  joual () is the common name for the linguistic features of basilectal quebec french that are associated with the french-speaking working class in montreal which has become a symbol of national identity for a large number of artists from that area. speakers of quebec french from outside montreal usually have other names to identify their speech, such as magoua in trois-riviÃ¨res, and chaouin south of trois-riviÃ¨res. linguists tend to eschew this term, but historically some have reserved the term joual for the variant of quebec french spoken in montreal.gilles lefebvre, Â«faut-il miser sur le joual?Â» le devoir 1965, 30 octobre; Â«l'Ã©tude de la culture: la linguistique.Â» recherche sociographiques 3:1-2.233-249, 1962; henri wittmann, 1973. Â«le joual, c'est-tu un crÃ©ole?Â» la linguistique 1973, 9:2.83-93. like most regional and class variants of a widely spoken language, joual is stigmatized by some and celebrated by others. while joual is often considered a sociolect of the quÃ©bÃ©cois working class, that perception is outdated. both the upward socio-economic mobility among the quÃ©bÃ©cois, and a cultural renaissance around joual connected to the quebec sovereignty movement in the montreal east-end have resulted in joual being spoken by people across the educational and economic spectrum. today, many quÃ©bÃ©cois who were raised in quebec during the last century (command of english notwithstanding) can understand and speak at least some joual. == today == the language levels of the population are diverse today, particularly following the adoption of bill 101. however, slang and other basilectal varieties of quebec french is still very present in quebec culture. this phenomenon occurs through music, storytelling, television, radio, in movies and in conversations. == origin of the name joual == although coinage of the name joual is often attributed to french-canadian journalist andrÃ© laurendeau, usage of this term throughout french-speaking canada predates the 1930s. the actual word joual is the representation of how the word cheval (standard french: , horse) is pronounced by those who speak joual. the weak schwa vowel  disappeared. then the voiceless  was voiced to , thereby creating . next, the  at the beginning of a syllable in some regional dialects of french or even in very rapid speech in general weakens to become the semi-vowel  written . the end result is the word  transcribed as joual.{{citation needed
Culture_of_Quebec Language_varieties_and_styles Languages_of_Canada OA-l_languages Quebec_French Slang Sociolinguistics