DCHP-3

anglophone

DCHP-2 (May 2016)

Spelling variants:
Anglophone

1adj.

speaking English as a first language ('mother tongue').

Type: 4. Culturally Significant — In OED-3, the earliest example, dated 1900, comes from a Canadian source. The word is rare until the 1960s. Our records show that it was first used to refer to English speakers in other parts of the world, such as Africa, but specialized in Canada to refer to Canadian English speakers as the country moved towards federal English-French bilingualism (see the 1969 quotation). As with other French words widely used in national debates, this meaning moved from Quebec French into Canadian English. While the term is used elsewhere, it is of high frequency in Canada (see Chart 1).
See also COD-2, s.v. "anglophone", which is marked "Cdn", Gage-3, s.v. "Anglophone" (2), which is marked as "Cdn.", ITP Nelson, s.v. "anglophone", OED-3, s.v. "anglophone" (adj.), and AHD-5, s.v. "Anglophonic".

Quotations

1969
"McGill should continue to be a primarily English-language university, but with a strong and flourishing French presence among both its staff and students," Mr. Oliver said. He saw the campus as an invaluable link between the Francophone Quebec society and the Anglophone North American economy.
1970
"His home conversation is in Eskimo and in a lumbering, but vivid, English, until Nelly gets further along in French lessons she, like quite a few Chimo Anglophones, is taking."
1976
"Consistently the most negative attitudes were held by those supporting Social Credit and the Creditiste parties among both anglophone and francophone respondents."
1987
This is de rigeur viewing for Quebec pre-schoolers -- francophone or anglophone. They love it. It's Sesame Street with Gallic charm and joual French.
1995
"I am speaking to you as a representative of an Anglophone university in a francophone province. We belong to a provincial association where there is no translation offered and you cannot believe the tensions that can be created when one member cannot understand another in a meeting," argued Nick Benedict, SU VP external at McGill.
2000
"The young French people today, they're looking for a bit more than traditional values. They're opening their minds to the world, to the internet and mobile phones, because the world is getting smaller." And, more and more, that means opening up to Anglophone culture.
2007
Questions have also been raised about whether francophones who immigrate to mainly anglophone provinces actually continue to speak French, or simply end up blending into the English-speaking majority.
2015
Those reading assessments of 5,049 second graders were done at the end of the school year last spring. The results are still better than 10 years ago, when just 65 per cent of Grade 2 anglophone students hit the mark, but well off the provincial government's long-term target of 90 per cent of children achieving a level of "appropriate or above" for their age.
2n.

a person whose first language ('mother tongue') is English.

Type: 1. Origin — See meaning 1.
See also COD-2, s.v. "anglophone", which is marked "Cdn", Gage-3, s.v. "Anglophone" (1), which is marked as "Cdn.", ITP Nelson, s.v. "anglophone", AHD-5, s.v. "Anglophone", and OED-3, s.v. "anglophone" (n.), which is marked as "Freq. in Canadian contexts".

Quotations

1970
The new bill would respect rights of Anglophones (Quebeckers who have already opted for the other official language of Canada) but would be an active and dynamic response to legitimate aspirations of Francophones and their collective needs.
1970
Distinguished French Canadians as well as Anglophones have debated the merits of Quebec nationalism [in Saturday Night’s pages].
1973
As one measure of the change that has taken place in Toronto attitudes, die-hard anglophones were outraged in 1964 when CBC radio inaugurated its French-language affiliate CJBC. An estimated 50,000 English-speaking Torontonians can now speak conversational French and about one-third of CJBC's listening audience is thought to be anglophone.
1974
In an apparent paradox, the decline in number and influence of anglophones in Quebec public administration seemed to accelerate at the same time as efforts were made in Ottawa to redress the balance of francophones in the federal service.
1979
BATHURST -- Although New Brunswick is an officially bilingual province -- the only one in Canada -- there are growing doubts among Acadians that it is possible to build a society that protects the rights and culture of two linguistic groups. Last year, Acadians fought anglophones in the streets of Bathurst, and the battle was over language rights. The city's French majority wanted its own unilingual school administration.
1987
[Michel Legere] announced last month that he opposed the appointment of the bilingual Clark on the grounds that only one candidate -- an anglophone -- had been proposed.
1992
Anglophones urged to fight sovereignty
2002
Saskatchewan's 817,955 anglophones are joined by 17,775 francophones and 30,465 persons who list an aboriginal tongue as their own. Nearly 33,000 German speakers and 20,000 persons claiming Ukrainian as their tongue round out the top language ranks.
2015
Like many young anglophones living in those turbulent political times in Quebec, I was not sure where I fit in. Mr. Doré was young, attractive and articulate in both official languages, but he had been René Lévesque's press secretary earlier in his career. He and his MCM colleagues succeeded, however, in building a broad base. French and English, Liberals, Conservatives and Péquistes, and left and right all united to help the city move forward.

References

  • OED-3
  • AHD-5
  • Gage-3
  • ITP Nelson
  • COD-2

Images

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 23 Aug. 2012

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 23 Aug. 2012