zyx
zyx
Socio-economic achievements of Montreal
language groups in 1971
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zy
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J A C - A N D R ~ . B O U L E T Economic Council of Canada
CALVIN VELTMAN
Universitk du Qukbec li Montrkal
A l’aide des donnkes du recensement canadien de 1971, les auteurs tentent de mesurer
l’incidence de l’appartenance iun groupe linguistique sur le rang social. La recherche
porte sur les travailleurs masculins de la rCgion mCtropolitaine de MontrCal et l’indice
de Blishen sert de mesure du rang social. Les resultars obtenus indiquent qu’en 1971,la
performance des travailleurs anglophones, du point de vue du rang social, Ctait supCrieure
1 celle qu’auraient dQ leur confCrer leurs caractCristiques. Sauf pour les anglophones, il
Ctait avantageux pour tous les groupes linguistiques d’stre bilingues. Pour les allophones,
il Ctait prCfCrable de conndtre l’anglais et le frangais plut8t qu’une seule des deux langues,
quoique l’apprentissage de l’anglais seul Ctait plus rentable que l’apprentissage du frangais
seul. Mais il Ctait surtout rentable de s’intkgrer ila communaute anglophone plut8t que
dapprendre seulement l’anglais ou encore les deux langues officielles. Les auteurs concluent
que ces rksultats concordent avec ceux que laisse pressentir dans un tel cas la theorie des
rCseaux d’information.
Using data from the 1971 Census of Canada, this research assesses the effect of language
group membership on the Blishen-indexed achievement of employed males in the
Montreal CMA. The findings reveal that the English mother tongue groups had higher
achievement levels than their background characteristics would predict. Bilingualism in
both English and French was associated with higher achievements for most groups, the
exception being the English language groups. For allophone language groups bilingualism in the official languages was associated with higher attainments than was the acquisition of either French or English. The acquisition of English was, however, associated
with higher achievements than was the acquisition of French. Nonetheless, integration
into the English language group was associated with higher achievements than was either
the learning of English or the acquisition of both official languages. The authors conclude
that these data conform to a network theory of occupational achievement.
Inequalities in the achievement levels of English and French Canadians were first
documented by the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. The
findings indicated that males of French ancestry had mean income levels well below
those of males of British ancestry, so low in fact that males of Italian ancestry had
the only incomes which were lower for the Montreal area (1969, III, 18). A second
analysis of the 1961 Census data has since been released by the Economic Council
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Rev. canad. SOC.Bc Anth./Canad. Rev. SOC.& Anth. 18(2) 1981
zyxwvutsr
240 J A C - A N D R E
BOULET AND CALVIN VELTMAN
of Canada which documents in much greater detail the linguistic correlates of
French-Canadian income inferiority in Montreal (Boulet and Raynauld, 1977).
The availability of the 1971 Census data has not changed the focus of the analyses;
Veltman (1976), Vaillancourt (1977), and Boulet (1979) document the existence of
continued income disparities.
Given this somewhat singular definition of the problem of inequities, it is not
surprising that economists have been in the forefront of the analysis. Nonetheless,
the received sociological literature has ensconced not only wealth but also prestige
and power as axes of social stratification. This paper focuses on prestige,
operationally defined by the use of the Blishen index of socio-economic status
(Blishen and McRoberts, 1976). Although the Blishen index is a properly
sociological variable, it has not been employed in the examination of the Montreal
labour market. Since occupational achievement processes may vary somewhat
from the processes of income achievement, we shall assess the extent to which the
two processes are congruent.
The language variable used in this analysis is more sophisticated than that
employed in the income research to date. Boulet and Vaillancourt constructed a
language variable based on mother tongue and official language, whereas Veltman
used mother tongue and home language.‘ In this research we shall use data from all
three census questions, combining them into fifteen categories of the language
variable for use as independent variables in a multivariate analysis of occupational
achievement.
The fifteen categories consist of three categories of complete language retention
- English, French, and allophone’ - where the mother tongue is the same as the
home language and the official language; there are also eleven language shift
categories and one residual category.3 Language shift is conceptualized in two
forms. The first we define as ’retentive bilingualism,’ that is, the acquisition of a
second language without surrendering one’s mother tongue as the principal home
language. A person of French mother tongue who learns English well enough to
declare himself bilingual in the official languages but who continues to speak
French at home is one example of retentive bilingualism. If, however, this same
person had made English his principal home language, we define this person as
having made a language transfer. More formally, we define this form of language
shift as ’integrative bilingualism,’ that is, when a person makes an acquired
language his usual home language. In our view, this second pattern represents a
closer integration into the language community of destination, whereas the former
indicates closer identification with the language community of origin.
As applied to the economy, network theory suggests that dominant groups
benefit from informal contacts and relationships which give them advantages on
the labour market (MiguP, 1970; Boulet and Raynauld, 1977). By extension, any
group which is integrating with a dominant group also should be expected to
benefit from such contacts. In technical terms, we expect that the regression
coefficients for integrative bilinguals should resemble those of the language group
into which they are integrating. We may further expect, however, that the
integration of the person malung the language transfer is not as complete as is the
integration of ’native’ speakers of the language. Accordingly, while the regression
coefficients of the relevant groups may be similar, that of the integrative bilingual
zy
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241
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ACHIEVEMENTS OF M O N T R E A L L A N G U A G E GROUPS IN
TABLE I
MEAN BLISHEN INDEX BY LANGUAGE GROUP, MALES, MONTREAL CMA,
1971
1971
Language Group
Rank
Mother Tongue
Official Language
Home Language
Mean Blishen
Per cent
1
2
3
4
5
English
English
Allophone
French
Allophone
Bilingual
English
Bilingual
Bilingual
English
English
English
English
English
English
50.29
49.81
47.80
46.32
46.09
9.3
10.4
2.0
2.1
1.6
6
7
8
French
Allophone
English
Bilingual
Bilingual
Bilingual
French
French
French
45.17
44.07
43.32
40.1
1.1
1.2
9‘
10
11
12
13
14
Residual
Allophone
Allophone
French
Allophone
Allophone
Undefined
Bilingual
English
French
French
French
Allophone
Allophone
Allophone
French
French
Allophone
39.68
39.19
37.50
0.5‘
3.4
3.0
36.18
35.34
31.29
22.6
0.3
1.6
15
Allophone
Allophone
Allophone
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Mean/Total (N = 240,140)
28.85
1.1
42.38
100.0
* Persons of English or French mother ton ue having allophone home language
Speaal tabulations, 1971 Census of Canada; Calculations by the authors
SOURCE:
group should be somewhat lower. Finally, retentive bilinguals may profit from the
acquisition of a second language, but the associated benefits will be lower than
those secured by integrative bilinguals.
To examine empirically these expectations, special tabulations were prepared
from the 1971 Census of Canada. In accord with previous analyses we have
retained only males in the sample, selecting only those men who had positive
employment income in 1970 and who also had a non-zero Blishen index.4 The
distribution of the retained workers and the mean Blishen scores for each of the
language categories are presented in Table I.
Substantively, this table reveals that socio-economic achievement was more
closely ordered by home language than by mother tongue in 1971. Groups one
through five are English home language groups, the ‘native’ anglophones
positioned at the top. Groups six through eight are bilingual groups of French
home language. They rank well ahead of the unilingual francophone groups,
suggesting that their knowledge of English is associated with higher achievements.
Group nine is the residual group which consists of persons moving to allophone
home languages from French and English mother tongues. Groups ten and eleven
are two allophone groups, both of which speak English but have retained allophone
home languages. Three groups classified as French speaking (only), according to
the official languages’ question, are positioned twelve through fourteen, followed
by the unilingual allophones.
The raw score rank ordering of these language groups suggests certain
242
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~ A C - A N D BROEU L E T
AND CALVIN VELTMAN
TABLE 11
GROSS AND ADJUSTED DEVIATIONS FROM MEAN BLISHEN INDEX BY LANGUAGE GROUP, MALES, MONTREAL
CMA,
1971
Deviations
language Group
Adjustedt
Background
Characteristics*
+7.01
+6.53
+4.52
+3.04
+2.81
+3.18
+3.47
+1.14
+1.39
-0.10
+3.82
+3.06
+3.38
+1.65
+2.91
+1.89
+0.79
+0.04
+0.97
-0.93
+0.33
+0.92
+1.72
-0.29
Allophone
Allophone
Allophone
-3.60
-4.09
-5.78
-3.62
-3.30
-4.45
-0.02
-0.79
-1.33
French
French
French
French
French
Allophone
-7.10
-7.94
-11.99
-2.80
-5.68
-6.22
-4.30
-2.26
-5.77
Allophone
Allophone
-14.43
-7.61
-6.82
R-SQUARED = .42
Mother Tongue
Officiai Language
Home Language
English
English
Allophone
French
Allophone
Bilingual
English
Bilingual
Bilingual
English
English
English
English
English
English
French
Allophone
English
Bilingual
Bilingual
Bilingual
French
French
French
Residual
Allophone
Allophone
Undefined
Bilingual
English
French
Allophone
Allophone
Allophone
Gross'
(I)
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Calculated from Table I by subtracting the market mean from the mean of each language group
t Regression coefficient for each language group
* Combined
effects of age and education
Special tabulations, 1971 Census of Canada; Calculations by the authors
SOURCE:
interpretations. First, it appears that mother tongue was less important than the
current home language for 1971 socio-economic achievement. Of the five top
groups, all have English home languages but only two are of English mother
tongue. The English mother tongue group which made language transfers to
French is appropriately situated with other French home language bilinguals.
Second, it appears that bilingualism per se was associated with higher
achievements. Thus, English mother tongue bilinguals have higher achievements
than their unilingual counterparts; this is true for francophones and allophones as
well. Third, Table I reveals the general importance of being able to speak English.
The highest ranking nonEnglish-spealung group is positioned twelfth. By way of
contrast, the three groups which only speak English (and not French) are
positioned second, fifth, and eleventh.
To determine the extent to which these ordering and interpretations are
associated with the linguistic characteristics of these groups, rather than with
differential background characteristics, we have conducted a multiple regression
analysis of socio-economic achievement. The variables controlled in the equation
are educational achievement and chronological age. Data were entered in binary
(dummy) form, using a modified version of Multiple Classification Analysis
(Andrews, et al., 1969). The co-efficients for occupational achievement of the
language groups are presented in Table 11.
243
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ACHIEVEMENTS OF MONTREAL L A N G U A G E GROUPS IN
1971
The data are presented in the following way. Column I indicates the difference
between the mean Blishen score of any language category and the mean for the
sample as a whole (42.38).Column 2 contains the regression coefficient associated
with membership in the language group, that is, the estimated value of belonging
to one particular group as opposed to another. Column 3 contains the remainder
(Column I minus Column 2), which represents the amount of occupational status
which is attributable to the educational achievements and the age structure of any
given language group. For example, allophone unilinguals had educational and age
characteristics which would have placed them 6.82 Blishen points below the
market mean. In addition, the equation estimates that membership in this group is
associated with 7.61 points of lowered Blishen points. Since education and age are
such important determinants of occupational achievements, we interpret this latter
coefficient (Column 2) as principally due to the linguistic characteristics of the
group. Together, these two figures explain the total difference in occupational
status between unilingual allophones and the market mean.
Table 11 reveals a strong correspondance in the orderings of columns one, two,
and three. There are, however, three exceptions worthy of note. First of all, the
allophone language transfers to English who did not speak French had a favourable
set of background characteristics but did not additionally benefit from group
membership. This contrasts markedly with the achievement structure of the
remaining English home language groups.
Second, allophone bilinguals who made language transfers to French presented a
favourable set of background characteristics but were unable to achieve occupational status commensurate with those characteristics. The regression coefficient
suggests a loss of nearly one Blishen point for this group. The final exception
concerns the French mother tongue unilinguals. Less than three points of their
below average occupational status is associated with group membership. This
contrasts markedly with the pattern which is evident for the last seven groups,
where group membership accounts for at least one-half and frequently more of the
below average attainments of groups having allophone home languages or patterns
of French official unilingualism. Apparently, the size of the French mother tongue
group, together with similarities in ethnic origin in the French bilingual group, has
created sufficient occupational opportunities to prevent additional status losses.
The patterns revealed in Table 11 may suggest that there is a curvilinear structure
to occupational achievement, the top groups appearing to benefit more than the
equation estimates, the bottom groups less. The net result however, is, the same.
The background characteristics of the top groups, predominantly anglophone and
anglicizing, were accorded a premium; those of the bottom groups, allophone and
unilingual francophone, were discounted.
The four largest groups in the Montreal labour market illustrate this
observation. The regression equation estimates that bilinguals of English mother
tongue had educational achievements and an age structure associated with occupational achievements 3.8 points above the mean. However, the mean achievement
for this group was 7.0 points above the mean, the additional 3.2 points associated
with group membership. Similarly, over one-half of the above average achievements of unilinguals of English mother tongue was associated with group
membership. Since both groups had adjusted occupational achievements at least
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244
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J A C - A N D R ~B O U L E T A N D C A L V I N V E L T M A N
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TABLE 111
ESTIMATED RETURNS ASSOCIATED WITH S E C O N D LANGUAGE ACQUISITION A N D LANGUAGE TRANSFER, MALES,
MONTREAL CMA.
1971
Language Shift Group
Base Language Group*
Mother Tongue
Official Language
Home Language
Estimated
Advantagest
English unilinguals
English unilinguals
English
English
Bilingual
Bilingual
English
French
-0.29
-3.14
French unilinguals
French unilinguals
French
French
Bilingual
Bilingual
French
English
+3.77
+4.19
Allophone unilinguals
Allophone unilinguals
Allophone
Allophone
English
English
Allophone
English
+3.16
+7.51
Allophone unilinguals
Allophone unilinguals
Allophone
Allophone
French
French
Allophone
French
+1.39
+1.93
Allophone unilinguals
AIIophone unilinguals
Allophone unilinguals
Allophone
Allophone
Allophone
Bilingual
Bilingual
Bilingual
Allophone
French
English
+4.31
+6.68
+8.75
* Mother tongue is same as official language and home language
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t Calculated by subtracting the regression coefficient of the base group from the coefficient of the
language shift group
Speaal tabulations, 1971 Census of Canada; Calculations by the authors
SOURCE:
three points higher than the mean, this figure represents the approximate
advantages accruing to persons of English mother tongue (who retain English as
the home language).
Bilinguals of French mother tongue experienced moderate returns both from an
advantageous set of background characteristics and from group membership. This
group achieved slightly above-average occupational status, given their educational
achievements and age distribution. By way of contrast, not only did unilinguals of
French mother tongue have a disadvantageous set of background characteristics;
they lost an additional 2.8 points associated with their group membership.
The occupational returns from language shift cannot be seen clearly, however,
by comparing the magnitude of the coefficient for one group with that of all the
others. In Table 1x1 the data are reorganized, treating the three unilingual groups as
base groups, against which the performance of the shift groups is assessed.
Examining anglophones first of all, the unilinguals had the highest regression
coefficients. There was, accordingly, no premium associated with bilingualism in
occupational palacement, while there was a definite disadvantage associated with a
language transfer to French. 5 With respect to francophones, retentive bilingualism
in English was associated with a 3.8 point advantage in occupational achievement
when compared to equivalent unilinguals. Integrative bilingualism added only 0.4
of one point beyond that produced by simple bilingualism, indicating that retentive
bilingualism was associated with nearly all of the occupational rewards which could
be obtained by learning English.
The linguistic situation of allophones is very revealing, indicating at once the
importance of speaking English, being bilingual, and integrating into the English
language group. Thus, for persons retaining allophone home languages, retentive
bilingualism in French was associated with an additional 1.4 points of Blishen
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245
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ACHIEVEMENTS OF MONTREAL LANGUAGE GROUPS IN
1971
achievements. Retentive bilingualism in English was associated with 3.2 points,
and bilingualism in both official languages was associated with 4.3 points.
On the other hand, integrating into the English language group by making
English the home language was associated with a 7.5 point increase in occupational
status, always with reference to the base group. This was 4.3 points higher than the
achievement levels of those who were retentive bilinguals in English. Integrating
into the French language group was not associated with an occupational premium
of this magnitude, however, the integrative group having occupational achievements just 0.5 higher than the retentive group.
The differential value of integration by language group is equally evident among
allophones who were bilingual in the official languages. Those who made language
transfers to French had an adjusted achievement 2.4 points higher than those who
had retained their mother tongues as home languages. A switch to an English
home language was, however, associated with a 4.4 point advantage when
compared to the same retentive group.
One further comparison illustrates the importance of integration into the
English language group. Allophones who had made English their home language
and could not speak French were more successful than either of the two bilingual
groups (in terms of the official languages) which did not make transfers to English,
including the group which made language transfers to French. This comparison
suggests that movement to an English home language was more important in the
Montreal labour market than was bilingualism in the official languages.
DISCUSSION
These data provide the basis for an economic theory of language shift in the
Montreal area, in addition to which they support the general findings for income
achievements. Anglophones in Montreal not only benefit from higher occupational status; they also benefit from higher incomes, even when relevant factors
have been controlled for (Veltman and Boulet, 1979). They are also less bilingual, a
feature now understandable in the context of occupational achievement. None of
these findings seem unrelated to the Anglo-Canadian and American domination of
the Montreal economic structure (Sales, 1976). It may be this factor as well which
gives the English language such an important role in the process of occupational
achievement for other groups, conferring benefits on those who learn English
rather than French and even further advantages on those who integrate into the
English language group.
The data also indicate that francophones benefit both occupationally and
financially from learning English, a feature which may be related to the high levels
of bilingualism in the French language group. Retentive bilinguals have slightly
higher occupational achievements than their background characteristics would
predict, although they are not as advantaged as integrative bilinguals (integrating
into English), who in turn are not as advantaged as persons with English as mother
tongue.
The prevalent anglicisation of allophones is widely documented (e.g. Castonguay, 1974) and the income benefits grossly observed (Boulet, 1979). This study
reveals occupational benefits in any movement away from allophone languages but
particularly in the integration into the anglophone language group.
246
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J A C - A N D R ~ .B O U L E T A N D C A L V I N V E L T M A N
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APPENDIX I: REGRESSION COEFFICIENTS AND T-RATIOS FOR THE MULTIPLE REGRESSION EQUATION
REPORTED IN TABLE I1
Variable Language Group
Mother Tongue
Official Language
Home Language
English
English
Allophone
French
Allophone
French
Allophone
English
Residual
Allophone
Allophone
French
Allophone
Allophone
Allophone
Bilingual
English
Bilingual
Bilingual
English
Bilingual
Bilingual
Bilingual
Undefined
Bilingual
English
French
French
French
Allophone
English
English
English
English
English
French
French
French
Allophone
Allophone
Allophone
French
French
Allophone
Allophone
Regression
Coefficient
T-ratio
+3.18
+3.47
+1.14
+1.39
-0.10
+0.97
-0.93
+0.33
-3.62
-3.30
-4.45
-2.80
-5.68
-6.22
-7.61
+44.32t
+51.77t
+7.19t
+8.98t
-0.58
+34.83t
-4.35t
+1.58"
-11.23t
-27.40t
-34.48t
-63.27t
-14.72t
-34.61t
-35.06t
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Age
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65+
Education
Grades 0-7
Grades 8-9
Grades 10-13
Some university, no degree
Certificate or diploma below bachelor's
Bachelor's or first professional degree
Post-graduate degree
R-SQUARED = ,423
(30,240109) = 5870.85
* p < .05 t p < .01
F
-9.31
-4.00
+0.26
+I10
+1.80
+1.96
+1.90
+1.74
+1.51
+0.96
+1.20
-100.57t
-69.13t
+4.54t
+17.50t
+28.62t
30.83t
+28.09t
+22.67t
+17.96t
+9.51t
+9.39t
-8.86
-4.79
-209.95t
i2.11
+6.38
+ 9.77
+16.37
+20.06
+
-103.63t
+63.64t
+74.81t
+73.24t
+204.12t
+157.80t
247
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ACHIEVEMENTS OF MONTREAL LANGUAGE GROUPS IN
NOTES
1971
zy
The 1971 mother tongue question asked for the ‘language first spoken and still
understood’ while the usual language question was phrased, ’What language do you
most often speak at home now?’ Knowledge of the official languages was ascertained by
asking. ’Can you speak English or French well enough to conduct a conversation?‘
2 Allophone is defined as any language other than English or French.
3 The residual category consists of language transfers to allophone home languages.
Although very small, it is very heterogeneous, containing persons of both French and
English mother tongues, some of whom are unilingual, others bilingual from the
standpoint of the official languages’ question.
4 The specificationof positive employment income is not relevant to the analysis carried out
in this paper. However, the study design also calls for an analysis of income
determination.
5 There is, nonetheless, an income premium associated with bilingualism for retentive
anglophones (Veltman, Boulet, and Castonguay, 1979).
I
REFERENCES
Andrews, Frank M., James N. Morgan and John A. Sonquist
1969 Multiple Classification Analysis. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research,
University of Michigan
Boulet, Jac-Andre
1979 L’holution des disparitb linguistiques de revenus de travail dans la zone
mktropolitaine de Montrbal de 1961i1977. Ottawa: Conseil Economique du Canada
Boulet, Jac-Andre et Andre Raynauld
1977 L‘analyse des disparites de revenus suivant l’origine ethnique et la langue sur le
march6 montrealais en 1961. Ottawa: Conseil Economique du Canada
Castonguay, Charles
1974 ‘La domination de l’anglais au Quibec. ‘ MCmoire prEsentC ila commission
parlementaire pour 1’6tude du projet de loi 22. Hull: polycopiC
Commission royale d‘enquste sur le bilinguisme et le biculturalism
1969 Livre III: Le monde du travail. Ottawa: Imprimeur de la reine
MiguC, Jean-Luc
1970 ’Le nationalisme, I’unitC nationale et la thCorie Cconomique de l’information. ‘ Revue
Canadienne d’Economique 3: 183-98
Sales, Arnaud et al.
1976 Les industriels au Quebec et leur rBle dans le developpement Cconomique. MontCal:
Le groupe de recherche sur les elites industrielles au Quebec
Vaillancourt, Frangois
1977 La situation des francophones sur le march6 du travail quCbCcois et le Livre blanc sur
la langue. Montreal: polycopie
Veltman, Calvin
1976 ‘Les incidencesdu revenu sur les transferts linguistiques dans la rCgion mCtropolitaine
de Montreal. ‘ Recherches Sociographiques 17: 323-39
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248
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J A C - A N D R ~BOULET A N D CALVIN VELTMAN
Veltman, Calvin, Jac-AndrC Boulet and Charles Castonguay
1979 ’The Economic Context of Bilingualism and Language Transfer in the Montreal
Metropolitan Area.’ Canadian Journal of Economics 12: 468-78
Veltman, Calvin and Jac-Andre Boulet
1980 L’incidence de la mobilit6 linguistique sur la situation Cconomique et le rang sociel
des traveiileurs montrealais eu 1971. MontrPal: l’Office de la langue frangaise