Bilingualism is not a phenomenon of language; it is a characteristic of its use. It is not a feature of the code but of the message. It does not belong to the domain of “langue” but of “parole.”

If language is the property of the group, bilingualism is the property of the individual. An individual’s use of two languages supposes the existence of two different language communities; it does not suppose the existence of a bilingual community. The bilingual community can only be regarded as a dependent collection of individuals who have reasons for being bilingual. A self-sufficient bilingual community has no reason to remain bilingual, since a closed community in which everyone is fluent in two languages could get along just as well with one language. As long as there are different monolingual communities, however, there is likelihood of contact between them; this contact results in bilingualism.

This study presents a partial analysis of nouns ending in orthographic -sion, -tion (or -ion) and morphophonemic variations between these nouns and related stems. It deals with an area traditionally called derivation.

The frame of reference is that of Trager and Smith, Outline of English Structure, supplemented by subsequent revisions and additions to the general theory developed by the authors in their teaching. For the purposes of this study the morphemic analysis will be limited to “postmorphemes,” i.e., morphemes occurring at the end of the word. Everything which precedes the postmorpheme(s) will be called the “stem” and will not be further segmented. The “stem” may occur elsewhere as an independent word (mutation: mutate) or in composition with different postmorpheme(s) (ambition: ambitious). The following special symbols will be used: √ … “morphemes”; √ … “allomorphs”; √ …/ “morphophonemes”; ∽ “varies with.” In three cases (Y, T, S) a small capital letter is used as a morphophonemic symbol; these are denned below.

Many different systems of writing the Eskimo language are in use in Canada today. Several alphabetic systems based roman letters affect only a minority of Eskimos. The syllabic system consisting of such symbols as small triangles, right and acute angles, and semicircles is written by the great majority. Those who know a given alphabetic system usually know the syllabary as well, except those who were born and brought up in the Mackenzie River area and Labrador. In Canada, at present, there is no standard orthography for the Eskimo language as there is in Greenland, for example. The syllabary which serves some 75 per cent of the Canadian Eskimo population, by virtue of this fact, comes closest to being a standard system of writing. It should be noted that the syllabary is not known in Greenland.

Le vingt-neuvième congrès de l’Acfas se tenait à l’Université d’Ottawa les 27, 28 et 29 Octobre 1961. Les membres de la section de Linguistique se sont réunis sous la présidence de MM. Jean-Paul Vinay et Roch Valin.

Voici le titre des communications qui ont été prononcées ainsi qu’un bref résumé de chacune d’elles.