an essentially static vision of how young Montrealers experience the city. Our data do not reveal ho w these youth move through the city through social contexts and sites, drawing on their linguistic repertoires differently at different moments. Furthermore, it cannot tell us how individuals experience sites as interconnected, how they perceive these different sites, nor on what basis they choose to use different languages within them. In short, this study offers a series of quick snapshots and "sound capsules" of young people in different places in Montreal and highlights the need for other types of research.

A QUESTION OF GEOGRAPHY

Historically, Francophones were strongly established in the east end of Montreal, Anglophones in the west end, with immigrants providing a dividing buffer zone in the corridor along Boulevard Saint-Laurent. Like other cities, Montreal has a number of ethnic minority neighborhoods (Saint-Leonard, Cote-des-Neiges, Ville Saint-Laurent). We hoped to find out if such geographic divides correspond to linguistic frontiers in the daily lives of the young Montrealers who often have the necessary language skills to cross them.

Our observations indicate that Montreal remains a city that can be divided geographically into linguistic zones. Interaction in bar line-ups serves as a good indicator of the role of geography in language practices. Conversations overheard on Saint-Denis street, the "main drag" in the Francophone part of town, were almost exclusively in French, whereas those observed in the bars of the western end of downtown Montreal were almost always in English. The many trendy bars now found on Boulevard Saint-Laurent, long the site of many small businesses with ethnic minority clienteles, are often populated with immigrant and second generation youth, often in monoethnic groupings and sometimes in multiethnic groupings. It was in lineups on Saint Laurent that we heard the widest variety of linguistic practices: a great deal of English, French, some Arabic and Spanish and many instances of codeswitching (generally between a minority language and English).

Observations were conducted across a number of other types of sites in different parts of the city, such as YMCAs, video stores, and record shops. These sites were chosen because the services or products they offer might shed light on the language preferences of people in the neighborhood. Cross-analysis of these settings once again revealed that the geographic location of a site is related to language practices. For example, in neighborhoods and zones of the city primarily associated with a Francophone population, mostly French was found. Inversely, in western parts of the city, English was the language most heard. Ethnic minority youth were more likely to use French in the "French" parts of the city and English in the "English" parts. This finding corroborates those of a recent study by the Conseil de la langue francaise (2002), in which Allophone youth affirmed that they would spontaneously use the language associated with a zone of the city or neighborhood to talk to people they did not know.

In Montreal, geographic zone is still a factor in predicting the language most frequently heard in social interaction. This said, we need to be careful not to fall into the trap of oversimplifying language dynamics. Observations and discussions with young Montrealers reveal that neighborhoods are not all that significant in their lives. While they frequent certain sites in their neighborhoods, such as video stores, laundromats, and health care facilities, they tend to go to other parts of the city for school or work. And when it comes to leisure activities, they head for the downtown core or trendy neighborhoods, such as the Plateau Mont-Royal and Mile End. In the course of their everyday lives, they are quite likely to move across geographic zones traditionally associated with different language communities.

This mobility may be contributing to an erosion of the traditional linguistic frontiers. Many of our observations reveal situations in which the participants use a language other than the one historically associated with the part of town where the encounter takes place. For example, conversations in English between friends and in service situations in parts of the city typically associated with Francophones (Plateau Mont-Royal, Quartier latin, Centre-sud) were noted. The following observation made in the Francophone end of the city shows how young Montrealers are not bound by traditional linguistic enclaves. The topic of their conversation and the type of tea the two young people are drinking make this observation all the more resonant as an example of the linguistic and ethnocultural mixing taking place in Montreal, a mixing often associated with a cool, young, urban culture:

Sitting next to me are two young Anglophones, discussing in English, a film on Trudeau. The young man is saying that he will not go to see it unless it is bilingual. In other words, with bits in French. The young woman answers: "But, where would they put in French?" And he replies "Well, in any French situation, for example, if Trudeau is talking to Rene Levesque, that's a French situation." The young man is drinking mate, a traditional herbal drink from South America, while the young woman sips at Moroccan mint tea. Both continue to talk in English about Trudeau's role in the construction of Canadian identity and in Canadian bilingualism.

Cafe in Centre-ville

In parts of town traditionally thought of as "English bastions" (Westmount, Dollarddes-Ormeaux, Pierrefonds), many conversations between youth in French were observed, along with intensive codeswitching between French and English and the use of many minority languages. From the field notes, bilingual and multilingual interactions are apparently more likely in informal and commercial settings (youth centres, cinemas, restaurants, YMCAs). Observations in the French part of town also reveal that use of a language not associated with the geographic zone is more likely to occur in noninstitutional or commercial settings, such as cafes, used record shops, sport fields, restaurants, or on public transportation, a point that we will come back to shortly.

It is in parts of the city recognized for their multicultural character and the downtown core, however, that minority languages are most likely to be heard, as well as bilingual and trilingual code switching. In Montreal, ethnic minority neighborhoods are never ethnically homogeneous (Marois 1998:95). Often the ethnic and linguistic composition of a neighborhood makes for the sharing of geographic space, and to some degree, cultural, ethnic, and linguistic mixing (Le Gall and Meintel 1997). This is reflected in language practices, such that we find it almost impossible to predict the languages of social interactions in ethnic minority neighborhoods.

In terms of language dynamics, the downtown core of Montreal provides a particularly interesting area for study. On the one hand, "downtown" can be divided into different linguistic zones with the east end more closely associated with French and the western end with English. On the other hand, downtown is an area that is "linguistically ambiguous," where young Montrealers are more likely to find themselves in situations where decisions about language use must be made on the basis of factors other than geography. In this part of town, it is not easy to guess the language of the strangers one meets. In effect, bilingual exchanges often show young people "sounding" the other person out in an attempt to determine which language to use. The following observation in the English end of downtown demonstrates this:

At the table closest to mine there are two young women who look North African and who are conversing in English. The waitress, also fairly young, is serving at another table but turns to them and says: "C't'a votre gout, les filles?" (Everything alright, girls?). The two young women answer "huhum," nodding their heads in acquiescence. I try to attract the attention of the other waitress on the floor so that she can take my order. Before I have a chance to say anything, she says: "I'll be with you in a minute" and heads off to the kitchen. A young man then comes in and heads over to the table where the two young girls are sitting, greeting them with a loud "Hello." One young woman turns towards me and asks: "Is there... Est-ce qu 'y a quelqu 'un la?" (Is there anyone sitting there?), pointing to the empty chair at my table. My waitress then comes back and I say "Oui, alors je ..." (Yes, well, I'll...) at the same time as she says "Are you ready?" I switch to English and ask her what kinds ofjuice she has and s he rattles off a list, in French, with a slight trace of an English accent.

-- Cafe in Centre-ville

At first glance, it appears that language practices found downtown reflect the role of the "centre-ville" as a zone of contact, where people from different language backgrounds meet and are called upon to negotiate the language of an interaction. But when we look a bit closer at the content of many of the exchanges, what emerges is something more complex. Many of the young people we overheard appear to be living at the intersection of cultures and languages where traditional frontiers are being broken down. Bilingual exchanges often have nothing to do with negotiatior of language use, but a great deal with having a foot in more than one culture. The following observation in a cinema complex in downtown Montreal shows not only the linguistic ease of much of the bilingual codeswitching we have heard, but alsc reveals the cultural competence of the two young men involved:

Two young guys arrive, possibly of North African origin. They are speaking English together and then to the doorman, who appears to be a friend. They are talking in English about the different movies they have seen until the young man, who looks North African, says: "C'est pas pour dire que Truffaut estpas un bon realisateur, don't get me wrong, I love his movies but ... (switches back to English). (It's not to say that Truffaut isn't a great film director ...)." The same young man then turns to the doorman and says "Have you seen 'Mercipour le chocolat?'" His pronunciation in both languages is flawless.

--Cinema in Centre-ville

Our data show that many young Montrealers are at ease in more than one cultural world. That observations of this type seem to be most frequent in the heart of the city seems to say something about "downtown" as a space. As a part of the city that is less clearly associated with any one language community, downtown may be the most "comfortable" space for young Montrealers with hybrid identities. We raise the question here, but different data collection techniques will be needed before we attempt an answer.

The salience of geography to the language practices of young Montrealers cannot be eliminated from attempts to describe the city's language dynamics. However, it must be qualified in light of the present-day situation. Territorial and linguistic divisions of the city appear neither impermeable nor absolute; indeed, there appears to be a great deal more to language dynamics than geography. Furthermore, while monolingual exchanges were observed more often in some parts of the city than others, there is no reason for us to think that the young people involved in these exchanges are themselves monolingual.

Institutional Settings

Choices about language use appear to be related to the function and character of a site, more specifically, to whether a site or setting is institutional, work or service related, or informal, allowing for friends to group together.

In institutional settings, where young Montrealers are often found alone or in very small groups, interactions tend to be rather sober and restrained, often characterized by the use of only one language. Observations made in the waiting rooms of different types of government services allow a comparison of settings administered by the federal and provincial levels of government, each having very different language policies. Surprisingly, this seems to have little impact on language practice. For example, contrary to what might have been expected of a federal service regulated by a policy of official bilingualism, we heard mostly French in the Canada Human Resource Centres, whereas in CLSCs (Centre local de services communautaires), where provincial health and social services are offered, a wide range of linguistic practices were heard, i.e., a great deal of French, but also English, minority languages, and codeswitching. An indication of what might explain this came from observations in a Canada Human Resourc e Centre and a provincial CLSC, both located in the same building in a neighborhood (Villeray) that is traditionally working class Francophone, but is becoming more multiethnic. In the Human Resource Centre, French was clearly the dominant language, despite the bilingualism of the federal employees in the Centre and the use of both official languages on all the posters and information pamphlets found there. This was all the more striking given that many employees of the Centre and the young Montrealers who came there seeking service were of visible ethnic minority origin. In startling contrast, the youth found in the CLSC next door were frequently using French, but also English and minority languages. Moreover they were codeswitching (bilingual and trilingual) without any appearance of discomfort--this, in a government service setting that is very visibly Francophone (from the posters, pamphlets available, etc.) and in the presence of employees of French-speaking Quebecois background who spoke with Quebecois accents. For example:

A young couple enters the CLSC. The young man sits down facing me and starts to leaf through magazines (both French and English ones), while his female companion heads over to "Window 1." The employee addresses her in French. The young woman has an appointment. From her name, I suspect that she is of Italian origin. Forty-five minutes later she returns and sits next to her friend.

Young man: "What's going on?"

Young woman: "Sacrement, c'est parce qu'elle ne trouvait pas mon nom. Again a mistake with it! Peut-etre qu'il va falloir que je revienne une autre fois." (Damn, it's because she can't find my name ... Maybe I'll have to have to come back another time.)

Young man: "Pourquoi?" (Why?)

Young woman: "Celui qui s'occupe de ca, est la juste le lundi." (The one who takes care of it is only here on Mondays).

Their conversation is very fast paced. It continues, switching back and forth constantly from English to French. Both have strong Quebecois accents when they speak French, using terms such as "icitte," "moe," "ayoye," etc. (here, me, ouch). At one point, the young woman throws in a sentence completely in Italian, imitating a comment of her father's, which her friend obviously understood.

Health Clinic in Villeray

In all the CLSCs observed, highly varied linguistic interactions were observed, not only between users of services, but between users and employees, regardless of the background or accent of the employee or the geographic location of the service. This finding suggests that the type of service being offered, rather than the language policy of a level of government, is most relevant to language practices. CLSCs offer social and health care services to which all citizens are entitled, whereas in federal Human Resource Centres, users are generally there to request unemployment insurance, which is only given if certain conditions are met. In comparison with CLSCs, interactions in Human Resource Centres involve very different stakes and very different power relations. It would seem that the nature and the stakes of what is being offered/requested have some influence over language behaviour in these settings, more so than government language policy. Young Montrealers seem much more comfortable drawing on their lingu istic repertoires in a less restricted way and speaking languages other than the majority one in sites where services are offered to all unconditionally, as compared to sites where services are limited, conditional, and under the decision-making power of the government employee.

This finding echoes an earlier GRES study of social spaces in Cote-des-Neiges, a multiethnic neighborhood where Le Gall and Meintel (1997) showed that the coexistence of minority and majority groups does not necessarily lead to social situations in which the majority member attempts to impose on or control the member of the minority. According to the authors, what seems to explain the workings of social interactions are the hierarchical positions of those involved in the interaction. The nature of the service being offered might allow a foreign accent or the language spoken to be treated as a stigma and invoked to underline the client's minority position. Other situations where participants interact on a more egalitarian plane seem much freer and less restricted in terms of language behaviour. Possibly, in settings where participants see the stakes as high, e.g., when they are seeking unemployment insurance or being interviewed for a job, they are less likely to engage in codeswitching. They choose, instead, to present themselves as bilinguals who are "unilinguals twice over" and who not only master two languages but keep them distinct and separate (Heller 2000). Codeswitching can be negatively perceived by the general public and sometimes seen as a lack of language skills. Not wanting to be judged as "semilingual" might serve as a strong incentive to adopt a more restrained unilingual way of speaking when a job is on the line.

Clearly, more in-depth ethnographic study is needed on language behaviour in institutional settings. Here, as elsewhere, a nuanced approach to what is taking place is required. While the stakes involved between participants in an institutional setting might very well influence language practices, Quebec's complex institutional past should also be taken into account. Historically, the French- and English-speaking communities, and to an extent, ethnic minorities, had separate institutions. While this is currently being eroded (Juteau 2000), some institutional settings, such as hospitals, may still hold a lingering "linguistic identity" from the past. It is also worth noting that while, generally speaking, institutional separation is on the wane, this is not the case for educational institutions. On the contrary, these have seen their role in the cultural and linguistic reproduction of linguistic communities reinforced in the past twenty years. (9) In Montreal, they are perhaps the most interesting type of insti tution to examine in terms of "linguistic identity" and in the reproduction of linguistic frontiers, since they are the last site to clearly have this role.

In the Workplace

Among the sites observed were many businesses which employ workers in our target age group, primarily service-related settings such as shopping centres, stores, and restaurants. These workplaces are easily accessible for observation, but are not representative of workplaces where young Montrealers can be found. In this study, we did not attempt to access offices in private enterprises, government ministries, and factories. Other studies currently underway are examining language behaviour in work settings. (11)

In commercial settings, the language young employees use to greet clients tend to reflect traditional geographic divisions. Regardless of background, young employees are more likely to speak French in predominantly Francophone parts of town and English in areas traditionally associated with Anglophones. In multiethnic areas, it is more difficult to predict whether English or French will be used to greet a client.

Regardless of where a store is located, young employees usually switch to the client's language (either English or French) if the latter answers in a language other than the one initially used by the employee or has an English or French accent. We observed a few humorous situations in which the employee and the client could not arrive at a choice of language for an interaction. We also frequently observed situations of mutual recognition of shared bilingual skills. What we found overall in this type of setting was a very relaxed attitude toward the use of French and English, as evident in the following short exchange:

Near the changing rooms, I hear a lot of French, but also some English. At one point, I catch the following conversation between a young female employee and a young female customer:

Employee: "Allo!" (Hi!)

Customer: "Hi."

Employee: "C'est pour essayer?" (Do you want to try it on?)

Customer: "Yes."

Employee: "How many?"

Customer: "Just two."

Employee: "Voila." (Here you go.) (Opens the door to the changing room.)

Customer: "Merci." (Thank you.)

Employee: "Si tu as besoin d'aide pour une grandeur ou autre chose, t'as juste me faire signe. I'll be right there." (If you need help for a size or anything else, you just have to let me know. I'll be right there.)

Customer: "Ok. Thank you."

- Shopping Centre in Anjou

Furthermore, client-employee relationships often provoked code switching situations, and we came across a number of instances where employees jumped from one language to the other as they dealt with different clients and fellow workers. Only a few instances were observed where an employee did not switch to the language of a client, and this only seemed to happen when the employee lacked the language skills to switch easily. Such situations generally involve Francophone employees, which is perhaps not surprising given that Anglophones tend to become bilingual through school programs, whereas Francophones tend to learn English after they have finished their schooling. Even when Francophone employees have limited bilingual skills, they usually attempt a short foray into English and then return to French, often speaking more slowly in an effort to maintain communication with the client. What seems to matter most to both clients and employees is keeping a conversation going. Interactions tend to be friendly, as i n the following example:

I walk into the store, followed by two young men, probably between eighteen and twenty years old. They are White, probably of ethnic minority origin, and are speaking English. I head toward the section with sports footwear. A vendor greets me with "Bonjour." The two young men are now looking at some running shoes and are still talking together in English. After a moment, they compare the price of two pairs of running shoes that look very similar, but one pair is considerably more expensive than the other. Then the situation gets interesting:

Young man 1: "Hey, what's the difference man?"

Young man 2: (shrugging his shoulders) "I don't know man."

Young man 1: "Tell me what's the difference?"

Young man 2: "I don't know man...

Young man 1: "Hey man, they're the same... At this point, the vendor joins in.

Vendor: "Non, c'est cause... It's because... Do you speak French?"

Young man 1: "Yep."

Vendor: "Cest a cause que lui, il a une protection pour la cheville. Avec lui, tu pourras jamais te tourner Ia cheville en courant. C'est garantie. Sinon." (It's because that one has a protector for the ankle. With it you won't ever twist your ankle when you run. It's guaranteed. Otherwise ...)

Young man 1: "Sinon quoi?" (Otherwise, what?)

Young man 2: "Sinon Nike te rembourse man!" (Otherwise Nike will reimburse you, man!) (Laughter.)

Vendor: "Ben, c'estpas suppose de t'arriver en tout cas." (Well, in any case, it's not supposed to happen.)

- Shopping Centre in Ville Mont-Royal

As the preceding episode reveals, customers appear to be willing to switch to the language of the employee if needed. In some instances, both customer and employee "converge," resulting in bilingual exchanges in which both participants are speaking their second language. This reflects an important change in language behaviour over time, particularly on the part of English-speakers (Bourhis 1984).

It is in the downtown core that we found the most frequent incidents of bilingual (French/English) greetings in employee-client interactions: "Allo, hi"; "Hello, bonjour"; "Puis-je vous aider, may I help you?" Bilingual greetings of this type are typical in restaurants, cafes, and shops. Employees seem to be announcing that they have bilingual skills and are willing to handle the ensuing interaction in either English or French. The choice of language is then the customer's choice. In the downtown core, most interactions between strangers involve a rapid linguistic "sizing up," where judgements are made as to the first language of the other person. The "politics" of language choice are not apparent in these interactions. What seems to be important is functionality and efficiency. Sometimes settling on a language for an interaction between bilinguals can take a confusing, but humorous turn. The following observation at a take-out counter involves a Francophone customer, two Francophone waitresses, and a cashie r who is in training. The indecision over language use in the following interaction can be thought of as the linguistic equivalent of two strangers in front of a door, each offering that the other go through first, with the resulting confusion and often collision that I walk up to the counter to order something to drink. The cashier is probably of Asian origin and is very comfortable in both English and French. There is a Francophone customer waiting to pay for his order. From the writing on his backpack, he seems to be a student at Dawson, an English language CEGEP.

Francophone customer: "J'ai aussi un sandwich." (I'm getting a sandwich, too.)

Cashier: (smiling, but apparently she hasn't caught what he has just said.) "Do you have anything else?"

Waitress 1 to waitress 2 (both Francophone): "This (lifting the sandwich that she holds in her hand) is for him."

Waitress 2 to Francophone customer: "The sandwich is yours?" Francophone customer: "Yes."

Cashier to Francophone customer: "The sandwich is yours?" Francophone waitress 2 to cashier: "Oui, c'est pour lui." (Yes, it's for him.)

Cashier (in French): "$5,25."

-Shopping Centre in Centre-ville

We found some bilingual exchanges involving a minority language, most often Spanish. Bilingual encounters in the downtown core, however, almost always involve negotiation over the use of French or English. Moreover, French/English bilingualism seems to be an important criterion in hiring young downtown service workers. Almost all the employees observed in the city core seemed completely at ease moving from one language to another, such that it was often difficult to determine from their level of skill and pronunciation what their first language was. There was a great deal of fluent and fast-paced codeswitching between employees, who seemed to find "bilingual talk" fun. The following exchange took place in a cafe that is part of a pan-Canadian chain. Things move fast in this cafe and there is a set way of passing an order on to the barrista that employees have probably learned as part of their job training. This involves a particular kind of codeswitching: a mixture of English (to go, for here) and Italian (m ezzo latte, grande cappucino). The French/English bilinguals working in the cafe, however, manage to add their own twist to codeswitching as they work:

Six young women are working behind the counter and continuously switching from English to French, as they respond to different clients. After a few minutes, I caught the following exchange between one of the employees who has just taken an order from a client and another employee who is the barrista:

Employee: "That's it?"

Customer: "Yea."

Employee: "Mezzo latte ... Hey. Yo, Karine, tu m'ecoutes-tu? Mezzo Latte, to go, with love, please." (Hey. Yo. Karine, are you listening to me? Mezzo Latte, to go, with love, please.)

Barrista: "Just for you, ok."

Employee: "T'etais mieux!" (Yea, well you'd better!) (Laughter.)

- Cafe in Centre-ville

Since bilingualism seems to be a prerequisite for employment in downtown businesses, it brings young Montrealers with bilingual or multilingual skills into contact with each other. The plurality of languages is quite marked as we saw in our observations. Bilingual and multilingual interaction between and by employees with customers is extremely frequent, fluid, and fast-paced. Furthermore, it often seemed to express not only a very relaxed attitude toward languages, but also a sense of humour and fun in being able to "speak-bilingual." Many young Montrealers seemed to delight in using their bilingual or multilingual skills with others who shared their abilities. In some ways, they seemed to experience their bilingualism as something akin to being able to ski backwards down a hill or do a cartwheel.

"Speaking bilingual" might not be a skill that young Montrealers put forward when they are applying for a job, but it is quite obviously something that they engage and delight in once they are on the job. "Official bilingualism" is definitely a job criterion in the service sector: Allophones observed working downtown in the service industry all appeared to be trilingual, speaking their mother tongue and both English and French. However, our observations did not show how or whether these young trilinguals were drawing on languages other than French and English in downtown workplaces.

Informal Settings and Between Friends

Much like what we observed in our earlier study in CEGEPs (Lamarre, et al. 2003), it is often in the ethnic and linguistic "neutrality" of informal settings and leisure activities that the most diverse language behaviour is observed. Geography, as usual, plays a role. Montreal's nightlife takes place mostly in French in the French end of town and in English in the English end. Nonetheless, bars and restaurants seem to be spaces where young Montrealers are more likely to engage in diverse language practices. For example, we heard English-minority language codeswitching in lineups for bars in the trendy Plateau Mont-Royal area, a "French" part of town.

Obviously codeswitching between English and a minority language can be found in most large cities in North America today. What makes Montreal different is the high number of native-born Quebecers who can and do codeswitch (French/English); but also the number of people (usually of immigrant or ethnic minority origin) who can engage in trilingual codeswitching. Again this type of practice is more likely to be found in "neutral" settings, where the actors do not seem under pressure from power relationships to take the "linguistic identity" of a site into account. Public transportation seems to provide this neutrality:

While sitting on the bus, I hear an exchange that takes place in three languages. In this short conversation, the two Latina girls use Spanish between themselves, while a third "White" girl speaks English to one girl and French to the other. She is able to follow the discussion in Spanish between her two Latina friends.

Latina 1 to Latina 2: "Me das un chicle?" (Give me a chicklet?).

"White" girl to Latina 2: "Me too!"

Latina 2 to White girl: "You have your own."

White girl: "I don't have any, you want to look?"

Latina 1: (talking into her cellular phone) "Allo?.... aah! Merde!" (Hello?.... aah! Shit!)

White girl to Latina 1: "Quoi, c'tait pas le bon numero?" (What, it's not the right number?)

Latina 1 gives up on making her call and explains what just happened to White girl. The conversation now turns to a boy they know; they speak in French.

-- Bus in Ville Saint-Laurent

Informal settings that bring together youth from different ethnic backgrounds also seem to offer scope for multilingual practices. In places like cafes where people know each other or at least feel a certain familiarity, codeswitching and the use of minority languages are more likely. A different type of codeswitching appears in the following observation, i.e., participating in several monolingual conversations simultaneously, switching languages depending on to whom one is speaking:

At the table on the other side of the divider, lean hear a young man and woman discussing work in English. The young woman, who seems to know a lot of the clients in the cafe, greets clients in English, in French, or in Spanish. She talks briefly in French with a friend that has just come into the cafe. Her accent in English and French is flawless. During the observation, she never once mixes languages within a conversation with any one person. However, she continuously switches languages, depending on to whom she is talking. At a table near the entrance are a group of young people, probably in their early thirties. They are speaking Spanish and look Latino. In the group is a young woman (Franco-Quebecoise) who is trying to converse with them in Spanish. When the others in the group talk to her, they often switch to French. They have just arrived and are talking loudly. Some of the group are standing up around the table. It is too small for the size of the group but is the only available table. The group conv erses about the cold weather as well as topics that indicate they know each other reasonably well (work, school). Two men in the group are holding a parallel conversation entirely in Spanish. The two waiters, who are of Italian origin and about thirty years old, converse with each other in English. However, they speak French as well and address clients in the language of the client's choosing.

-- Cafe in Mile End

Among young Allophones, multilingualism and trilingual codeswitching seemed to be the norm. In a youth centre, located in an English-language but multiethnic neighborhood (Notre-Dame-de-Grace), we found a very laid-back and friendly atmosphere, a place for heart-to-heart talks and confidences. Almost all the young Allophones who hang out here are able to speak English, French, and their mother tongue. While English dominates exchanges in this centre, non-stop codeswitching is also a dominant feature of the way these young people talk, occurring in the middle of a sentence or taking the form of a single sentence. Very few are limited to the use of one language. Two young men of French-Quebecois origin seem to make a point, however, of speaking only in French. In interactions with these two young men, some of the youth in the centre answer in English, but most switch to French. It is impossible to say whether these young Francophones choose to speak only French because they are uncomfortable with their level o f skills in English or whether their behaviour represents a "linguistic stand" on the politics of language use in Quebec. Again, only the use of interview techniques in future studies will shed light on all of the factors underlying individuals' choice of languages in Montreal.

Public events seemed to provoke an unusual moment in time and space where there is not only a great deal of social "mixing", but also a particular kind of neutrality in regard to space. That is to say, during public events, geographic zones traditionally associated with a language community lose their relevance and a much more fluid dynamic takes over characterized by a surprising diversity of language practices. It is as though the "rules" that usually influence linguistic behaviour are suspended during these special events. Many examples of a suspension of linguistic identity, where traditional boundaries are dissolved, were found during events such as the Jazz Festival, the Festival Nuits d'Afrique, the Fringe Festival, St. Jean Baptiste Day, to name just a few. Witness the following observation made on a street in the west end of downtown, where normally English is dominant, during the international auto race, the Montreal Grand Prix. All of the publicity for the event and the banners hung over the stree t are in both languages. Given the visual "appearance" of the event, it is somewhat surprising to observe that the activities and the public announcements made over loudspeakers are only in French:

I hear a lot of English, but almost as much French. Some groups of young people of ethnic minority origin (mostly Black or of European origin) are talking together or with Grand Prix representatives in French with an accent that is clearly Quebecois. I overhear two young White men speaking in French Then one heads over to a Grand Prix representative and switches to English to discuss a mechanical problem. Up to this point, the only languages that I hear being used other than French or English are Asian languages, usually spoken by older people in the crowd. At 7:00 pm, a "pit stop" contest is held on a stage. To my surprise, the emcee of the activity is speaking to the crowd using only French. I am finding it harder and harder to determine which language is dominant in this event. Simultaneous use of French and English seems to be the norm without there being any need to settle on one language.

-- Grand Prix in Centre-ville

Events that bring people together in support of a similar cause or interest also seemed to transcend traditional linguistic frontiers, for example, those organized by Montreal's Gay Community. On a community day called "Divers-cite," the majority of those tending kiosks were young, between twenty-five and thirty-five years old, and seemed evenly divided between Anglophones and Francophones, mostly bilingual, switching to English or French with ease. The same breakdown of traditional linguistic frontiers was seen at another event organized by the Gay community, the Festival des Arts du Village:

I constantly hear gay men using French and English. I wonder if many are tourists, since the Gay Pride parade scheduled for tomorrow draws many gays from other cities. However, I notice that people seem to know each other, often calling to each other by name or discussing topics that indicate that they know each other reasonably well and that they are mostly Montrealers. At the Parc de l'Espoir, I overhear a trio of men speaking English in the street. One of them, who has a French-Quebecois accent, spots a young man he knows. He introduces the young man to his friends as Martin, pronounced the French way. The exchange continues in English. A little later, the young man is telling he group about his new apartment. He has a heavy Quebecois accent. I hear: "All my stuff is okay now and I bought something very cool at un petit antiquaire (little antique dealer) on Rachel" (said with French pronunciation).

--Festival at Village gai

In Montreal, a relaxed attitude toward diverse language practices is evident in informal settings and during public events. These practices, notably codeswitching, seemed to be associated with a certain expressive pleasure in being able to play with languages, of having language skills, and of sharing them with others. This seems just as true of the fluent French/English bilinguals in the downtown core of the city, as it is of the trilingual Allophone youth who move easily across three shared languages. One example, during a Bon Jovi concert, involved two couples of Italian origin in their mid-twenties. The four spoke mainly French and English, with Italian used to make pointed comments, express exasperation, or make a joke. Italian obviously served as a common identity marker between the four, underlining their common background, but it was not the only language they used with each other:

I witness an introduction. One young woman doesn't know her boyfriend's friends. They introduce each other in English, then the two young women talk about apartments in French. The foursome converse in English about their common Sicilian background. Then one young man switches to French to talk about the tickets for the show (they must all understand French since he is giving out important information). There doesn't seem to be any obvious reason for switches between English and French. They just seem to draw on all three as they like. There are long bits in English, a short bit in French, a humorous or teasing comment here or there in Italian.

I catch the following:

Young woman 1: "Should we go in now?"

Young woman 2: "Yea, I think it's this way."

Young man 1: "Non, c'est par la." (No, it's over there.)

Young woman 1: "Mais c'est ecrit 'Windsor'par ici." (But it's written, "Windsor," over here.)

Young man 2: "Babe, babe, babe." (He adds a comment in Italian in an exasperated tone.)

Young man 1: "C'est pas la meme chose a l'interieur, c'est le contraire." (It's not the same inside, it's the opposite.)

Young woman 1: "Ah! J'suis pas bonne desfois." (Oh! I'm not quick sometimes.)

--Show in Centre-ville

In summary, it would appear that situations involving codeswitching or the use of minority languages were often ones where young Montrealers seemed to know each other well and/or felt relaxed or comfortable (Radice 2000) in each other's company, in other words, contexts where friendship and intimacy among speakers was greatest or where sites were perceived as neutral, not owned by any linguistic community or group in particular. Linguistic frontiers also seemed to be broken down quite frequently in Montreal, at least temporarily, when an activity brought together people who shared a common cause (such as the legalization of marijuana), or interest (Grand Prix racing), or identity marker (activities in the Gay community). Furthennore, ur observations indicated that for many young Montrealers, regardless of their linguistic background, bilingual and multilingual practices were commonplace. We did not witness any instances when bilingual or multilingual exchanges led to situations of confrontation and very rarel y did individuals appear to be taking a stand on language use. Bilingual and multilingual exchanges were marked not only by their fluidity, but by a surprising degree of openness to the use of more than language. When we compare this relaxed attitude to the tensions often underlying language use in Montreal in the seventies (Heller 1982), a major shift in the politics of language choice seems to have occurred.

A NEW LANGUAGE DYNAMIC EMERGING IN MONTREAL?

In a political and historical context where language is such a potent issue, the lack of animosity and sense of fun often evident in bilingual and multilingual exchanges is striking. If the politics of language still underlies interactions, young Montrealers seemed to be dealing with it with a fair amount of equanimity and good humour. Often, they appeared to be using French-English codeswitching as a strategy to level boundaries and neutralize tensions (Heller 1988). Willingness to level boundaries, at least in certain situations of contact, seemed likely to occur on either side of an interaction, regardless of the first language of the speaker. In our opinion, this reflects the transformation of power relations characterizing language dynamics in Montreal.

While many of the French-English bilingual exchanges involved the negotiation of language use between strangers, other bilingual exchanges seemed to be just a natural way of communicating between two people who share the same language skills. In many such observations, codeswitching revealed as much about cultural competence as it did about the linguistic competence of the participants. We also found a general tolerance for something sometimes referred to as "passive official bilingualism" in Montreal, in which each person spoke in their first language and took for granted the other person's French/English bilingualism. It is increasingly common for both speakers in an Anglophone/Francophone exchange to "converge," each taking a short foray into the other person's language. Witness the following conversation in a well-to-do Francophone neighborhood involving two young women, one about eighteen and the other about twenty-five:

Young woman 1: (leaning down to speak to the dog of young woman 2): "Pitou, pitou. ...Allo toi!" (Pooch, pooch.... Hi, pooch!) Young woman 1 (obviously an Anglophone, addressing young woman 2): "Oh! It's a schnauzer!"

Young woman 2: "I don't know."

Young woman 1: "Yes, it is."

Young woman 2: "Je crois que c'est un melange." (I think he's a mixture.)

Young woman 1: "Je sais que c'en est un. J'en ai eu un, mais celui-la, y'a pas la queue coupee." (I know it's one [schnauzer], I had one, but that one doesn't have a cut tail.)

Young woman 2: "I don't know. It's not mine."

-- Ice Cream Parlour in Outremont

We also found that among many young Montrealers, codeswitching was often used when the cultural content of what one had to say was tied to a specific language, as in the exchange cited earlier between the two young men discussing French films they have seen. This type of codeswitching very clearly reveals cultural as well as linguistic knowledge. Listening in to the language practices of young Montrealers, it seemed that many young people have a double cultural affiliation:

The two young men are moving across topics quickly, but all have to do with leisure activities, music, cinema, friends, evenings out, etc. English is the language that dominates the conversation. However, whenever they mention a Francophone, the name is pronounced correctly in Quebecois French. They have just listed and laughed about English language singers that they consider "quetaine" or "kitch." They then move to French singers:

Boy 1: "It's like le beau Roch Voisine ou Mario Peichat." (It's like the handsome Roch Voisine or Mario Peichat.)

Boy 2: "Yea!" (laughter) and what about..." Girl: "But me, I like ... you know the guy ... hum: 'Ma gang de malades' "(gives the title of the song by singing it.)

Metro in Centre-ville

Boy 1: "Ah oui, Daniel Boucher." (Oh yeah, Daniel Boucher.) Girl: "I like him. 'Ma gang de malades."' (singing again.)

Boy 2: "Il est pas pire but . . . j'le connais pas beaucoup." (Yea, he's not bad but ... I don't know him much.)

Montreal clearly offers a language dynamic that is out of the ordinary by virtue of its role as a zone of contact between two strong and historically established language groups, its high number of native-born bilinguals, and the need for English-French bilingualism in the workplace. Add to this already complex dynamic the growing number of Montrealers whose first languages are neither French nor English and the result is a phenomenon of trilingualism and trilingual codeswitching unique in the North American context.

From our data, trilingual codeswitching appears to occur primarily among people who know they share a multilingual repertoire. In this respect, it differs from bilingual French-English codeswitching, often associated with the negotiation of language use for an exchange between strangers. As language practice, it also differs from bilingual French-English codeswitching in that it reveals even more complex identities and often, ties to communities and social networks that extend beyond the local context. The following example involved three Haitian adults and a child:

I am sitting on a public bench near Galt Street, near a young man who is about thirty years old and quite elegant and a young woman of the same age. Both are Black. They are talking about religion in English and have a foreign accent that at first I can't place. The young woman is holding a French magazine (Paris Match). Another woman now arrives with a young child. She is also about thirty. I understand that she is the young man's wife. Now ensues a trilingual conversation in French, English, and Creole.

Young man to his son: "Bonjour mon cheri."

Child: "Papa!"

Young man to his wife: "What took you so long?"

Wife (to husband): "How are you?"

Wife (to her friend or sister): Some sentences in Creole.

Friend (to wife): Some sentences in Creole.

Friend (to child): "Alors, on ne dit pas bonjour a tantine?" (So. We don't say hello to auntie?)

Young man (to his wife): "I was going to wait five more minutes and go."

Wife: "But I'm right on time!"

Young man: "Allez, on y va." (Let's get going.)

Bus in Verdun

Many Haitians living in Montreal maintain strong ties not only to others in the local Haitian community, but also with family and friends living in Haiti, New York, and Miami. In the above example, codeswitching reveals how, within intimate social networks such as family and friends, who is speaking to whom affects the use of languages, revealing a complex intergenerational dynamic (Dagenais and Berron 1998). But it also reveals ties to different social networks and communities that are not necessarily bound by the local context. As Meintel (1994) has argued, a trend toward transnationalism among young immigrants has an impact on how integration into a local context is experienced, and this seems to be reflected in the multilingual practices of this group.

Codeswitching is, of course, not unique to Montreal and can be found in other North American cities, wherever there are speakers of minority languages who also speak a majority language. This said, we feel that this study reveals a way of speaking, of dealing with languages, that is quite particular to young adult Montrealers. For one thing, Montreal represents an unusual context in North America in that it is a city where there are many bilinguals who do not speak a minority language. It is also a city where the status of a language has been transformed over the last few decades. In the past, French-speaking Montrealers tended to be more bilingual than native English-speakers, a phenomenon that Gendron (Government of Quebec 1972) dubbed "one-way bilingualism." It was also much more likely that Francophones would switch to English in encounters with Anglophones than the reverse (Bourhis 1984). But with the amelioration of the status of French, this has changed. Young Anglophones are now a very bilingual cohor t (Jedwab 1996) and are more likely to converge toward French in social encounters than in the past. Our data show that in Montreal one-way bilingualism has been replaced by two-way bilingualism. Furthermore, since French/English bilingualism has become a valuable form of linguistic capital for all speakers within the language market of Montreal, the number of young Allophones who are trilingual is very high--as we stated at the outset of the study--at least nine times higher than in the rest of Canada (Marmen and Corbeil 1999). This type of dynamic is not to be found elsewhere in North America, but it is not necessarily unique. In many ways Montreal resembles cities like Brussels and Barcelona that have two strong, historically established language groups and immigrant populations. Clearly, future comparative studies should examine the language dynamics of young people in such cities along with Montreal.

CONCLUSIONS

In this crisscrossing of many different settings in Montreal, we have tried to grasp the linguistic reality of youth in the city. Although we recorded a surprising number of instances of codeswitching, we feel that, if anything, this type of language behaviour is underrepresented in our corpus. This is largely due to the methods used in this study, methods that made it difficult to collect verbatim material without being obtrusive, especially in more intimate, informal contexts. Since we did not use recording equipment, it was not always possible to follow the fast pace of many young people's conversations. Nonetheless, our observations offer a glimpse of the linguistic diversity to be found among the city's younger generations.

Many factors appear to affect choices guiding language use. Language behaviour seems to play out differently depending on where the speaker is located (geography and type of space), to whom one is speaking, as well as the roles, power relations, and stakes underlying interactions. In brief, our data reveals the following:

- the continuing importance of geographic zones in predicting what language will be dominant in social interaction;

- some sites are perceived by speakers as having a "linguistic identity" that either restricts language behaviour or allows for more diverse practices. Interestingly, this linguistic identity does not appear to be necessarily linked to the overt language policies of institutions, but seems related to how speakers perceive ownership of a space and the stakes involved in the interactions that take place within that space;

- the importance of French-English bilingual practices in the downtown core, a part of the city where there is much contact between language communities;

- the great willingness to use the language (English or French) of the other speaker(s) on the part of both employees and customers in the service sector, but also within encounters between strangers;

- the higher the "comfort" level of speakers (Radice 2000) in any given social situation/space, the greater appears the likelihood of non-monolingual practices.

Furthermore, the data from this pilot study provide evidence for types of linguistic behaviour that have been relatively little studied, in Montreal especially:

- new ways of speaking among bilinguals and trilinguals and a greater tolerance for codeswitching and "bilingual talk" than was once the case;

- two major types of French-English bilingual interactions, one involving negotiation of language use, the other using "bilingual talk" as an expression of a hybrid identity;

- a generalized use of French-English codeswitching to level and neutralize boundaries, at least in some situations;

- trilingual codeswitching, not so much for negotiating language use, but rather to express plural identities and ties to many social networks;

- changing attitudes toward the maintenance of a minority language among young Allophones related to transnationalism and globalization.

From this exploratory study, it seems there is no single or simple answer to why a certain type of linguistic practice is chosen over others in a given time/space by a young bilingual or multilingual. A striking finding is the appreciable linguistic adaptability of many young Montrealers and their extremely varied language practices. Many have the language skills needed to cross ethnic, linguistic, and geographic frontiers and are using languages to do just that in their daily activities. It is obvious that a new approach is needed to understand language practices in Montreal, one that is not static and which follows individuals through their day-today lives, examining how they draw on languages differently as they move through the city and in the course of different social situations. Other data collection techniques are also needed for future research, to complement observation techniques and provide information on how people in our target age group see their own bilingual and multilingual practices and ho w they explain their use of languages as they move through different social spaces, networks, and roles. An ethnographic multicase approach focussing on a number of unilingual, bilingual, and trilingual Montrealers as they move through their day-to-day lives will, we hope, complement and complete the data we have presented here.

The study also raises questions about how a growing number of bilingual and multilingual Montrealers define their identity. In intergroup relations in Quebec, language has been a strong marker of ingroup and outgroup traits in the past, leading to binary and triangular ways of thinking about group relations. Butjust where do the growing number of bilingual and trilingual young people fit in the conventional Allophone-Francophone-Anglophone categories of linguistic identity? As Beland (1999) and Meintel and Fortin (2001) ask, how are we to define linguistic identity? Just who is a Francophone, an Anglophone, or an Allophone in Montreal today, and even more importantly, in the Montreal of tomorrow? How do the bilinguals who were raised with two mother tongues and who have a double cultural affiliation define themselves? Are they comfortable within traditional linguistic identity markers or, on the contrary, is there a certain comfort in not being easily defined? And what about the important number of young All ophones who are trilingual? Do they identify with any particular linguistic community and, if so, in what way?

Many young Montrealers have crossed and recrossed traditional linguistic frontiers in the course of their schooling or because of family circumstances (immigrant origins, ethnically mixed parentage, etc.). For them, homogenous linguistic and cultural identities make little sense. As one young Allophone CEGEP student expressed it during interviews in an earlier study (Lamarre and Paredes Rossell 2003):

You are one person spread four ways, as opposed to one person that's concentrated in one direction ... . I think I am like an empty space, I don't know ... I don't call myself Italian. I don't say I am Spanish cause I'm both, and I realize ... I have some characteristics of one and the other. And of the English culture, since I've grown up ... and with the French people and everything. I'm just like one big clay. I'm like, ou see blue clay and red clay and white clay, you know, I'm just one big ball of clay. No identity to it, not yet at least. They haven't characterized us yet. Maybe put us a name or something. Well, I guess in having many different identities ... you produce ... you come out as one identity.

-- Daniel, Italian father, Latin-American mother, born and raised in Montreal, educated in both French and English

It may be that multiple language resources are mobilized in the processes of cumulative multi-dimensional identity formation, as is described elsewhere by Meintel (1992, 1994 and this issue), whereby different affiliations are added on to one other. It may also be possible that some young Montrealers are not even concerned with linguistic identity, that language and identity do not have the same relationship as they did for earlier generations. Finally,we can ask if it is possible that linguistic plurality will become normalized to the point that for, some young Montrealers, linguistic mono-identities (homogenous language and cultural referents) are stranger and more problematic than the multiple language, accents, and cultural referents typical of the social world they inhabit?

ACKNOWLEDGMEMENTS

Special thanks are offered to Deirdre Meintel and Monica Heller for their feedback and collaboration.

NOTES

(1.) In the sociological sense, rather than the demographic.

(2.) Bill 101, Quebec's Charte de la Ian gue francaise (Charter of the French Language), regulates language use in advertising, the workplace, in public schooling, and in provincial legislation.

(3.) See Victor Piche's indepth discussion of these questions in this issue.

(4.) CEGEP: College d'enseignement general et professionnel.

(5.) Study subsidized by Heritage Canada: Social cohesion in a linguistically divided society: Intergroup relations in two Montreal CEGEPs. Report submitted to Heritage Canada, 2003. Article in Les Cahiers of GRES, 2003.

(6.) This corroborates the findings of a much larger study of language practices in primary and secondary schools across Montreal (McAndrew, Veltman, Lemire and Parades Rossel 1999).

(7.) (Lamarre, FCAR 2000-2003).

(8.) It is perhaps worth mentioning that the information we drew on to describe interactions or settings is the same type of information drawn on by Montrealers ho don't know each other and must make a quick evaluation of whom they are talking to in order to determine which language to use (knowledge of context, geography, visible traits, accent).

(9.) Quebec Automobile Insurance Centres.

(10.) Separate educational institutions for Canada's two official language communities is now guaranteed by the Canadian Charter, but also by Quebec's Charte de la langue francaise. Institutional separation has been further reinforced by Quebec's move to linguistic school boards in 1998, which replaced the confessional school boards previously in place.

(11.) Prise de Parole 2, Heller, et al. La francophonie canadienne et la nouvelle economie mondialisee, CRSH 2001-2004.

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Patricia Lamarre is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the Universite de Montreal and a member of the Centre d'etudes ethniques des Universites Montrealaises (CEETUM) and GRES. She works in the area of sociolinguistics and is particularly interested in how language behaviour and attitudes toward languages are changing in Quebec in an era of globalization and post Bill-101. She is currently involved in other sociolinguistic studies in collaboration with Deirdre Meintel (Universite de Montreal), Monica Heller (QISE/UToronto), and Anne Laperriere (UQAM). Two of her articles on multilingualism in Montreal can be found in recent issues of Multilingual Matters.

Emmanuel Kahn is currently collecting data on issues of linguistic identity within mixed-marriages in Montreal for his masters thesis. He has participated in several GRES research projects, including Transmission Culturelle et Identitaire chez les Jeunes Couples Mixtes; Social Cohesion in Linguistically Divided Societies; and Prise de Parole 2.

Julie Paquette recently completed her M.A. from the Department of Anthropology at the Universite de Montreal, and now works as a research agent in a local health and community center (CLSC) and at INRS-urbanisation, a research institute of the Universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM). Her masters thesis used a phenomenological approach to study community gardens and the way people experience these spaces. An article describing this study was recently published in the journal, Ethnologies.