Québécois (word)

Quebecers (French Québécois [ masculine ] or Québécoise [ feminine form ], English Quebec or Québec ) is called the 7.5 million residents of the Canadian province of Quebec. 82% of Quebecers are francophone, anglophone and 7.9% are 10.1% are allophones, that is, their mother tongue is neither of Canada's official languages ​​English and French. Most francophone Quebecers speak Quebec French. The English of most anglophone Quebecer is a variant of Canadian English, whose peculiarity in the adoption of some Gallicisms as autoroute is for expressway. Other languages ​​spoken in Quebec, for example, Yiddish, Spanish, Arabic, Italian or Chinese.

For some francophone residents of the province of Quebec, the term Québécois also serves as an ethnic self-designation which is supposed to distinguish it from the ( English-speaking ) Canadians. In the discussions about the possible independence of Quebec, the extent to which the anglophone and allophone Quebecers are included in the Quebec identity plays a central role. In the early years of the Souveränismus an ethnic definition of the term Quebecer was widespread, which was limited to the long-established French-speaking population. In recent years, won a territorial definition of Quebecers in the Francophone population in importance, comprising the francophone, anglophone and allophone Quebecers.

The francophone Quebecers are descendants of French settlers in the 17th century or of other immigrants who came to Quebec in the course of time ( Irish, Arabs, Haitians, etc.). The French settlers who have settled in the St. Lawrence River Valley, initially called themselves Canadians ( Canadiens ), from the mid-19th century French Canadians ( Canadiens français) and since the Quiet Revolution Quebec. The new ethnic definition as Quebec includes the Francophone population of Ontario and the western provinces, which also saw themselves as French Canadians, not one.

In the censuses of Statistique Canada, the overwhelming part of Quebec referred ethnically as Canadians, being listed in the questionnaires Québécois as a possible ethnic self-designation.

In Canadian English, the term Quebecer or Quebeckers usually refers to the entire population of the province, while the term Québécois called ( in French in the English text ), only the francophone population of Quebec French- Canadian descent.