Section 3 Factors influencing the evolution of the French-mother-tongue population

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• 3.1 Fertility
• 3.2 Transmission of mother tongue and the effect of exogamy
• 3.3 Age structure
• 3.4 Language transfers or intragenerational linguistic mobility
• 3.5 Use of French in the public sphere
• 3.6 Knowledge of French
• 3.7 Migration (interprovincial and international migratory movements)

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How the language groups in a given province or region evolve depends on the combined effect of different factors: on the one hand the determinants of natural increase—fertility and mortality—and on the other hand, internal and international migration. An additional factor is intergenerational linguistic continuity, that is, the mother-to-child transmission of the mother tongue.¹ Another factor will be described in this section, namely intragenerational linguistic continuity, or its counterpart, language transfer or substitution. The latter, while it does not directly influence how a language group evolves in the short term, can nevertheless have a major long-term influence, in that the language predominantly used in the home is generally the one transmitted to the children.

This section will mainly focus on the French-mother-tongue group in Nova Scotia. However, some of the analyses—particularly those on interprovincial migration and international immigration—will also cover the population with French as the first official language spoken.

3.1 Fertility

During the first half of the twentieth century in Canada, differences in fertility between language groups were partly explained by the population growth or maintenance of some groups in relation to others.

According to census data, the total fertility rate of Francophone women declined so steeply that over a period of 25 years (1956-1961 to 1976-1981), the average number of children per woman went from 4.63 to 1.74 (see Table 3.1). There was also a drop in fertility among women with English as their mother tongue, from 4.28 to 1.75 during the same period. Starting in 1981, the fertility of Anglophone women slightly exceeded that of Francophone women. However, from 2001 to 2006, the total fertility rate of Anglophone women was essentially equal to that of Francophone women, at 1.43 and 1.42 respectively.

Demographers have determined that in the current conditions of low mortality, the replacement level corresponds to a rate of 2.1, that is, 2,100 children per 1,000 women. As Table 3.1 shows, the fertility of Francophone and Anglophone women fell below the replacement level during the same period, from 1976 to 1981. For "other"-mother-tongue persons women, the total fertility rate first fell below the replacement level during the 1986–1991 period, before climbing to 2.14 during the next period. Since the 1996–2001 period, the total fertility rate of allophone women has fallen back below the threshold of 2.10 but has remained higher than that of Francophone and Anglophone women.

Caution is warranted, however, when examining the effect of higher fertility for "other"-mother-tongue persons women. This phenomenon does not necessarily translate into an increase of this group's population in relation to the others. As will be seen further on, the transmission of another mother tongue to children—generally the majority language of the community—is a significant phenomenon.

Table 3.1 Total fertility rate by mother tongue, Nova Scotia, 1956 to 2006

3.2 Transmission of mother tongue and the effect of exogamy

Although the total fertility rate provides useful information on the number of births within different mother-tongue groups, it does not shed any light on the mother tongue transmitted to children. The tendency to transmit a language to one's children varies according to a number of factors; one of the most important of these is the geographic concentration of the population comprising a given language group. This geographic concentration factor also influences the propensity to form an exogamous couple, that is, a couple in which the spouses² do not have the same mother tongue. Also, the lower the geographic concentration or relative weight of a language group in a given community, the lower the propensity of parents to transmit the minority language. In Nova Scotia at the time of the 2006 census, French had been transmitted as a mother tongue to 39% of the children living in families with at least one French-mother-tongue parent.

From 1971 to 2006, among all families with at least one French-mother-tongue parent, the proportion of French-English exogamous families increased in Nova Scotia, from 50% to 72% (see Chart 3.1). Conversely, the share of children living in an endogamous family with both parents having French as their mother tongue declined substantially, from 48% in 1971 to 26% in 2006. By the same token, the proportion of children with one French-speaking parent and one allophone parent remained marginal, at 1.5% in 1971 and 2% in 2006.

During the same period, among all couples with one French-mother-tongue spouse, the proportion of French-English exogamous couples greatly increased, from 47% to 70%. Thus, the proportion of endogamous couples with both spouses having French as their mother tongue fell sharply, going from 52% to 28%, while the proportion of French-"other"-language exogamous couples remained stable at under 2%.

Chart 3.1 Proportion of children under 18 years of age living in a family where at least one parent is of French-mother tongue, by mother tongue of parents, Nova Scotia, 1971 and 2006

Because of the increasing proportion of French-English exogamous couples from 1971 to 2006, and the corresponding decrease in the proportion of French-speaking endogamous couples, one might expect to see a decrease in the rate of transmission to children of the minority language (in this case, French). In 1971, French had been passed on to 7% of the children under the age of 18 of French-English exogamous couples, whereas that proportion increased to 16% in 2006 (see Chart 3.2). There was a similar increase among Francophone endogamous couples: their transmission of French to children under the age of 18 went from 85% in 1971 to 89% in 2006. However, there was a decrease in the transmission of French to the children of French-"other"-language exogamous couples, from 31% to 29%, during the same period.

Chart 3.2 Mother tongue of children under 18 years of age, by mother tongue of parents, Nova Scotia, 1971 and 2006

From 1971 to 2006, an increase is observed in the rate of transmission of French to the children of French- English exogamous couples. This increase is larger among families in which the mother, rather than the father, is the French-mother-tongue parent. Thus, census data show that the rate of transmission of French by French-mother-tongue mothers to their children rose sharply, from 6% in 1971 to 27% in 2006, whereas the rate for French-mother-tongue fathers went from 7% to 14% over the same period.

Table 3.2 shows that from 1971 to 2006, among exogamous couples with a French-mother-tongue spouse, there was an increase in the proportion of spouses with a mother tongue other than French who could conduct a conversation in French and English. Thus, the increased transmission of French to children living in French-English exogamous families seems to go hand in hand with an increase in the French-English bilingualism of non-Francophone spouses. This increase is especially notable among "other"-mother-tongue persons with a French-mother-tongue spouse: whereas in 1971, 27% of "other"-mother-tongue persons males and 18% of "other"-mother-tongue persons females with a Francophone spouse could conduct a conversation in French, those proportions were respectively 43% and 34% in 2006. For Anglophone male and female spouses, the bilingualism rates were respectively 13% and 11% in 1971 and they were 19% for both sexes in 2006.

Table 3.2 Proportion of spouses with a mother tongue other than French who can conduct a conversation in both English and French, by the couple's language combination, Nova Scotia, 1971 and 2006

It is also worth noting that in 1971, 9.6% of French-mother-tongue females living with an English-speaking male partner spoke French most often at home, compared to 7.3% of French-mother-tongue males living with an English-speaking female partner. Thirty-five years later, in 2006, the proportions were 14.0% and 9.5% respectively.

3.3 Age structure

It is helpful to examine how the age structure of Nova Scotia's Francophone population has evolved, in order to reveal part of the demographic history of that population while getting an indication of its future course. From 1971 to 2006, this evolution is essentially the result of a decreased total fertility rate among Francophone women, a negative net interprovincial migration among French-mother-tongue persons, and increased life expectancy. Added to all these phenomena is a moderate level of transmission to children of French as a mother tongue, for as noted above, at the time of the 2006 Census, French was passed on as a mother tongue to 39% of children under 18 years of age of couples with at least one French-mother-tongue spouse.

Chart 3.3 shows how the age structure of Nova Scotia's French-mother-tongue population has changed over time. As already noted, between 1971 and 2006, this language group saw its numbers decrease by 15%, from 39,585 to 33,710. All cohorts under age 40 saw their numbers decline. Conversely, there was a slight increase in the number of persons aged 40 and over because of the aging of the population and a longer life expectancy.

In 2006, the number of children under the age of 5 (820) was smaller than the number of adults aged 25 to 29 (1,795)—average childbearing age—by a ratio of 0.46. By comparison, in 1971 that ratio was 0.82 (2,320/2,830). Also, as shown in Chart 3.3, the baby-boom generation (born between 1946 and 1966), which corresponded to the 5-9 to 20-24 age cohorts (12,600) in 1971, is larger than the 40-44 to 55-59 age cohorts (9,825) 35 years later. This is partly due to the negative net interprovincial migration of Nova Scotia's French-mother-tongue group.

Chart 3.3 Age structure of the French mother tongue population, Nova Scotia, 1971 and 2006

All things being otherwise equal, the small size of the youngest cohorts in 2006—combined with the fact that in the coming decades a number of cohorts will pass the over-65 mark—will result in an age structure that reflects considerable aging of Nova Scotia's French-mother-tongue population. Indeed, already in 2006, the proportion of Francophones aged 65 and over is more than twice that of Francophones under 15 years of age.

While the aging of the French-mother-tongue population is mainly due to a low total fertility rate and a steady increase in life expectancy, one assumes that it also results from the non-transmission of French as a mother tongue to children. As noted previously, in families composed of French-English exogamous couples, the rate of intergenerational transmission of French is low, although it increased between 1971 and 2006 (see Chart 3.1). Instead, it was predominantly English (80%) that was transmitted to the children of these exogamous couples in 2006.

Overall during this period, the Francophone population was not favoured by intergenerational linguistic continuity. This phenomenon is measured by determining the ratio of children under 5 years of age with French as their mother tongue to children whose mother has French as her mother tongue.³ In Nova Scotia, this ratio was 0.56 in 2006, down from 0.63 in 1971. "A language group emerges at the top of the mother tongue transmission process when the index is higher than 1. [...] Conversely, transfers are unfavourable to a mother tongue when the index is less than 1." (Lachapelle and Lepage, 2011, page 86). In the case of Nova Scotia, not only did the linguistic continuity index decline, but it was also, in 2006, less than 1. Thus, in Nova Scotia, intergenerational transmission is unfavourable to the French-mother-tongue population.⁴

The steep drop in births exhibited by the French-mother-tongue group in the past 35 years is not unique to this language group. Chart 3.4 shows the age structure of the main mother-tongue groups in 2006. As may be seen, while the relative share of cohorts under 45 years of age within the English-mother-tongue and "other"-mother-tongue persons groups is greater than in the Francophone group, the consequences of a fertility rate below or near the replacement level are also apparent in the number of persons under 15 years of age in these language groups. But unlike French-mother-tongue and "other"- mother-tongue groups, the Anglophone group benefited from the contribution of intergenerational linguistic mobility from the other two groups.

It should also be noted that the over-representation of the French-mother-tongue group within the cohorts aged 45 and over reflects the aging of the population, which is more pronounced in this language group than in the other two.

Chart 3.4 Age structure of French, English and "other"-mother tongue populations, Nova Scotia, 2006 (rate per 1,000)

3.4 Language transfers or intragenerational linguistic mobility

Language transfers—sometimes called language shifts—refer to the phenomenon where an individual's main language used at home differs from their mother tongue. This language mobility phenomenon has no direct bearing on the evolution of language groups defined according to mother tongue. However, insofar as the language that dominates in the home is generally the one that is passed on to the children, it has a long-term influence on the future of language groups. When the criterion used to define language groups is the first official language spoken, the language spoken most often at home directly influences the size of the Francophone group. For example, according to this criterion, persons who have knowledge of both official languages and who have either French and English or another language as a mother tongue are part of the French-speaking group if they speak French most often at home.⁵

Across the censuses, there is a rise in the rate of language transfer among French-mother-tongue persons in Nova Scotia. Thus, in 1971, 34% of the province's Francophones with French as a mother tongue reported using another language, usually English, most often at home. Thirty-five years later, 49% of French-mother-tongue persons reported speaking a language other than French most often at home. Among English-mother-tongue persons, the proportion of language transfers was almost nil and remained stable over the period, registering 0.3% in 1971 and 0.2% in 2006. Among "other"-mother-tongue persons, language transfers declined slightly over the past 35 years, from 57% in 1971 to 52% in 2006. This decrease is due, in particular, to the increase in the "other"-mother-tongue persons population (see Table 2.1).

Table 3.3 Rate of language transfer by mother tongue, Nova Scotia, 1971 to 2006

A linguistic continuity index can also be used as a corollary to the rate of language transfer. This index is the ratio of persons with a given home language to persons with the corresponding mother tongue. A language group comes out ahead in exchanges with other language groups when the index is higher than 1. Conversely, transfers are unfavourable to a language group when the index is less than 1.

As shown in Table 3.4, the French-mother-tongue group saw its linguistic continuity index go from 0.69 to 0.53 between 1971 and 2006. For their part, the English- and "other"-mother-tongue persons groups had very little change in linguistic continuity from 1971 to 2006, their indexes going from 1.03 to 1.04 and from 0.50 to 0.47 respectively.

Table 3.4 Population by mother tongue, language spoken most often at home and linguistic continuity index, Nova Scotia, 1971 and 2006

The continuity index of 0.53 for the French-mother-tongue group takes into account the fact that in Nova Scotia, 115 persons who have an "other" mother tongue speak French most often at home (Table 3.5). It also reflects the fact that more than 900 persons with English as their mother tongue have French as their main home language.

Table 3.5 Population by mother tongue and language spoken most often at home, Nova Scotia, 2006

Because the main home language of individuals may differ from their mother tongue, the concept of language transfer has often been interpreted as indicating the abandonment of one's mother tongue. But since 2001, the Canadian census has included a question on the languages, other than the main language, that are spoken on a regular basis at home. Although it may be difficult to judge how respondents interpret this new question, qualitative tests, as well as results from the Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities, have shown that they usually consider it to refer to the daily use of the language.

Based on the census results for this question, a distinction can be made between partial and complete language transfer. As a corollary to this distinction, the concept of linguistic continuity needs to be understood more broadly, since using one's mother tongue on a regular basis at home cannot automatically be interpreted as linguistic discontinuity.

In 2006, more than 17,000 Nova Scotians spoke French as the only main language at home, while more than 1,400 persons reported speaking that language most often in combination with English or another language (Table 3.6). Thus, 2.1% of Nova Scotians reported having French as their main home language. Data from the 2006 Census also show that nearly 15,000 reported speaking French on a regular basis at home, although it was not their main home language (see Table 3.7). In short, French was spoken most often or on a regular basis at home by 3.7% of the province's population, or approximately 33,500 persons.

Table 3.6 Population by mother tongue, language spoken most often at home and other languages spoken regularly at home, Nova Scotia, 2006

Table 3.7 Number and proportion of persons with French as mother tongue, first official language spoken, language spoken most often at home and language spoken regularly at home, Nova Scotia, 2006

One can use information on the regular use of French as a second language in the home to distinguish complete language transfers from partial language transfers. Thus, based on single responses to the question on the first language learned and still understood at the time of the 2006 Census (usually called mother tongue), figures show that for Nova Scotia as a whole, 29% of persons with French as their mother tongue do not use that language at least regularly at home (complete transfer), whereas 20% use it on a regular basis (partial transfer) (see Table 3.8). Consequently, French is the main home language for 51% of all Francophones. It is also worth noting that in Nova Scotia, Francophones who make a language transfer almost always transfer to English.

The rates for complete and partial language transfers are known to vary by age group (see Table 3.8). In Nova Scotia, statistics from the 2006 Census reveal that the older Francophones are, the more likely they are to have made a complete language transfer, except for persons aged 65 and over, whose complete and partial language transfer rates are lower than for those aged 55 to 64. Francophones aged 55 to 64 are more inclined to use a language other than French at home (37%) than those in other age groups, whereas those under 15 years of age are less likely to do so (6%). For partial language transfers, Francophones aged 25 to 34 have the highest rate (29%). By the same token, Francophones aged 0 to 14 and 15 to 24 are the most likely to have French as their main language at home, at 85% and 68% respectively.

Table 3.8 Rate of complete and partial language transfers of Francophones by age group, Nova Scotia, 2006

Data drawn from the Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities shed light on the link that tends to be established between language transfer and anglicization. The survey includes a question on respondents' main language, that is, the language in which they are most at ease in speaking. The data show that 45% of the population for whom French is the first official language spoken have French as their main language.

Overall in Nova Scotia, a larger proportion of Francophones report speaking English most often at home (complete and partial language transfers) than the proportion that report being more at ease in English than in French.⁶ Thus, 49% of Nova Scotia Francophones report speaking English⁷ most often at home, while 35% report being more at ease in English than in French.

3.5 Use of French in the public sphere

Statistics from the Census of Population shed light on the use of languages both in the private sphere (at home) and in the workplace, as we will see in the section on the labour force. But what do we know about the use of English and French by Nova Scotia Francophones in domains of interaction other than the home?

The Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities includes a number of questions on the use of languages in various domains of the public sphere such as stores, health care institutions (which will be examined in detail in the next section), volunteer activities, social support, community or sports activities, etc. Some questions in the survey also deal with domains on the borderline between private and public spheres, such as the language spoken with friends outside the home or the language in which various media are "consumed."

An examination of linguistic practices in various domains of both public and private spheres reveals that in Nova Scotia, English is the predominant language used by Francophones outside the home, although French occupies a significant place in some domains.

The statistics in Chart 3.5 show that it is in the home (48%) that French remains the language of communication most used by Nova Scotia Francophones. In the public sphere, 29% of them use French mainly or only with friends and 24% do so in their immediate network. Moreover, 64% of Francophones use mainly or only English at work and 79% do so in institutions and stores. In 86% of cases, they consume media mainly or only in English. While 48% of Francophones report using mainly or only English at home, nearly 60% report doing so with friends and in their immediate network. Also, a certain proportion of Francophones report using French and English equally in the various above-mentioned domains in the public and private spheres. Thus, whereas 4% of Francophones speak French and English equally at home, many of them also communicate in both languages with their friends (14%), in their immediate network (18%) and at work (17%).

Finally, the general index of language use in the public sphere reveals that 66% of the population for whom French is the only first official language spoken use mainly or only English in the various domains of the public sphere (media, institutions and stores, work, immediate network and friends outside the home).⁸ Thus, in the public sphere, 32% of Francophones use English exclusively, while 34% use mainly English (with another language).

Chart 3.5 Proportion of Francophones by language use in various domains of the public and private spheres, Nova Scotia, 2006

3.6 Knowledge of French

Within the overall population of Nova Scotia in 2006, the proportion of persons who reported being able to conduct a conversation in French (11.0%) was greater than the proportion who reported French alone or with another language as their mother tongue (3.9%), or the proportion for whom French is the first official language spoken (3.6%). The relative share of Nova Scotians who are able to conduct a conversation in French is highly polarized by language group. Whereas 92% of persons with French as a mother tongue reported knowing both official languages, the corresponding proportion was only 7% for persons with English as a mother tongue and 10% for persons with another mother tongue (see Table 3.9). Among the latter group, 4% reported that they were unable to conduct a conversation in either French or English.

Table 3.9 Knowledge of official languages by mother tongue, Nova Scotia, 2001 and 2006

Persons whose main language is French have more opportunities to use it when they are in contact with persons who are able to conduct a conversation in French even if it is not their first official language spoken. In Nova Scotia, among bilingual Anglophones,⁹ that is, those who reported that they were able to conduct a conversation both in English and French, 13% spoke French at least on a regular basis at home and 21% used it at least regularly at work in 2006.

In municipalities where Francophones comprise less than 10% of the population, the French-English bilingualism rate of non-Francophones barely reaches 7%. In municipalities where Francophones constitute between 10% and 29% of the population, the level of knowledge of French among non-Francophones climbs to 11%, while in those where Francophones make up 50% to 69% of the population, Anglophones' French-English bilingualism rate reaches nearly 35%. Thus, the greater the relative share of Francophones within their municipality, the greater the knowledge of French among non-Francophones.

Chart 3.6 Rate of English-French bilingualism among persons with English as their first official language spoken by the proportion of Francophones within the municipality of residence, Nova Scotia, 2006

Statistics from the 2006 Census show that for the population aged 5 to 29, French-English bilingualism among non-Francophones is more widespread among English-mother-tongue persons than among those with another mother tongue (data not shown). For age groups in the 30 and over range, the French-English bilingualism rates of Anglophones are lower than those of allophones. Knowledge of French is more widespread among young persons because of their attending French immersion or French as a second language programs. Because French is usually learned at school, the bilingualism rate peaks in the 15-to-19 age group, which covers the period when young people are completing their secondary education.

Furthermore, the ability of young Anglophones to maintain their knowledge of French as a second language diminishes over time. As may be seen in Chart 3.7, when considering youths aged 15 to 19 in 1996, their bilingualism rate falls from 17.0% to 14.8% in 2001, when they are aged 20 to 24, and to 12.4% in 2006, when they are aged 25 to 29. A similar trend is observed among youths who were 15 to 19 years of age in 2001 and 20 to 24 years of age five years later. The French-English bilingualism rate for non-Francophones reaches a peak at the age of 15 to 19, the period when young people are leaving school.

Chart 3.7 Proportion of persons with English as their mother tongue who can conduct a conversation in English and in French by age group, Nova Scotia, 1996, 2001 and 2006

It is difficult to identify the exact causes of this decline in the ability to conduct a conversation in French among young 15-to-19-year-old Nova Scotians whose mother tongue is English. As Table 3.10 shows, enrolments in immersion programs increased between 2000 and 2006, reaching nearly 15,000 for the 2006/2007 school year. As the table also shows, starting with the 2000/2001 school year, enrolments in regular French-language programs remained quite stable at slightly more than 4,000 per year. Further research would be needed to gain a better understanding of this phenomenon.

Table 3.10 Number of children registered in French immersion and in regular French programmes at the primary and secondary levels in public schools, Nova Scotia, 2000/2001 to 2006/2007

3.7 Migration (interprovincial and international migratory movements)

The mobility of Francophones within Canada and the contribution of international immigration are factors that have a slight influence on the evolution of the French-speaking population of Nova Scotia.

3.7.1 Place of birth

Table 3.11 shows the place of birth of Nova Scotia Francophones. In 2006, 66% of French-mother-tongue persons in Nova Scotia had been born there. The proportion is substantially the same for persons for whom French is the first official language spoken. Regardless of the criterion used, 30% of Nova Scotia Francophones were born in another province or territory of Canada, including nearly 15% born in Quebec and 9% in New Brunswick. As for foreign-born persons, most of whom were immigrants,¹⁰ they comprised nearly 3% of the French-mother-tongue population and 4% of the population with French as first official language spoken.

Table 3.11 Place of birth of Francophones by mother tongue and first official language spoken, Nova Scotia, 2006

3.7.2 International immigration

Nova Scotia receives few international immigrants whose first official language is French. In 1971, 1,155 Francophone immigrants were enumerated, and in 2006, there were fewer than 1,300 foreign-born individuals with French as their first official language spoken, comprising 2.8% of the province's total immigrant population. Whereas in 1971, the French-speaking immigrant share of the Francophone population was 2.9%, it stood at nearly 4.0% in 2006, a share roughly equivalent to that of the English-speaking immigrant population within the Anglophone population (5.0%) (see Table 3.12).

Table 3.12 Number and proportion of French-speaking and English-speaking immigrants, Nova Scotia, 1971 to 2006

While French-speaking immigrants in Nova Scotia have various origins, a large proportion of them actually come from a limited number of countries. Data from the 2006 Census reveal that one Francophone immigrant in four comes from France. After France, such immigrants come mainly from Lebanon (12.0%), the United States (11.7%), Egypt (6.9%) and Germany (6.4%).

3.7.3 Interprovincial migration

From 1981 to 2006, Nova Scotia received between 2,800 and 3,500 Francophones per five-year period from other Canadian provinces and territories (see Table 3.13). However, during the same period, between 2,700 and 4,200 Francophones left the province to settle elsewhere in Canada. Consequently, since 1986, net interprovincial migration of Francophones has been negative, and for the period from 2001 to 2006 it stood at - 850. For the province's Anglophones too, starting in 1986, the number leaving Nova Scotia exceeded the number coming to settle there. As a result, for the past two decades, Nova Scotia has had negative net migration, which has fluctuated from one five-year period to another. From 1996 to 2001, the province had its least unfavourable migratory balance, with a net migration figure of -1,290. Five years later, from 2001 to 2006, the province had its most unfavourable net migration, at -8,000.

Table 3.13 Interprovincial migration between Nova Scotia and other provinces and territories by first official language spoken, 1981 to 2006

Charts 3.8 and 3.9 show the migratory movements between Nova Scotia and the other provinces and territories, from 2001 to 2006. Of the roughly 2,760 Francophones who came from other provinces and territories to settle in Nova Scotia, 37% were living in Quebec in 2001. The other Francophones came mainly from Ontario (27%) and New Brunswick (21%). Of the approximately 3,610 Francophones who were living in Nova Scotia in 2001 and subsequently migrated to other provinces, nearly half (46%) settled in Quebec, while the rest settled mainly in Ontario (21%), New Brunswick (16%) and Alberta (7%).

Chart 3.8 Province or territory of origin of Francophones who settled in Nova Scotia from 2001 to 2006

Chart 3.9 Destination of Francophones who left Nova Scotia for another province or territory from 2001 to 2006

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Notes

1. Of course, a language is also transmitted from fathers to their children, but it is usually the mother's language that predominates.
2. The term "spouse" includes persons who are legally married as well as those living in a common-law union.
3. To establish this ratio, demographers generally look at children living in a two-parent family or a one-parent family headed by a woman, which account for more than 97% of all children in this age group.
4. For an in-depth examination of this approach, see Lachapelle and Lepage (2011).
5. As noted earlier, persons with an "other"-mother-tongue who know only French are assigned French as their first official language spoken, regardless of whether they speak that language most often at home.
6. This finding applies to both the French-mother-tongue population and the population with French as first official language spoken.
7. This proportion includes both single and multiple responses. It therefore takes into account 4% of Francophones who report both French and English as languages most often spoken at home.
8. See Appendix C for a description of the general index of language use in the public sphere.
9. Without allocation of multiple responses.
10. Foreign-born persons include immigrants, non-permanent residents and Canadians born abroad.