“Does mixing languages result in their deterioration, as many believe?
Are grammatical structures eroding from one generation to the next?
Should we be worried about the integrity of French, or even its survival?”
These are the types of questions that have driven Shana Poplack’s research. The answers, and the methods used to arrive at them have gone on to shape contemporary sociolinguistics.
Distinguished University Professor Emeritus and renowned sociolinguist at the Department of Linguistics of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Arts, Shana Poplack is the recipient of the Award for Research Excellence in Francophonie. This honour was awarded to highlight her significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge about French in Canada, particularly in bilingual and minority language settings.
Innovative sociolinguistic contributions
Internationally, Shana Poplack is considered a key player in the field of sociolinguistics. She is a three-time holder of the Canada Research Chair in Linguistics and has led a number of research projects on bilingualism, code switching and the evolution of French in Canada. Her work is based on vast databases of spontaneous speech, which allow her to analyze how language is actually spoken on the ground, as opposed to the way some prescribe that it should be spoken.
In 1982, at the very start of her career at uOttawa, she founded the Sociolinguistics Laboratory, today considered one of the top centres for sociolinguistics in the world. This laboratory aims to further the study of ordinary speech in its social context, with special emphasis on the mechanisms of linguistic change in contexts where different languages are in contact with each other, in Canada and elsewhere around the world.
Today, Shana Poplack still leads this laboratory, which she has forged into a pillar of research in this field.
“My team and I apply cutting-edge scientific methods to investigate the structure and evolution of ordinary speech. Our analyses are based on vast quantities of data: millions of words gathered from hundreds of speakers in minority and majority contexts.”
Serving the French language
Shana Poplack has dedicated the lion’s share of her career to the French language. Her work has helped transform “le français d'ici” into one of the most heavily researched and well-documented varieties of French anywhere. Thanks to the unique digital corpora that she has built, she has succeeded in tracing the development of spoken French over centuries, which in turn has enabled novel findings and fresh conclusions.
“Years of large-scale quantitative study have borne fruit, resulting in solid empirical results that are often unexpected and even encouraging in terms of the structural integrity of vernacular French and its prospects of survival in minority settings.”
French in Canada is evolving … naturally
Many of the particularities attributed to Canadian French have in fact been documented for centuries. Shana Poplack’s research has shown that contrary to widely held beliefs, such changes as have occurred are not caused by the influence of English, but rather due to internal mechanisms proper to linguistic evolution.
Based on systematic analysis of vast databases of spontaneous conversations, Professor Poplack and her team have uncovered a fascinating phenomenon: changes in Canadian French follow internal mechanisms of linguistic evolution that are universal, comparable to those observed in other languages and other varieties of French spoken around the world.
And the team has busted another myth: switching from one language to the other in the same conversation – a phenomenon known as code-switching – is not a sign of linguistic confusion but rather a sophisticated skill unique to bilingual individuals. It does not threaten the survival of languages; on the contrary, it testifies to their vitality.
Professor Poplack’s research also reveals that the spoken language is evolving independently from the normative rules that continue to be prescribed by language authorities. It is a living thing, shaped by daily use and tacit community norms.
Beyond the lab
Shana Poplack’s findings have been disseminated far beyond academia via frequent contributions to a variety of media, from newspaper articles to YouTube videos. Her findings regularly elicit passionate discussion amongst stakeholders, testimony to the relevance and social impact of her research.
A career crowned in distinctions
This is certainly not the first award Professor Poplack has received. The Order of Canada (2014), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Gold Medal (2012) and the Killam Prize (2007) are among her many honours. But she is especially proud of those prizes that specifically recognize her contributions to French: the prix Acfas André-Laurendeau (2019), awarded for the first time to an Ontario researcher, and her nomination as a Knight of the Ordre des Palmes académiques (2024) bestowed by the French government.
The Award for Research Excellence in Francophonie underscores the entirety of Shana Poplack’s research, most notably her key role in the development of new methods and theories in sociolinguistics, and the ground-breaking findings these have led to.