The language of
commercial signs, or more exactly the place of French on commercial signs, is
an issue that has been rampant since at least the 1960’s. From 1977 when Bill
101 was passed till 1993, French was the only language to be used on commercial
signs (there were exceptions for signs advertizing cultural activities, for
ethnic shops, for political or religious messages, etc., see Maurais 1989:
146). This French-only policy was deemed necessary because it was to symbolize,
in the eyes of all, that linguistic change was under way and that French was
regaining ground.
These
provisions were challenged before the courts and in 1993 Québec’s National
Assembly passed a new law allowing for bilingual (or multilingual) commercial
signs provided that French was given a marked predominance. This concept of a
marked predominance of French was suggested and approved of by the Supreme
Court of Canada in its 1988 ruling though it did not define it. Neither did the
law passed in 1993, which simply states that “Public signs and posters and commercial
advertising must be in French. They may also be both in French and in another
language provided that French is markedly predominant [...]” (section 58 of
R.S.Q., chapter C-11; 1993, c. 40, s. 18). In practice French is deemed
markedly predominant when messages in French are twice as numerous or written
in characters twice as large as in any other language.
The issue of
English increasing its presence on commercial signs in the Montreal area has
come periodically to the forefront. French lobbies have been active in filing
complaints with the OQLF. In 2009-10, 39.1 % of the complaints filed at the
OQLF dealt with the language of commercial signs, up from 26.4 % in 2008-09
(OQLF, 2010: 70) and 10.5% in 2006-2007 (OQLF, 2007: XIII).
To be continued…
________________
Maurais 1989 = Maurais,
Jacques (1989), Language Status Planning in Quebec. In Christer Laurén and Marianne Nordman (eds.), Special Language:
From Humans Thinking to Thinking Machines. Clevedon UK and Philadelphia
USA: Multilingual Matters Ltd., 138-149.
OQLF, 2007 = Office
québécois de la langue française (OQLF) (2007), Rapport annuel de gestion
2006-2007. Montreal: Office.
OQLF, 2010 = Office
québécois de la langue française (OQLF) (2010), Rapport annuel de gestion
2009-2010. Montreal: Office.
