Emilie Urbain

Emilie Urbain is an Associate Professor in the Department of French at Carleton University, with a primary research focus on Sociolinguistics, Multilingualism, and the interplay between Language, Power, and Social Inequalities. Since joining Carleton in 2018 and attaining tenure in 2021, she has become Chair of the Department of French in 2025. Her work critically examines processes of Language Categorization, Legitimization, and Colonial Discourse within North American French-speaking communities, particularly Acadian populations in New Brunswick.

Her research projects, including the SSHRC-funded Langue, nationalisme et colonialisme en Acadie (2016–2025), analyze how discourses about Indigenous Peoples and languages intersect with Acadian Nationalism, exploring implications for Social Inclusion/Exclusion. She has also led interdisciplinary initiatives like the 2024–2025 Multidisciplinary Approaches in Language Policy (SSHRC Connection Grant).

Urbain's publications span edited volumes and peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Language and Communication and Francophonies d’Amérique, covering topics from 19th-century Louisiana French to 21st-century Francophone Minority Dynamics. Her collaborative work with scholars like Laurence Arrighi and Sandrine Tailleur emphasizes comparative studies of Acadian and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean communities (1867–1971).