Socio-economic achievements of Montreal language groups in 1971

J A C - A N D R ~ . B O U L E T Economic Council of Canada C A L V I N V E L T M A N Universitk du Qukbec li Montrkal

A l’aide des donnkes du recensement canadien de 1971, les auteurs tentent de mesurer l’incidence de l’appartenance i un groupe linguistique sur le rang social. La recherche porte sur les travailleurs masculins de la rCgion mCtropolitaine de MontrCal et l’indice de Blishen sert de mesure du rang social. Les resultars obtenus indiquent qu’en 1971, la performance des travailleurs anglophones, du point de vue du rang social, Ctait supCrieure 1 celle qu’auraient dQ leur confCrer leurs caractCristiques. Sauf pour les anglophones, il Ctait avantageux pour tous les groupes linguistiques d’stre bilingues. Pour les allophones, il Ctait prCfCrable de conndtre l’anglais et le frangais plut8t qu’une seule des deux langues, quoique l’apprentissage de l’anglais seul Ctait plus rentable que l’apprentissage du frangais seul. Mais il Ctait surtout rentable de s’intkgrer i la communaute anglophone plut8t que dapprendre seulement l’anglais ou encore les deux langues officielles. Les auteurs concluent que ces rksultats concordent avec ceux que laisse pressentir dans un tel cas la theorie des rCseaux d’information.

Using data from the 1971 Census of Canada, this research assesses the effect of language group membership on the Blishen-indexed achievement of employed males in the Montreal CMA. The findings reveal that the English mother tongue groups had higher achievement levels than their background characteristics would predict. Bilingualism in both English and French was associated with higher achievements for most groups, the exception being the English language groups. For allophone language groups bilingual- ism in the official languages was associated with higher attainments than was the acquisi- tion of either French or English. The acquisition of English was, however, associated with higher achievements than was the acquisition of French. Nonetheless, integration into the English language group was associated with higher achievements than was either the learning of English or the acquisition of both official languages. The authors conclude that these data conform to a network theory of occupational achievement.

Inequalities in the achievement levels of English and French Canadians were first documented by the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. The findings indicated that males of French ancestry had mean income levels well below those of males of British ancestry, so low in fact that males of Italian ancestry had the only incomes which were lower for the Montreal area (1969, III, 18). A second analysis of the 1961 Census data has since been released by the Economic Council

Rev. canad. SOC. Bc Anth./Canad. Rev. SOC. & Anth. 18(2) 1981

240 J A C - A N D R E B O U L E T A N D C A L V I N V E L T M A N

of Canada which documents in much greater detail the linguistic correlates of French-Canadian income inferiority in Montreal (Boulet and Raynauld, 1977). The availability of the 1971 Census data has not changed the focus of the analyses; Veltman (1976), Vaillancourt (1977), and Boulet (1979) document the existence of continued income disparities.

Given this somewhat singular definition of the problem of inequities, it is not surprising that economists have been in the forefront of the analysis. Nonetheless, the received sociological literature has ensconced not only wealth but also prestige and power as axes of social stratification. This paper focuses on prestige, operationally defined by the use of the Blishen index of socio-economic status (Blishen and McRoberts, 1976). Although the Blishen index is a properly sociological variable, it has not been employed in the examination of the Montreal labour market. Since occupational achievement processes may vary somewhat from the processes of income achievement, we shall assess the extent to which the two processes are congruent.

The language variable used in this analysis is more sophisticated than that employed in the income research to date. Boulet and Vaillancourt constructed a language variable based on mother tongue and official language, whereas Veltman used mother tongue and home language.‘ In this research we shall use data from all three census questions, combining them into fifteen categories of the language variable for use as independent variables in a multivariate analysis of occupational achievement.

The fifteen categories consist of three categories of complete language retention - English, French, and allophone’ - where the mother tongue is the same as the home language and the official language; there are also eleven language shift categories and one residual category.3 Language shift is conceptualized in two forms. The first we define as ’retentive bilingualism,’ that is, the acquisition of a second language without surrendering one’s mother tongue as the principal home language. A person of French mother tongue who learns English well enough to declare himself bilingual in the official languages but who continues to speak French at home is one example of retentive bilingualism. If, however, this same person had made English his principal home language, we define this person as having made a language transfer. More formally, we define this form of language shift as ’integrative bilingualism,’ that is, when a person makes an acquired language his usual home language. In our view, this second pattern represents a closer integration into the language community of destination, whereas the former indicates closer identification with the language community of origin.

As applied to the economy, network theory suggests that dominant groups benefit from informal contacts and relationships which give them advantages on the labour market (MiguP, 1970; Boulet and Raynauld, 1977). By extension, any group which is integrating with a dominant group also should be expected to benefit from such contacts. In technical terms, we expect that the regression coefficients for integrative bilinguals should resemble those of the language group into which they are integrating. We may further expect, however, that the integration of the person malung the language transfer is not as complete as is the integration of ’native’ speakers of the language. Accordingly, while the regression coefficients of the relevant groups may be similar, that of the integrative bilingual

241 A C H I E V E M E N T S OF M O N T R E A L L A N G U A G E G R O U P S I N 1971

TABLE I MEAN BLISHEN INDEX BY LANGUAGE GROUP, MALES, MONTREAL CMA, 1971

Language Group

Rank Mother Tongue Official Language Home Language Mean Blishen Per cent

2 English English English 49.81 10.4 1 English Bilingual English 50.29 9.3

3 Allophone Bilingual English 47.80 2.0 4 French Bilingual English 46.32 2.1

7 Allophone Bilingual French 44.07 1.1 8 English Bilingual French 43.32 1.2

10 Allophone Bilingual Allophone 39.19 3.4

5 Allophone English English 46.09 1.6 6 French Bilingual French 45.17 40.1

9‘ Residual Undefined Allophone 39.68 0.5‘

11 Allophone English Allophone 37.50 3.0 12 French French French 36.18 22.6 13 Allophone French French 35.34 0.3 14 Allophone French Allophone 31.29 1.6

15 Allophone Allophone Allophone 28.85 1.1 Mean/Total (N = 240,140) 42.38 100.0

* Persons of English or French mother ton ue having allophone home language SOURCE: Speaal tabulations, 1971 Census of Canada; Calculations by the authors

group should be somewhat lower. Finally, retentive bilinguals may profit from the acquisition of a second language, but the associated benefits will be lower than those secured by integrative bilinguals.

To examine empirically these expectations, special tabulations were prepared from the 1971 Census of Canada. In accord with previous analyses we have retained only males in the sample, selecting only those men who had positive employment income in 1970 and who also had a non-zero Blishen index.4 The distribution of the retained workers and the mean Blishen scores for each of the language categories are presented in Table I.

Substantively, this table reveals that socio-economic achievement was more closely ordered by home language than by mother tongue in 1971. Groups one through five are English home language groups, the ‘native’ anglophones positioned at the top. Groups six through eight are bilingual groups of French home language. They rank well ahead of the unilingual francophone groups, suggesting that their knowledge of English is associated with higher achievements. Group nine is the residual group which consists of persons moving to allophone home languages from French and English mother tongues. Groups ten and eleven are two allophone groups, both of which speak English but have retained allophone home languages. Three groups classified as French speaking (only), according to the official languages’ question, are positioned twelve through fourteen, followed by the unilingual allophones.

The raw score rank ordering of these language groups suggests certain

242 ~ A C - A N D R E B O U L E T A N D C A L V I N V E L T M A N

TABLE 11

GROSS AND ADJUSTED DEVIATIONS FROM MEAN BLISHEN INDEX BY LANGUAGE GROUP, MALES, MONTREAL CMA, 1971

Deviations

Gross' Background language Group

Mother Tongue Officiai Language Home Language ( I ) Adjustedt Characteristics*

English Bilingual English +7.01 +3.18 +3.82 English English English +6.53 +3.47 +3.06 Allophone Bilingual English +4.52 +1.14 +3.38 French Bilingual English +3.04 +1.39 +1.65 Allophone English English +2.81 -0.10 +2.91

French Bilingual French +1.89 +0.97 +0.92 Allophone Bilingual French +0.79 -0.93 +1.72 English Bilingual French +0.04 +0.33 -0.29

Residual Undefined Allophone -3.60 -3.62 -0.02 Allophone Bilingual Allophone -4.09 -3.30 -0.79 Allophone English Allophone -5.78 -4.45 -1.33

French French French -7.10 -2.80 -4.30 Allophone French French -7.94 -5.68 -2.26 Allophone French Allophone -11.99 -6.22 -5.77 Allophone Allophone Allophone -14.43 -7.61 -6.82

R-SQUARED = .42

Calculated from Table I by subtracting the market mean from the mean of each language group t Regression coefficient for each language group * Combined effects of age and education SOURCE: Special tabulations, 1971 Census of Canada; Calculations by the authors

interpretations. First, it appears that mother tongue was less important than the current home language for 1971 socio-economic achievement. Of the five top groups, all have English home languages but only two are of English mother tongue. The English mother tongue group which made language transfers to French is appropriately situated with other French home language bilinguals.

Second, it appears that bilingualism per se was associated with higher achievements. Thus, English mother tongue bilinguals have higher achievements than their unilingual counterparts; this is true for francophones and allophones as well. Third, Table I reveals the general importance of being able to speak English. The highest ranking nonEnglish-spealung group is positioned twelfth. By way of contrast, the three groups which only speak English (and not French) are positioned second, fifth, and eleventh.

To determine the extent to which these ordering and interpretations are associated with the linguistic characteristics of these groups, rather than with differential background characteristics, we have conducted a multiple regression analysis of socio-economic achievement. The variables controlled in the equation are educational achievement and chronological age. Data were entered in binary (dummy) form, using a modified version of Multiple Classification Analysis (Andrews, et al., 1969). The co-efficients for occupational achievement of the language groups are presented in Table 11.

243 ACHIEVEMENTS OF M O N T R E A L L A N G U A G E G R O U P S I N 1971

The data are presented in the following way. Column I indicates the difference between the mean Blishen score of any language category and the mean for the sample as a whole (42.38). Column 2 contains the regression coefficient associated with membership in the language group, that is, the estimated value of belonging to one particular group as opposed to another. Column 3 contains the remainder (Column I minus Column 2), which represents the amount of occupational status which is attributable to the educational achievements and the age structure of any given language group. For example, allophone unilinguals had educational and age characteristics which would have placed them 6.82 Blishen points below the market mean. In addition, the equation estimates that membership in this group is associated with 7.61 points of lowered Blishen points. Since education and age are such important determinants of occupational achievements, we interpret this latter coefficient (Column 2) as principally due to the linguistic characteristics of the group. Together, these two figures explain the total difference in occupational status between unilingual allophones and the market mean.

Table 11 reveals a strong correspondance in the orderings of columns one, two, and three. There are, however, three exceptions worthy of note. First of all, the allophone language transfers to English who did not speak French had a favourable set of background characteristics but did not additionally benefit from group membership. This contrasts markedly with the achievement structure of the remaining English home language groups.

Second, allophone bilinguals who made language transfers to French presented a favourable set of background characteristics but were unable to achieve occupa- tional status commensurate with those characteristics. The regression coefficient suggests a loss of nearly one Blishen point for this group. The final exception concerns the French mother tongue unilinguals. Less than three points of their below average occupational status is associated with group membership. This contrasts markedly with the pattern which is evident for the last seven groups, where group membership accounts for at least one-half and frequently more of the below average attainments of groups having allophone home languages or patterns of French official unilingualism. Apparently, the size of the French mother tongue group, together with similarities in ethnic origin in the French bilingual group, has created sufficient occupational opportunities to prevent additional status losses.

The patterns revealed in Table 11 may suggest that there is a curvilinear structure to occupational achievement, the top groups appearing to benefit more than the equation estimates, the bottom groups less. The net result however, is, the same. The background characteristics of the top groups, predominantly anglophone and anglicizing, were accorded a premium; those of the bottom groups, allophone and unilingual francophone, were discounted.

The four largest groups in the Montreal labour market illustrate this observation. The regression equation estimates that bilinguals of English mother tongue had educational achievements and an age structure associated with occupa- tional achievements 3.8 points above the mean. However, the mean achievement for this group was 7.0 points above the mean, the additional 3.2 points associated with group membership. Similarly, over one-half of the above average achieve- ments of unilinguals of English mother tongue was associated with group membership. Since both groups had adjusted occupational achievements at least

244 J A C - A N D R ~ B O U L E T A N D C A L V I N V E L T M A N

TABLE 111

ESTIMATED RETURNS ASSOCIATED WITH SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION A N D LANGUAGE TRANSFER, MALES,

MONTREAL CMA. 1971

Language Shift Group Estimated

Base Language Group* Mother Tongue Official Language Home Language Advantagest

English unilinguals English Bilingual English -0.29 English unilinguals English Bilingual French -3.14

French unilinguals French Bilingual English +4.19

Allophone unilinguals Allophone English Allophone +3.16 Allophone unilinguals Allophone English English +7.51

Allophone unilinguals Allophone French Allophone +1.39 Allophone unilinguals Allophone French French +1.93

Allophone unilinguals Allophone Bilingual Allophone +4.31 AIIophone unilinguals Allophone Bilingual French +6.68 Allophone unilinguals Allophone Bilingual English +8.75

French unilinguals French Bilingual French +3.77

* Mother tongue is same as official language and home language t Calculated by subtracting the regression coefficient of the base group from the coefficient of the language shift group SOURCE: Speaal tabulations, 1971 Census of Canada; Calculations by the authors

three points higher than the mean, this figure represents the approximate advantages accruing to persons of English mother tongue (who retain English as the home language).

Bilinguals of French mother tongue experienced moderate returns both from an advantageous set of background characteristics and from group membership. This group achieved slightly above-average occupational status, given their educational achievements and age distribution. By way of contrast, not only did unilinguals of French mother tongue have a disadvantageous set of background characteristics; they lost an additional 2.8 points associated with their group membership.

The occupational returns from language shift cannot be seen clearly, however, by comparing the magnitude of the coefficient for one group with that of all the others. In Table 1x1 the data are reorganized, treating the three unilingual groups as base groups, against which the performance of the shift groups is assessed.

Examining anglophones first of all, the unilinguals had the highest regression coefficients. There was, accordingly, no premium associated with bilingualism in occupational palacement, while there was a definite disadvantage associated with a language transfer to French. 5 With respect to francophones, retentive bilingualism in English was associated with a 3.8 point advantage in occupational achievement when compared to equivalent unilinguals. Integrative bilingualism added only 0.4 of one point beyond that produced by simple bilingualism, indicating that retentive bilingualism was associated with nearly all of the occupational rewards which could be obtained by learning English.

The linguistic situation of allophones is very revealing, indicating at once the importance of speaking English, being bilingual, and integrating into the English language group. Thus, for persons retaining allophone home languages, retentive bilingualism in French was associated with an additional 1.4 points of Blishen

245 A C H I E V E M E N T S O F M O N T R E A L L A N G U A G E G R O U P S I N 1971

achievements. Retentive bilingualism in English was associated with 3.2 points, and bilingualism in both official languages was associated with 4.3 points.

On the other hand, integrating into the English language group by making English the home language was associated with a 7.5 point increase in occupational status, always with reference to the base group. This was 4.3 points higher than the achievement levels of those who were retentive bilinguals in English. Integrating into the French language group was not associated with an occupational premium of this magnitude, however, the integrative group having occupational achieve- ments just 0.5 higher than the retentive group.

The differential value of integration by language group is equally evident among allophones who were bilingual in the official languages. Those who made language transfers to French had an adjusted achievement 2.4 points higher than those who had retained their mother tongues as home languages. A switch to an English home language was, however, associated with a 4.4 point advantage when compared to the same retentive group.

One further comparison illustrates the importance of integration into the English language group. Allophones who had made English their home language and could not speak French were more successful than either of the two bilingual groups (in terms of the official languages) which did not make transfers to English, including the group which made language transfers to French. This comparison suggests that movement to an English home language was more important in the Montreal labour market than was bilingualism in the official languages.

D I S C U S S I O N

These data provide the basis for an economic theory of language shift in the Montreal area, in addition to which they support the general findings for income achievements. Anglophones in Montreal not only benefit from higher occupa- tional status; they also benefit from higher incomes, even when relevant factors have been controlled for (Veltman and Boulet, 1979). They are also less bilingual, a feature now understandable in the context of occupational achievement. None of these findings seem unrelated to the Anglo-Canadian and American domination of the Montreal economic structure (Sales, 1976). It may be this factor as well which gives the English language such an important role in the process of occupational achievement for other groups, conferring benefits on those who learn English rather than French and even further advantages on those who integrate into the English language group.

The data also indicate that francophones benefit both occupationally and financially from learning English, a feature which may be related to the high levels of bilingualism in the French language group. Retentive bilinguals have slightly higher occupational achievements than their background characteristics would predict, although they are not as advantaged as integrative bilinguals (integrating into English), who in turn are not as advantaged as persons with English as mother tongue.

The prevalent anglicisation of allophones is widely documented (e. g. Caston- guay, 1974) and the income benefits grossly observed (Boulet, 1979). This study reveals occupational benefits in any movement away from allophone languages but particularly in the integration into the anglophone language group.

246 J A C - A N D R ~ . B O U L E T A N D C A L V I N V E L T M A N

APPENDIX I: REGRESSION COEFFICIENTS AND T-RATIOS FOR THE MULTIPLE REGRESSION EQUATION

REPORTED IN TABLE I1

Variable Language Group

Mother Tongue Official Language Home Language Coefficient T-ratio Regression

English English Allophone French Allophone French Allophone English Residual Allophone Allophone French Allophone Allophone Allophone

Bilingual English Bilingual Bilingual English Bilingual Bilingual Bilingual Undefined Bilingual English French French French Allophone

Age 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65 + Education Grades 0-7 Grades 8-9 Grades 10-13 Some university, no degree Certificate or diploma below bachelor's Bachelor's or first professional degree Post-graduate degree

English English English English English French French French Allophone Allophone Allophone French French Allophone Allophone

+3.18 +3.47 +1.14 +1.39 -0.10 +0.97 -0.93 +0.33 -3.62 -3.30 -4.45 -2.80 -5.68 -6.22 -7.61

-9.31 -4.00 +0.26 +I10 +1.80 +1.96 +1.90 +1.74 +1.51 +0.96 +1.20

-8.86 -4.79 i 2 . 1 1 +6.38 + 9.77

+16.37 + 20.06

+44.32t +51.77t +7.19t +8.98t -0.58

+34.83t -4.35t +1.58"

-11.23t -27.40t -34.48t -63.27t -14.72t -34.61t -35.06t

-100.57t -69.13t +4.54t

+17.50t +28.62t + 30.83t +28.09t +22.67t +17.96t +9.51t +9.39t

- 209.95t - 103.63t +63.64t + 74.81t +73.24t

+204.12t +157.80t

R-SQUARED = ,423 F (30,240109) = 5870.85 * p < .05 t p < .01

247 A C H I E V E M E N T S O F M O N T R E A L L A N G U A G E G R O U P S I N 1 9 7 1

N O T E S

I The 1971 mother tongue question asked for the ‘language first spoken and still understood’ while the usual language question was phrased, ’What language do you most often speak at home now?’ Knowledge of the official languages was ascertained by asking. ’Can you speak English or French well enough to conduct a conversation?‘

2 Allophone is defined as any language other than English or French. 3 The residual category consists of language transfers to allophone home languages.

Although very small, it is very heterogeneous, containing persons of both French and English mother tongues, some of whom are unilingual, others bilingual from the standpoint of the official languages’ question.

in this paper. However, the study design also calls for an analysis of income determination.

anglophones (Veltman, Boulet, and Castonguay, 1979).

4 The specification of positive employment income is not relevant to the analysis carried out

5 There is, nonetheless, an income premium associated with bilingualism for retentive

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