Invitation for March 12: Distinguished Québec Address

[Liza Bedard]

On behalf of Dr. Christopher Kirkey, the Institute for Québec Studies at
SUNY Plattsburgh invites you to the Distinguished Quebec Address featuring Dr.
Yulia Bosworth, President, American Council of Québec Studies, Associate
Professor of French and Linguistics, and Director of Undergraduate Studies
in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Binghamton
University.



Presentation Title:

*French as “the Common Language of the Québec Nation”: Legislating Language
and Identity in Contemporary Québec*



Presentation Date, Time and Location:

*Tuesday, March 12, 2024*

*2:00 p.m.*

*Krinovitz Recital Hall, Hawkins Hall, SUNY Plattsburgh *



Overview:

The endurance of the French language in Québec, viewed by French-speaking
Quebecers and its governing party, The Coalition for Québec’s Future (CAQ),
as the core of its national identity and the cornerstone of its
socio-cultural cohesion, is owed in large part to the Charter of the French
Language, or Bill 101, adopted by the Parti Québécois in 1977. Stronger and
more encompassing than any previous legislation of this kind, the Charter
affirmed French as the official language of Québec and instituted it as the
language of everyday life, the workplace, education, communication, and
business. Almost half a century later, the highly popular government of
Prime Minister François Legault, citing a decline of French in Québec,
enacted what turned out to be a highly controversial language law - Bill
96, or “An Act respecting French, the official and common language of
Québec”, which introduced a series of measures aimed at strengthening the
provisions of the Charter with the overarching goal of preserving and
re-affirming French as “the only official language of Québec” and “the
common language of the Québec nation”.



Presenter's Short Bio:

Dr. Yulia Bosworth is Associate Professor of French and Literatures and
Linguistics and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of
Romance Languages at Binghamton University. She specializes in the
sociolinguistics of North American French with an emphasis on Québec French
and its speaker communities. Her research is broadly aimed at examining the
relationship between language and collective identity in Québec, focusing
on language attitudes and ideologies in political and journalistic
discourse related to French in Québec and Canada. Her work has appeared in
journals spanning the fields of language and linguistics (*Discourse and
Society, The French Review, Language and Communication*), Québec
Studies (*Québec
Studies*), and Canadian Studies (*American Review of Canadian Studies,
Journal of Eastern Townships Studies*), among others. She is a recipient of
the Rufus J. Smith Award for Best Article in the *American Review of
Canadian Studies* (2017-2019). Dr. Bosworth is the current President of the
American Council for Québec Studies and serves on the executive board of
the Linguistic Association of the United States and Canada. She is also the
Faculty Director of *Understanding Modern Québe*c, a SUNY-wide summer
program in French language and Québec culture conducted in collaboration
with École de langues at Université Laval.

NOTE: A reception will take place immediately after discussion concludes,
your kind RSVP, either by email to lbeda001 at plattsburgh.edu or by calling
518-564-2383 by Thursday, March 7th to help us confirm catering needs would
be highly appreciated.

We thank you for your interest and response.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sV9q1ADCF1p_mf6a53uy2vzbfD7Daq9_/view?usp=sharing
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ls.plattsburgh.edu/pipermail/employee-digest/attachments/20240226/ffb48712/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Dist. Québec Address -Yulia Bosworth.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 493026 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://ls.plattsburgh.edu/pipermail/employee-digest/attachments/20240226/ffb48712/attachment.pdf>