Abstract
THE PROBLEMATICAL CANADIAN PEOPLE The form and content of the definitions of Canada, Quebec and of the words which are used to define them are presented in a corpus of texts published in the daily Quebec newspapers : Le Devoir, La Presse and Le Soleil during the summer of 1980. The study of the form of the definitions reveals that Quebec is essentially viewed as a whole and Canada as a whole of which it is possible to envisage parts. The Canadians are considered individuals and the Quebeckers as component elements of a whole. The examination of the contents of the definitions shows that Canada and Quebec are both defined by : état, nation, pays, peuple, société, but Canada is described in a rational way whereas Quebec is the subject of numerous affective metaphors. The words used to define both Canada and Quebec are themselves the subjects of numerous definitions, particularly nation and peuple. Those definitions partly overlap and each reflects the other, nevertheless there is a fundamental opposition between état and communauté which corresponds to the Canada/Quebec opposition.