Resumen de Language and socioeconomic status in Quebec: measurement, findings, determinants, and policy costs

François Vaillancourt

• This paper presents the various measurement tools used by economists to ascertain the socioeconomic Status of French and Francophones in Quebec since 1960 and the findings thus obtained. It then examines the nature and wie of the determinants of this Status and its evolution over time. This choice of emphasis and issues was made since it allows us to present tools that can be used by sociolinguists studying various languages situations.

  They can refer to a society, Quebec, where there has been major changes in the economic and legal Status of the two main languages, English and French, since 1960. The paper is divided in four sections. In the first we examine the Status of Quebec s language groups, and in the second the Status of the languages themselves. In the third, explanations are offered for recent changes in their relative Status. In thefourth the costs of Quebecs language policies are examined.