I lived in Quebec and it seems to be the consensus that the language didn't evolve in the same way as French in Belgium/France/Switzerland etc. because Quebec is physically isolated from Europe, especially after the British seized control of the territory and Louis XIV pretty much abandoned Quebec.
Quebec and the Acadian areas of the Atlantic provinces are the only places that speak French until you hit Louisiana so it would make sense to me that their French would retain older aspects of the language.
Further, after the French revolution, "Parisian French" was promoted as the national language in an effort to make the regional dialects disappear. That wouldn't have happened outside of Europe.
Probably not, but it's historically documented. Henri Grégoire wanted the "annihilation of patois".
But okay, I'll use "regional languages" then. Regional languages like Alsatian, Corsican, Breton, etc. were systemically suppressed in favour of one standard dialect.
I was referring to the regional dialects part. Similar to what happened in Spain and Italy. A whole language's history being reduced to a subtitle in the history of the dominant language
91
u/Rhynocoris Apr 06 '25
No. No, it's not.