Élaboration et légitimation de l’identité francophone dans le manifeste littéraire. J’parle mal, pis j’aime ça de Joëlle Préfontaine

Abstract

This article aims at analysing the manifesto J'parle mal pis j’aime ça by Franco-Albertan writer and artist Joëlle Préfontaine. Based on a theoretical framework inspired by the analysis of literary discourse and rhetorical argumentation, I formulate the hypothesis that Joëlle Préfontaine, in her manifesto, constructs an “ideological counter speech” in order to revitalise the variety of Farmer French of Alberta, spoken by Western Canadian pioneers, and legitimizing the linguistic community that still speaks it today. First, I will observe that Joëlle Préfontaine leverage the writing routines of the literary manifesto, which is characterized – in J'parle mal pis j'aime ça – by a high degree of performability. I will then focus on the argumentative strategies that the author uses to develop an ethos of an engaged artist. The results of the research show that Joëlle Préfontaine’s epidictic discourse aims to modify collective representations about the vernacular, emphasizing the value of its linguistic particularities rather than the linguistic insecurity of its speakers. The artist’s way of forging a francophone identity also attests her attempts to challenge the stereotypes circulating about the attitude of Franco-albertan speakers, but also to change the understanding of linguistic hybridization

Keywords

• identity
• legitimation
• literary manifesto
• Préfontaine (Joëlle)
• Western Canada