Editing Quebec French (section)

== History ==
{{main|History of Quebec French}}

The origins of Quebec French lie in the 17th- and 18th-century regional varieties (dialects) of early modern French, also known as [[Classical French]], and of other {{lang|fr|[[langues d'oïl]]}} (especially [[Poitevin dialect]], [[Saintongeais dialect]], [[Norman language|Norman]] and [[Picard dialect|Picard]]) that French colonists brought to [[New France]]. Quebec French either evolved from this language base and was shaped by the following influences (arranged according to historical period) or was imported from Paris and other urban centres of France as a [[koiné language|koiné]], or common language shared by the people speaking it.

=== New France ===
Unlike the language of France in the 17th and 18th centuries, French in New France was fairly well unified. It acquired [[loan word]]s, especially [[Toponymy|place names]] such as ''[[Quebec|Québec]]'', ''[[name of Canada|Canada]]'' and ''[[Hochelaga (village)|Hochelaga]]'', and words to describe the flora and fauna such as {{wikt-lang|fr|atoca}} ([[cranberry]]) and {{wikt-lang|fr|achigan}} ([[largemouth bass]]), from [[Amerind languages|First Nations languages]].

The importance of the rivers and ocean as the main routes of transportation also left its imprint on Quebec French. Whereas European varieties of French use the verbs {{wikt-lang|fr|monter}} and {{wikt-lang|fr|descendre}} for "to get in" and "to get out" of a vehicle ({{lit|to mount|to dismount}}, as one does with a horse or a carriage), the Québécois variety in its informal [[register (phonology)|register]] tends to use {{wikt-lang|fr|embarquer}} and {{wikt-lang|fr|débarquer}}, a result of Quebec's navigational heritage.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

=== British rule ===
With the onset of [[Articles of Capitulation of Montreal|British rule in 1760]], the French of Canada became isolated from that of Europe. This led to a retention of older pronunciations, such as {{lang|fr-x-quebec|moé}} for {{lang|fr|moi}} ({{audio|FR-moi-et-moé.ogg|audio comparison}}) and expressions that later died out in France. In 1774, the [[Quebec Act]] guaranteed French settlers as British subjects rights to [[Civil Code of Quebec#History of the Civil Code of Quebec|French law]], the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] faith and the French language to appease them at a moment when the English-speaking colonies to the south were on the verge of revolting in the [[American Revolution]].

=== 1840 to 1960 ===
In the period between the [[Act of Union of 1840]] and 1960, roughly 900,000 [[French-Canadian Americans|French Canadians left Canada to emigrate to the United States]] to seek employment. The ones that returned, brought with them new words taken from their experiences in the [[New England]] textile mills and the northern lumber camps. As a result, Quebec French began to borrow from both [[Canadian English|Canadian]] and [[American English]] to fill [[accidental gap]]s in the lexical fields of government, law, manufacturing, business and trade.{{sfn|Bélanger|2000a}}{{sfn|Bélanger|2000b}}

=== 1960 to 1982 ===
From the [[Quiet Revolution]] to the passing of the [[Charter of the French Language]], the French language in Quebec saw a period of validation in its varieties associated with the working class while the percentage of literate and university-educated francophones grew. Laws concerning the status of French were passed both on the federal and provincial levels. The {{langr|fr|[[Office québécois de la langue française]]}} was established to play an essential role of support in [[language planning]].{{sfn|Modernisation (1960–1981)}} Protective laws and distaste towards [[anglicism]]s arose at the same time to preserve the integrity of Quebec French, while [[Metropolitan French]] on the other hand does not have that same protective attitude and in recent decades has been more influenced by English, causing Quebec French not to borrow recent English loanwords that are now used in Metropolitan French.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sandra |date=26 October 2017 |title=Anglicisms in Québécois French |url=https://www.vivalanguageservices.co.uk/blog/anglicisms-in-quebecois-french/ |access-date=24 November 2024 |website=Viva Language}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fournier |first=Louna |url=https://digscholarship.unco.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=ug_pres_2020 |title=French and Canadian French, Are They Really Different? |access-date=24 November 2024 |publisher=University of Northern Colorado |date=March 2020}}</ref>