French is experiencing something of a resurgence in the state of Maine, near Quebec, due to immigration and a growing interest in its Franco-American heritage.
But the local French-speaking community wonders if this revival will be enough to ensure the preservation of their language.
For decades, Cécile Thornton had little motivation to speak French. Born in the minority French-speaking community of Lewiston, Maine, she says she and her family were often the targets of ridicule.
“I was ashamed of my French-speaking roots,” she said, during a recent telephone interview in French. There were a lot of people making fun of us. »
Mme Thornton, whose maiden name is Desjardins, married an English speaker and did not teach her children French. It eventually disappeared from her daily life and, according to her, she lost her ability to converse in the language.
That changed in 2016, when she began participating in French-speaking meetings hosted by local West African immigrants. Mme Thornton says these conversations inspired her to reconnect with her native language. “The African community helped me feel proud to be French,” she said.
Now aged 68, Mme Thornton has become an advocate for Maine’s French speakers, one of many in the state’s French-speaking community working to preserve their language and heritage.
Like Mme Thornton, many French-speaking Mainois decided not to transmit their language to the 20e century. Children who spoke French faced even greater repression. A 1919 law banning education in French “had a long-term impact on the way people perceived the value of their language,” said Patrick Lacroix, director of the Acadian Archives, housed at the University of Maine in Fort Kent. Maine did not repeal the rule until 1969.
While the Maine legislature last week celebrated what it called a “resurgence” of the French language, data from the United States Census Bureau highlights the growing vulnerability of the French-speaking community.
About 30,000 of Maine’s 1.3 million residents spoke French at home in 2022, a drop of about 25% from 2014.
76-year-old Don Lévesque, a member of northern Maine’s French-speaking community, says his optimism about the future of French in the state changes daily.
Mr. Lévesque is president of the French Club in the town of Madawaska, on the border with New Brunswick, where he now lives. Founded in the 1990s by a group of residents concerned about the survival of their language, the French Club today offers preschool and elementary after-school French programs, as well as conversational French classes for adults, he said. .
Next, the organization wishes to create more opportunities for Acadians in Maine to develop a social life in French, through activities such as community dinners or movie nights. The French Club is also planning cultural excursions in New Brunswick, said Mr. Lévesque.
But getting younger residents involved is a challenge, he admitted. “Sometimes I feel like a dinosaur,” he said. The French-speaking dinosaur in an English world. »
Is the decline of French inevitable?
A second French-speaking population, in southern Maine, descends from Canadian immigrants who worked in the region’s many mills in the 19th century.e and XXe centuries. Jan Sullivan, a native French speaker who leads a French conversation group at the Franco Center for Performing Arts in Lewiston, says the African newcomers have “awakened” the language in the community.
Even if immigration has given a welcome boost to French, it may not be enough to save the language, warned Mme Sullivan. “I think she will survive for a few more years, several years,” she said. But ultimately, I’m afraid she will die. »
Others resist the narrative of a culture in inevitable decline. Among them is Susan Pinette, a professor at the University of Maine and director of its French-American Center in the town of Orono, one of several institutions in the state working to share the community’s history. In an interview, she said the center aims to counter representations of linguistic and cultural loss by highlighting ongoing Franco-American activism.
“The community is changing and that’s a good thing,” she said. We do not want [être] a museum piece of something that is stuck in the past. »
Mr. Lacroix, of the Acadian Archives, agrees that what he calls “pessimistic” discourse often ignores local efforts that have helped increase the visibility of Maine’s Acadian community and organizations like his that highlight the Franco-American heritage. “I think we’re getting more and more attention from the citizens of the state, which is really the first step before we can even start asking for more support,” he said.
Despite the challenges facing French in Maine, Mme Thornton said she remains hopeful for her future. She also encouraged Quebecers to cherish their connection with language.
“If Quebecers keep their French and teach French to their children, it will be a very good thing for the language,” she said.