Variable: Home Language Spoken Most Often (5)

Language : Home language derived - Part A.

Definition 1:
Home Language
Part A - Plain Language Definition
Not applicable
Part B - Detailed Definition
Refers to the language spoken most often or on a regular basis at home by the individual at the time of the census.

Definition 2:
This question has been changed since 1996. Until that census, the question asked for the language spoken most often at home, and this remains as part (a) in 2001; another part (part [b]) on languages spoken on a regular basis at home was added in 2001. This was done in order to reflect the complete linguistic situation of some Canadian households.
In 2001, the following instructions were provided to respondents in the 2001 Census Guide:
Part (a)
Report the language spoken most often at home. Report more than one language only if all languages are spoken equally often.
For a person who lives alone:
- report the language in which you feel most comfortable.
For a child who has not yet learned to speak:
- report the language spoken most often to this child at home. If two languages are spoken, report the language spoken most often. If both languages are used equally often, report both languages.
Part (b)
Report any other languages that the person speaks at home on a regular basis, but not as often as the language reported in part (a).
On the French version of all census forms, for all questions in the language module where there is a choice of response available, the order in which the choices appear was modified since 1996 in order to give precedence to the category "French". The questions on knowledge of official languages and non-official languages also reflect this change, in the actual wording of the question(s).

Stubset:

1.    Total - Home Language Spoken Most Often
    2.    English single responses
    3.    French single responses
    4.    Non-official languages (single responses)
    5.    Multiple responses