by Nicole Findlay
Descending from a family of amateur historians whose shelves heaved with books on folktales, history, language and cultural traditions, set the course for the exploration of language that became the corner stone of Carmen LeBlanc’s career.
LeBlanc, a new assistant professor in the Department of French, is tracing the twists and turns North American French has taken as it evolved from its early colonial roots to the varieties currently spoken today.
“I could say that I always like taking things apart,” said LeBlanc. “To me, the linguistic forms are like the pieces of a puzzle, except that there is no picture on the box. I have to figure out how each one fits in the system.”
Based on her research, she is putting together a collection of spoken words to analyze language variation and change. She is particularly interested in the influences exposure to other varieties both commonly used and uncommon have had on Acadian French.
“I hope to tease apart, the functions or forms that are the most affected by access to formal education, the media, contact, and those which remain intact despite being considered non-standard (linguistic forms).”
Any one whose first language is English has likely remarked on the differences present in the language as it is spoken in the UK, US, and Commonwealth countries. LeBlanc says it is not the differences that she finds striking so much as the similarities shared by different linguistic systems.