DCHP-2

African-Canadian African Canadian DCHP-2 (May 2016)

• 1 n.

  a Canadian of African descent; a black Canadian.

  Type: 1. Origin — African-Canadian is most frequently used in Canada (Chart 1). Together with the related but older form Afro-Canadian, the term has limited the use of black Canadian, a term of long standing, but now used only in about a quarter of all cases (see Chart 2). This change in linguistic preference is linked with the first significant immigration directly from African countries after 1950 (see Canadian Encyclopedia s.v. "African Canadians"). Before then, African-Canadians were descended from people who came north during and after the American Revolution and formed small, self-contained communities in the Maritimes (see, e.g. Poplack and Tagliamonte 2011 for a linguistic study of black Loyalist communities in Nova Scotia). The late 1980s and early 1990s are important in the dissemination and acceptance of the term African-Canadian over other ones. More recently, Afro-Canadian has given way to African-Canadian (see Chart 2), the latter being modelled on African-American, which is recorded at least since 1782; see OED-3).
  See also Gage-5, s.v. "African-Canadian", ITP Nelson, s.v. "African-Canadian", COD-2, s.v. "African-Canadian".

  See also:   Afro-Canadian  black Canadian  

  • Both hyphenated and non-hyphenated spellings are in use, with a recent preference for the non-hyphenated version African Canadian when used as a noun and for the hyphenated African-Canadian when used adjectivally, e.g. African-Canadian culture. The reverse is also seen, however (see Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Black Canadians").

• 2 adj.

  of or relating to African-Canadian matters.

  Type: 1. Origin — See meaning 1.

  See also: Afro-Canadian