Endowed with extraordinary competence and dynamism as well as a natural and benevolent authority, Jean-Claude Corbeil participated closely in the major stages that marked the development of Quebec’s language policy and exercised a decisive influence on the future of French in Quebec. He is one of the main architects of the francization of Quebec.
In 1970, one of the commitments of Robert Bourassa’s electoral platform was to make French the language of work: “The objective of the next Liberal government will be to make French a priority in Quebec and to make it the language of and work. It was the Office of the French Language (OLF), then attached to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, which would be responsible for carrying out this program. The director of the OLF, Gaston Cholette, recruits a young professor of linguistics from the University of Montreal, freshly graduated from the University of Strasbourg, Jean-Claude Corbeil. Together with the organization’s team, the two are undertaking work that will serve as the basis for the design of a strategy for modifying the situation of French in Quebec.
The Office de la langue française directs its activities primarily towards the issue of the language of work. In many companies, then mainly run by English speakers, the employees worked in English and did not have the terms allowing them to carry out their activities in French. In order to provide them with the French terms of the various fields of activity, it was necessary to develop a terminological research methodology specially adapted to the francization of companies.
During his doctoral studies in Strasbourg, Jean-Claude Corbeil established relationships with many French and Belgian linguists and lexicographers. In order to reflect on the best way to establish the French terminologies of the various sectors of economic activity, it will organize six international conferences bringing together the greatest experts of the Francophonie. Alain Rey and Josette Rey-Debove of Éditions le Robert, Jean Dubois of Éditions Larousse, Joseph Hanse, author of Dictionary of Modern French Difficulties of Éditions Duculot, Jacques Cellard, linguistic columnist for the World, to name a few, gladly agree to come to Quebec every fall to take part in a studious terminology retreat in order to work with Jean-Claude and his team on the development of terminology research methodology. Can you imagine a more extraordinary school for the young linguists of our time? Note in passing that the authorship of the terminological neologism goes to Jean-Claude Corbeil.
Beginning in 1974, the thousands of records resulting from research work were added to the Banque de terminologie du Québec (BTQ) — another Jean-Claude Corbeil innovation — which in 1997 became the Grand Dictionnaire terminologique (GDT), a huge directory of technical and scientific terms that is consulted worldwide.
With the collaboration of several companies, Jean-Claude Corbeil devised a task-sharing strategy according to which OLF terminologists would take charge of developing French terminologies common to all organizations (common management core and core industrial commons), as well as the main sectors of economic activity (food, automobile, aeronautics, insurance, forestry, mining, oil refining, steel, etc.). Moreover, following the example of Hydro-Québec, which will establish the vocabulary of electricity, Bell Canada will attack that of telephone communications, IBM, that of data processing, the intercompany bank committee, banking terminology, etc.
Jean-Claude Corbeil proved to be a charismatic linguist who was able to unite all language professionals — linguists, terminologists, translators, editors — in order to provide Quebec workers with the French terms that would allow them to carry out their activities in French.
As Jean-Claude writes in Language embarrassment. Origin, conception and evolution of Quebec language policy (2007): “Most of this work will be used, when the time comes, for the design and drafting of the Official Language Act (known as Act 22, 1974) and, subsequently, for the mutation of this Act in the Charter of the French language (law 101, 1977). This remarkable work was crowned by the medal of the National Assembly of Quebec.
For language accessibility
As an extension of the terminological research that he directed, Jean-Claude Corbeil is thinking of a new dictionary based on the model of the plates of the Encyclopedia, where it is the image that gives access to the words. It will be the Visual thematic dictionary, published by Éditions Québec Amérique in 1986, which received an enthusiastic reception. Éditions Québec Amérique received the Mercure du produit du Québec in 1987 for this innovative work. Simply become The visualthe dictionary, which has been translated into more than 35 languages and distributed around the world in several million copies, is undoubtedly one of the greatest successes of Quebec publishing.
A major contribution
It was through Jean-Claude that I met his publisher, Jacques Fortin, president of Québec Amérique, when The visual has had remarkable success. A meeting is organized and I present to Jacques Fortin my project for a dictionary integrating spelling, but also all the useful information on grammar, syntax, conjugation, Quebecisms, typography, anglicisms in order to constitute a manual for the French language in all its facets. A great lover of dictionaries, Jacques Fortin immediately accepted my project and created the “Langue et culture” collection directed by Jean-Claude Corbeil in which the first edition of the Multidictionary in 1988.
With his disappearance, Quebec loses an eminent linguist, a remarkable and generous friend who devoted most of his professional activity to the promotion and influence of the French language here and in the world. His contribution is immense: Jean-Claude Corbeil is entitled to all our recognition, that of Quebec as well as that of the Francophonie.