Perceptual accessibility of Laurentian French dialect boundaries
A perceptual dialectology study testing whether regional distinctions between Ontario and Quebec French varieties are perceptually grounded, with an exploratory acoustic analysis of the features informing listener judgements.
This project explores how listeners perceive and evaluate regional varieties of Canadian French. This work investigates listeners’ mental maps of dialect space—where they believe linguistic boundaries lie, which varieties they consider similar or different, and how social meanings are attached to them.
Using perceptual dialectology methods, including forced-choice tasks and attitudinal judgments, the research aims to reveal systematic patterns in how Canadians conceptualize French linguistic diversity. This work contributes to understanding language attitudes, regional identity, and the social construction of linguistic variation in a multilingual national context.