The English Language in Canada

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: C, University of Cologne (Philosophy Faculty), course: English Worldwide, 12 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: 'The flag is the symbol of the nation's unity, for it, beyond any doubt, represents all the citizens of Canada without distinction of race, language, belief or opinion.'said Maurice Bourget, Speaker of the Senate on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on February 15, 1965, thereby lowering the Canadian Red Ensign and raising the new maple leaf flag 1 . Defining the flag as a symbol of the nation's unity, Bourget touches upon a question of unity not easy to answer in context of a country like Canada. As a multinational and multicultural country, Canada's search for unity with regard to the language of it's citizens is not easy to make out as a question of unity in most cases is a question of identity as well. Whenever we focus on a nation's unity, we will have to focus on aspects defining the nation, chiefly it's language enabling communication between it's citizens and the identity resulting from the use of a language. This work will put a focus on the the language used in Canada and search for a Canadian identity. It will provide some historical facts and will then focus on the official language(s) spoken in Canada, their differences and similarities to US and UK English. Furthermore the problems resulting from Canada's bilingualism will be portrayed and it will be asked if and how Canadians experience their English as a separate entity: The English Language in Canada.