Linguistic minority movements have long adopted
dominant discourses linking language and community. Analysis
of two sites of discursive production in francophone Canada
(literacy centers and a call center workplace in Ontario) shows
that current socioeconomic changes challenge those discourses.
Language and community are uncoupled and redefined as commodities
with exchange value in the globalized market for services and
information. “Community” serves mainly to legitimize
struggles for privileged access to newly commodified linguistic
and cultural resources.
