Immigration francophone en Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick: Langues et identites [Une approche sociolinguistique de parcours d'immigrants francophones a Moncton]

This doctoral thesis is a contribution to the field of research on francophone immigration in a linguistic minority setting, more specifically in Acadian New Brunswick. Given that Acadian New Brunswick is a non-territorial national minority characterized by diglossia, this thesis will examine francophone immigration as a means of understanding and analysing identity and linguistic tensions and confrontations amongst the Acadian host society. The objective is to understand the role that languages play in the migration trajectory and the integration plans of francophone immigrants in Moncton, a bilingual urban centre located in the South East of New Brunswick. While interdisciplinary in scope, this research has a strong sociolinguistic perspective on francophone immigration in Acadie. Given the complexity of the linguistic stakes in francophone minority contexts, studying immigration through language is an innovative way to illustrate the socio-political transformations that are occurring within Acadian society. This research thus highlights a case of interwoven minorities, a linguistic minority that seeks to become a host community for other ethnocultural francophone minorities. Furthermore, this thesis adopts an interpretative and qualitative approach that takes into account the points of view of the participants who are directly involved in the linguistic and social phenomena under review.;Furthermore, this thesis investigates the role played by the immigrants' linguistic ideologies and representations in their relations of proximity and distance vis-a-vis the Acadian society. Though many studies have focused on the Acadians' linguistic representations and identity, never have they focused before on the immigrants' relations to the languages spoken in Acadian New Brunswick. Through the life stories of immigrants living in Moncton, this thesis examines the tensions regarding bilingualism, the cohabitation of the two official linguistic communities and the regional varieties of French, more particularly the one called "chiac". We show that having French as a common language does not automatically ensure a better and faster integration. In fact, Francophone immigrants are in their host community confronted to language practices that, on the one hand, conflict with their normative conception of French but, on the other hand, are legitimized as a local means of communication and as a distinct expression of francophone identity. Thus, in addition to being receptive to the local movement of relegitimatization of " chiac ", the immigrants recognize that knowledge of " chiac " highly facilitates their integration in the Moncton Acadian community, emphasizing the importance of using non-standard language varieties in order to be accepted as a member of this minority community.;Keywords: Acadian New Brunswick, francophone immigration, linguistic minority, Acadian identity, sociolinguistic, languages in contact, chiac, qualitative method.;Firstly, this thesis shows that Canadian francophone minorities are undergoing a process of redefinition with respect to immigration and the cultural diversification of the French-speaking population in Canada. The francophone communities recognize the need to transform their collective identity and thus to become a more inclusive society. To do so, French tends to be the common denominator amongst the Canadian francophonie without taking into account that language is neither neutral nor homogenous. In Acadian New Brunswick, Acadian leaders are also addressing the issue of an inclusive identity and have agreed to re-examine the traditional criteria of inclusion within Acadian society. By comparing the points of view of Acadian leaders and francophone immigrants, our analysis of the discourses on identity reveals that they are tensions and divergences between the two groups, particularly with respect to the importance that is placed on the ethnic aspects of Acadian identity. However, common ground is being found regarding a sense of belonging to a common place, named " Acadie ". While becoming Acadian remains problematic for immigrants, the analysis shows that their integration in the local host community tends to take the shape of an identification to Acadie as a common place to live.