Charles Castonguay (born 1940) is a retired associate professor of
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
and
Statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...
at the
University of Ottawa.
[Ginette Leroux.]
Le mathématicien de la langue
", in ''L'aut'journal sur le Web'', Issue 208, April 2002, retrieved March 25, 2008
Biography
A native
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
speaker, Castonguay was sent by his parents to a French Catholic
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
. He took his first English courses in high school. Enrolled in the
Canadian Armed Forces
}
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force.
...
to pursue university-level studies, he obtained a masters of mathematics from the University of Ottawa. During the three years of his military service, he was posted to National Defence headquarters in Ottawa as counsellor in mathematics and also taught young officers at the
Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean.
After his service, he began teaching mathematics and statistics at the University of Ottawa and registered at
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
to study the
philosophy of mathematics
The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics. It aims to understand the nature and methods of mathematics, and find out the place of mathematics in people's ...
and
epistemology
Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics.
Episte ...
. The subject of his doctoral thesis was "meaning" and "existence" in mathematics. He obtained his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
in 1971.
The thesis was published in 1972 and 1973.
In 1970, he attended a meeting of the
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...
in the
Laurier riding.
René Lévesque
René Lévesque (; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Québécois politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to attempt ...
was the speaker at this meeting, designed to inform English speakers of the party's
Sovereignty-Association
The Quebec sovereignty movement (french: Mouvement souverainiste du Québec) is a political movement whose objective is to achieve the sovereignty of Quebec, a province of Canada since 1867, including in all matters related to any provision of ...
project. After that experience, he campaigned for the party until the
election of 1976.
Partly to understand himself as a
francized English speaker, he took great interest in the analysis of the linguistic behaviours of populations and
language policies. He became a specialist on the subject of
language shift
Language shift, also known as language transfer or language replacement or language assimilation, is the process whereby a speech community shifts to a different language, usually over an extended period of time. Often, languages that are perceiv ...
s and completed several studies on behalf of the
Office québécois de la langue française
The (, OQLF; en, Quebec Board of the French Language) is a public organization established on 24 March 1961, by the Liberal government of Jean Lesage. Attached to the , its initial mission, defined in its report of 1 April 1964, was "to align ...
.
On January 25, 2001, he took an active part in a symposium held by the commission of the
(''Les enjeux démographiques et l'intégration des immigrants''). Thereafter, he co-authored a book criticizing its final report.
Since 2000, he contributes to the Dossier linguistique in the newspaper ''
L'aut'journal ''L'aut'journal'' () is a French language newspaper distributed in Quebec freely and through subscription. It was founded in 1984 by political scientist and journalist Pierre Dubuc, and as of 2004 has a circulation of 35,000 copies.
It advocates ...
''. He participated in the foundation of the
Institut de recherche sur le français en Amérique in 2008.
Works
In English
;Thesis
* ''Meaning and Existence in Mathematics'', New York: Springer-Verlag, 1972, 159 pages (also New York: Springer, 1973)
;Articles
*
Nation Building and Anglicization in Canada's Capital Region, in ''Inroads Journal'', Issue 11, 2002, pp. 71–86
*
French is on the ropes. Why won’t Ottawa admit it ?, in ''Policy Options'', volume 20, issue 8, 1999, pp. 39–50
*
Getting the facts straight on French : Reflections following the 1996 Census, in ''Inroads Journal'', Issue 8, 1999, pages 57 to 77
* "The Fading Canadian Duality", in ''Language in Canada'' (ed. John R. Edwards), pp. 36–60, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, 520 pages
* "Assimilation Trends among Official-Language Minorities. 1971-1991", in ''Towards the Twenty-First Century: Emerging Socio-Demographic Trends and Policy Issues in Canada'', pp. 201–205, Federation of Canadian Demographers, Ottawa, 1996
* "The Anglicization of Canada, 1971-1981", in ''Language Problems and Language Planning'', vol. 11, issue 1, Spring 1987
* "Intermarriage and Language Shift in Canada, 1971 and 1976", in ''Canadian Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 7, No. 3 (Summer, 1982), pp. 263–277
* "The Economic Context of Bilingualism and Language Transfer in the Montreal Metropolitan Area", in ''The Canadian Journal of Economics'', Vol. 12, No. 3 (Aug., 1979), pp. 468–479 (with Calvin J. Veltman, Jac-Andre Boulet)
* "Why Hide the Facts? The Federalist Approach to the Language Crisis in Canada", in ''Canadian Public Policy'', 1979
* "Opportunities for the Study of Language Transfer in the 1971 Census", in Paul Lamy (ed.), ''Language Maintenance and Language Shift in Canada: New Dimensions in the Use of Census Language Data'', Ottawa: Ottawa University Press, 1977, p. 63-73.
* "An Analysis of the Canadian Bilingual Districts Policy", in ''American Review of Canadian Studies'', 1976
;Other
''Transcript of a Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages hearing'' recorded on April 28, 1998
In French
;Studies
''Incidence du sous-dénombrement et des changements apportés aux questions de recensement sur l'évolution de la composition linguistique de la population du Québec entre 1991 et 2001'' (Étude 3) Montréal: Office québécois de la langue française, September 26, 2005, 29 pages
''Les indicateurs généraux de vitalité des langues au Québec : comparabilité et tendances 1971-2001'' (Étude 1) Montréal : Office québécois de la langue française, May 26, 2005, 48 pages
* ''La langue parlée au foyer : signification pour l'avenir du français et tendances récentes'', Oral presentation given to a symposium held by the commission of the
, January 25, 2001
* ''L'indicateur de développement humain de l'ONU : le concept et son usage'', Sainte-Foy: Publications du Québec, 1995, 68 pages
''L'assimilation linguistique : mesure et évolution 1971-1986'' Québec: Conseil de la langue française, 1994, 243 pages
* ''Exogamie et anglicisation dans les régions de Montréal, Hull, Ottawa et Sudbury'', Québec: Centre international de recherche sur le bilinguisme, 1981
Notes
References
* André Langlois
''
Recherches sociographiques'', XLIII-2, May–August 2002 : 381-387.
* Richard Marcoux, Book Review of Charles Castonguay, ''Les indicateurs généraux de vitalité des langues au Québec : comparabilité et tendances 1971-2001'', in ''Recherches sociographiques'', XLVII-2, May–August 2006 : 394-397.
* Ginette Leroux.
Le mathématicien de la langue", in ''L'aut'journal sur le Web'', Issue 208, April 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castonguay, Charles
1940 births
Canadian mathematicians
Living people
Academics from Ottawa
Military personnel from Ottawa
Academic staff of the Royal Military College Saint-Jean
Canadian military personnel