Romance language
French
|
---|
|
Pronunciation
| [f???s?]
|
---|
Native to
| France
,
Belgium
,
Switzerland
,
Monaco
,
Francophone Africa
,
Canada
, and other locations in the
Francophonie
|
---|
Speakers
| L1
: 74 million (2020)
[1]
L2
: 238 million (2022)
[1]
Total: 310 million
[1]
|
---|
| |
---|
Early forms
| |
---|
| Latin script
(
French alphabet
)
French Braille
|
---|
| Signed French
(francais signe)
|
---|
|
Official language in
|
|
---|
Regulated by
| Academie Francaise
(French Academy, France)
Office quebecois de la langue francaise
(Quebec Board of the French Language, Quebec)
Direction de la langue francaise
[
fr
]
(Belgium)
|
---|
|
ISO 639-1
| fr
|
---|
ISO 639-2
| fre
(B)
fra
(T)
|
---|
ISO 639-3
| fra
|
---|
Glottolog
| stan1290
|
---|
Linguasphere
| 51-AAA-i
|
---|
Countries and regions where French is the native language of the majority
[a]
Countries and territories where French is an official language but not a majority native language
Countries and territories where French is an administrative or cultural language but with no official status
|
This article contains
IPA
phonetic symbols.
Without proper
rendering support
, you may see
question marks, boxes, or other symbols
instead of
Unicode
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.
|
French
(
francais
,
French:
[f???s?]
, or
langue francaise
,
French:
[l???
f???s?ːz]
, or by some speakers,
French:
[l??ŋ
f???s?]
) is a
Romance language
of the
Indo-European family
. It descended from the
Vulgar Latin
of the
Roman Empire
, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from
Gallo-Romance
, the Latin spoken in
Gaul
, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other
langues d'oil
?languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (
Francien
) largely supplanted. French was also
influenced
by native
Celtic languages
of Northern Roman Gaul like
Gallia Belgica
and by the (
Germanic
)
Frankish language
of the post-Roman
Frankish
invaders. Today, owing to the
French colonial empire
, there are numerous
French-based creole languages
, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as
Francophone
in both English and French.
French is an
official language
in
27 countries
and is spoken across all continents.
[2]
French is also
one of the most geographically widespread languages
in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a
de jure
or
de facto
official, administrative, or cultural language.
[3]
Most of these countries are members of the
Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
(OIF), the community of 54 member states which share the official use or teaching of French. French is also one of six official languages used in the
United Nations
.
[4]
It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the
provinces
of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium (
Wallonia
and the
Brussels-Capital Region
); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the
Romandy
region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco; the
Aosta Valley
region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere.
[5]
In 2015, approximately 40% of the francophone population (including
L2
and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania.
[6]
French is the second-most widely spoken mother tongue in the
European Union
.
[7]
Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language.
[8]
French is the second-most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German; in certain institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the
Court of Justice of the European Union
).
[9]
French is also the 16th
most natively spoken language
in the world, fifth
most spoken language by total number of speakers
and is on the top five of the most studied languages worldwide (with about 120 million learners as of 2017).
[10]
As a result of French and Belgian
colonialism
from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Most second-language speakers reside in
Francophone Africa
, particularly Gabon, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast.
[11]
French is estimated to have about 76 million native speakers; about 235 million daily, fluent speakers;
[12]
[1]
[13]
and another 77?110 million secondary speakers who speak it as a
second language
to varying degrees of proficiency, mainly in Africa.
[14]
According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language",
[15]
without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses.
[16]
According to a demographic projection led by the
Universite Laval
and the
Reseau Demographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie
, the total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050.
[17]
OIF estimates 700 million by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa.
[6]
French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including the United Nations, the European Union, the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
, the
World Trade Organization
, the
International Olympic Committee
, the
General Conference on Weights and Measures
, and the
International Committee of the Red Cross
. In 2011,
Bloomberg Businessweek
ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and
Standard Mandarin Chinese
.
[18]
History
French is a
Romance language
(meaning that it is descended primarily from
Vulgar Latin
) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include
Old French
and
Middle French
.
Vulgar Latin in Gaul
Due to Roman rule, Latin was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul, and as the language was learned by the common people it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which being attested on graffiti.
[19]
This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as
Arpitan
.
The evolution of Latin in Gaul was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native
Celtic
Gaulish language
, which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the
fall of the Western Roman Empire
.
[20]
The population remained 90% indigenous in origin;
[21]
[22]
the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of the Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek.
[23]
The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of the urban intellectual elite.
[23]
The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable
Romanization
.
[20]
Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the
Vulgar Latin
dialects that developed into French
[23]
[20]
contributing
loanwords
and
calques
(including
oui
,
[24]
the word for "yes"),
[25]
sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence,
[26]
[27]
[28]
and influences in conjugation and word order.
[25]
[29]
[19]
Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by the gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish.
[30]
The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the
Petit Robert
,
[31]
which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240.
[32]
Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life (
chene
,
bille
, etc.), animals (
mouton
,
cheval
, etc.), nature (
boue
, etc.), domestic activities (ex.
berceau
), farming and rural units of measure (
arpent
,
lieue
,
borne
,
boisseau
), weapons,
[33]
and products traded regionally rather than further afield.
[34]
This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being the last to hold onto Gaulish.
[34]
[33]
Old French
The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there.
[35]
A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke
langue d'oil
while the population in the south spoke
langue d'oc
.
[35]
Langue d'oil grew into what is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because
it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects
.
[36]
The period is marked by a heavy
superstrate
influence from the Germanic
Frankish language
, which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of
V2 word order
,
[37]
a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary
[38]
) including the impersonal singular pronoun
on
(a calque of Germanic
man
), and the name of the language itself.
Up until its later stages,
Old French
, alongside
Old Occitan
, maintained a relic of the old nominal
case system
of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated
diphthongs
such as
-eau
which would later be leveled to monophthongs.
[
citation needed
]
The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in the
Oaths of Strasbourg
and the
Sequence of Saint Eulalia
, while
Old French literature
began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the
Vie de Saint Alexis
), or wars and royal courts, notably including the
Chanson de Roland
,
epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court
, as well as
a cycle focused
on
William of Orange
.
[
citation needed
]
Middle French
Within Old French many dialects emerged but the
Francien
dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th?17th centuries).
[35]
Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect.
[35]
Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules.
Robert Estienne
published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar.
[39]
Politically, the first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the
Aosta Valley
in 1536, while the
Ordinance of Villers-Cotterets
(1539) named French the language of law in the
Kingdom of France
.
Modern French
During the 17th century, French replaced
Latin
as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations (
lingua franca
). It retained this role until approximately the middle of the 20th century, when it was
replaced by English
as the United States became the dominant global power following the
Second World War
.
[40]
[41]
Stanley Meisler of the
Los Angeles Times
said that the fact that the
Treaty of Versailles
was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language.
[42]
During the
Grand Siecle
(17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as
Cardinal Richelieu
and
Louis XIV
, enjoyed a period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the
Academie francaise
to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France.
Near the beginning of the 19th century, the
French government
began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages (
patois
) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with
Henri Gregoire
's "Report on the necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made
compulsory
, only French was taught and the use of any other (
patois
) language was punished. The goals of the
public school system
were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as
Occitania
and
Brittany
. Instructions given by a French official to teachers in the
department
of
Finistere
, in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language".
[43]
The prefect of
Basses-Pyrenees
in the
French Basque Country
wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the
Basque language
with French..."
[43]
Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process was known in the Occitan-speaking region as
Vergonha
.
Geographic distribution
Europe
Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English.
[7]
[45]
Under the
Constitution of France
, French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992,
[46]
although the
Ordinance of Villers-Cotterets
made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words.
In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of
Wallonia
(excluding a part of the
East Cantons
, which are
German-speaking
) and one of the two official languages?along with
Dutch
?of the
Brussels-Capital Region
, where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language.
[47]
French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and
Romansh
, and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called
Romandy
, of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some
cantons
have bilingual status: for example, cities such as
Biel/Bienne
and cantons such as
Valais
,
Fribourg
and
Bern
. French is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50%
[48]
of the population.
Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of
Luxembourg
, where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of
Monaco
.
At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in the
Aosta Valley
region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population,
[49]
while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the
Channel Islands
. It is also spoken in
Andorra
and is the main language after
Catalan
in
El Pas de la Casa
. The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of
Saarland
, with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French.
[50]
[51]
Africa
The majority of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the
Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
, an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories
[b]
can speak French as either a
first
or a
second language
.
[54]
[55]
This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050.
[56]
French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages).
[57]
[58]
French is mostly a second language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of
Abidjan
,
Ivory Coast
[59]
and in
Libreville
, Gabon.
[60]
There is not a single
African French
, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous
African languages
.
[61]
Sub-Saharan Africa
is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth.
[62]
It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years.
[63]
[64]
Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries,
[65]
but written forms of the language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world.
Americas
Canada
French language distribution in Canada
Regions where French is the main language and an official language at both the federal and provincial level
Regions where French is an official language at the federal level but not a majority native language or an official language at the provincial level
The
"arret" signs
(French for "stop") are used in the province of Quebec, Canada while the English
stop
, which is also a valid French word, is used in France and other French-speaking countries and regions.
French is the second-most common language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. It is the first language of 9.5 million people or 29% and the second language for 2.07 million or 6% of the entire population of Canada.
[13]
French is the sole official language in the province of
Quebec
, being the mother tongue for some 7 million people, or almost 80% (2006 Census) of the province
[
citation needed
]
. About 95% of the people of Quebec speak French as either their first or second language, and for some as their third language. Quebec is also home to the city of
Montreal
, which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers.
[
citation needed
]
New Brunswick
and
Manitoba
are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories (
Northwest Territories
,
Nunavut
, and
Yukon
). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population.
[66]
Furthermore, while French is not an official language in
Ontario
, the
French Language Services Act
ensures that provincial services are to be available in the language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely
Eastern Ontario
and
Northern Ontario
. Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba,
Nova Scotia
, Prince Edward Island and the
Port au Port Peninsula
in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique
Newfoundland French
dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of
Ottawa
, the Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is across a river from Quebec, opposite the major city of
Gatineau
with which it forms a single metropolitan area.
[
citation needed
]
United States
According to the
United States Census Bureau
(2011), French is the fourth
[67]
most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of
Maine
and
New Hampshire
. In
Louisiana
, it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of
Connecticut
,
Rhode Island
, and
New Hampshire
.
[68]
Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as
Louisiana French
.
New England French
, essentially a variant of
Canadian French
, is spoken in parts of
New England
.
Missouri French
was historically spoken in
Missouri
and
Illinois
(formerly known as
Upper Louisiana
), but is nearly extinct today.
[69]
French also survived in isolated pockets along the
Gulf Coast
of what was previously French
Lower Louisiana
, such as
Mon Louis Island
, Alabama and
DeLisle, Mississippi
(the latter only being discovered by linguists in the 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct.
Caribbean
French is one of two official languages in
Haiti
alongside
Haitian Creole
. It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language; the rest largely speak French as a first language.
[70]
As a
French Creole language
, Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the
Lesser Antilles
.
[71]
French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in the Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the
French West Indies
, namely
Guadeloupe
,
Saint Barthelemy
,
Saint Martin
, and
Martinique
.
Other territories
French is the official language of both
French Guiana
on the South American continent,
[72]
and of
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
,
[73]
an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America.
Asia
Southeast Asia
French was the official language of the colony of
French Indochina
, comprising modern-day
Vietnam
,
Laos
, and
Cambodia
. It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades.
[74]
In colonial Vietnam, the elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as "
Tay B?i
" (now extinct). After French rule ended,
South Vietnam
continued to use French in administration, education, and trade.
[75]
However, since the
Fall of Saigon
and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as the other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language.
[76]
All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF).
India
French was the official language of
French India
, consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as
Puducherry
. It continued to be an
official language of the territory
even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965.
[77]
A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of the language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English.
[77]
[78]
Western Asia
Lebanon
A former French
mandate
,
Lebanon
designates
Arabic
as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used".
[79]
The
French language in Lebanon
is a widespread second language among the
Lebanese people
, and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on
Lebanese pound
banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese
license plates
, and on official buildings (alongside Arabic).
Today, French and English are secondary languages of
Lebanon
, with about 40% of the population being
Francophone
and 40% Anglophone.
The use of English is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French.
Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value.
United Arab Emirates and Qatar
The
UAE
has the status in the
Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
as an observer state, and
Qatar
has the status in the organization as an associate state. However, in both countries, French is not spoken by almost any of the general population or migrant workers, but spoken by a small minority of those who invest in Francophone countries or have other financial or family ties. Their entrance as observer and associate states respectively into the organization was aided a good deal by their investments into the Organisation and France itself.
[83]
A country's status as an observer state in the
Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
gives the country the right to send representatives to organization meetings and make formal requests to the organization but they do not have voting rights within the OIF.
[84]
A country's status as an associate state also does not give a country voting abilities but associate states can discuss and review organization matters.
[85]
Oceania and Australasia
French is an official language of the
Pacific Island
nation of
Vanuatu
, where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023.
[55]
In the French special collectivity of
New Caledonia
, 97% of the population can speak, read and write French
[86]
while in
French Polynesia
this figure is 95%,
[87]
and in the French collectivity of
Wallis and Futuna
, it is 84%.
[88]
In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census.
[89]
[87]
In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census.
[88]
[90]
Future
The future of the French language is often discussed in the news. For example, in 2014,
The New York Times
documented an increase in the teaching of French in New York, especially in K-12 dual-language programs where Spanish and Mandarin are the only second-language options more popular than French.
[91]
In a study published in March 2014 by
Forbes
, the investment bank
Natixis
said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. It noted that French is spreading in areas where the population is rapidly increasing, especially in
sub-Saharan Africa
.
[92]
[
better source needed
]
In the
European Union
, French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains the preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the
Court of Justice of the European Union
, where it is the sole internal working language, or the
Directorate-General for Agriculture
. Since 2016,
Brexit
has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union.
[93]
Varieties
Current status and importance
A leading
world language
, French is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism,
jurisprudence
, education, and diplomacy.
[94]
In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the
UN Secretariat
's only two working languages
[95]
), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the
European Union
, an official language of
NATO
, the
International Olympic Committee
, the
Council of Europe
, the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
,
Organization of American States
(alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the
Eurovision Song Contest
, one of eighteen official languages of the
European Space Agency
,
World Trade Organization
and the least used of the three official languages in the
North American Free Trade Agreement
countries. It is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the
Red Cross
(alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian),
Amnesty International
(alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian),
Medecins sans Frontieres
(used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and
Medecins du Monde
(used alongside English).
[96]
Given the demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future".
[97]
Significant as a judicial language, French is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the
African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights
, the
Caribbean Court of Justice
, the
Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States
, the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
, the
International Court of Justice
, the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
,
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
, the
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
the
International Criminal Court
and the
World Trade Organization Appellate Body
. It is the sole internal working language of the
Court of Justice of the European Union
, and makes with English the
European Court of Human Rights
's two working languages.
[98]
In 1997, George Weber published, in
Language Today
, a comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages".
[99]
In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most
influential
language of the world, ahead of Spanish.
[99]
His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations, the economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the
linguistic prestige
associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige).
[99]
In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged."
[99]
Knowledge of French is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%).
[100]
MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in the workplace.
[101]
In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of the country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught.
Phonology
Vowel phonemes in French
Although there are many French regional accents, foreign learners normally use only one variety of the language.
- There are a maximum of 17 vowels in French, not all of which are used in every dialect:
/a/,
/?/,
/e/,
/?/,
/?ː/,
/?/,
/i/,
/o/,
/?/,
/y/,
/u/,
/œ/,
/ø/,
plus the nasalized vowels
/??/,
/??/,
/??/
and
/œ?/
. In France, the vowels
/?/
,
/?ː/
and
/œ?/
are tending to be replaced by
/a/
,
/?/
and
/??/
in many people's speech, but the distinction of
/??/
and
/œ?/
is present in
Meridional French
. In Quebec and Belgian French, the vowels
/?/
,
/?/
,
/?ː/
and
/œ?/
are present.
- Voiced stops (i.e.,
/b,
d,
?/
) are typically produced fully voiced throughout.
- Voiceless stops (i.e.,
/p,
t,
k/
) are unaspirated.
- The velar nasal
/ŋ/
can occur in final position in borrowed (usually English) words:
parking, camping, swing
.
- The palatal nasal
/?/
, which is written ?gn?, can occur in word initial position (e.g.,
gnon
), but it is most frequently found in intervocalic, onset position or word-finally (e.g.,
montagne
).
- French has three pairs of homorganic fricatives distinguished by voicing, i.e., labiodental
/f/~/v/
, dental
/s/~/z/
, and palato-alveolar
/?/~/?/
.
/s/~/z/
are dental, like the plosives
/t/~/d/
and the nasal
/n/
.
- French has one rhotic whose pronunciation varies considerably among speakers and phonetic contexts. In general, it is described as a
voiced uvular fricative
, as in
[?u]
roue
, "wheel". Vowels are often lengthened before this segment. It can be reduced to an approximant, particularly in final position (e.g.,
fort
), or reduced to zero in some word-final positions. For other speakers, a uvular trill is also common, and an apical trill
[r]
occurs in some dialects. The cluster /?w/ is generally pronounced as a labialised voiced uvular fricative [??], such as in [??a]
roi
, "king", or [k??a?]
croire
, "to believe".
- Lateral and central approximants: The lateral approximant
/l/
is unvelarised in both onset (
lire
) and coda position (
il
). In the onset, the central approximants
[w]
,
[?]
, and
[j]
each correspond to a high vowel,
/u/
,
/y/
, and
/i/
respectively. There are a few
minimal pairs
where the approximant and corresponding vowel contrast, but there are also many cases where they are in free variation. Contrasts between
/j/
and
/i/
occur in final position as in
/p?j/
paye
, "pay", vs.
/p?i/
pays
, "country".
- The lateral approximant /l/ can be
delateralised
when word- or morpheme-final and preceded by /i/, such as in /t?avaj/
travail
, "work", or when a word ending in ?al? is pluralised, giving ?aux? /o/.
French pronunciation follows strict rules based on spelling, but French spelling is often based more on history than phonology. The rules for pronunciation vary between dialects, but the standard rules are:
- Final single consonants, in particular
s
,
x
,
z
,
t
,
d
,
n
,
p
and
g
, are normally silent. (A consonant is considered "final" when no vowel follows it even if one or more consonants follow it.) The final letters
f
,
k
,
q
, and
l
, however, are normally pronounced. The final
c
is sometimes pronounced like in
bac
,
sac
,
roc
but can also be silent like in
blanc
or
estomac
. The final
r
is usually silent when it follows an
e
in a word of two or more syllables, but it is pronounced in some words (
hiver
,
super
,
cancer
etc.).
- When the following word begins with a vowel, however, a silent consonant
may
once again be pronounced, to provide a
liaison
or "link" between the two words. Some liaisons are
mandatory
, for example the
s
in
les amants
or
vous avez
; some are
optional
, depending on
dialect
and
register
, for example, the first
s
in
deux cents euros
or
euros irlandais
; and some are
forbidden
, for example, the
s
in
beaucoup d'hommes aiment
. The
t
of
et
is never pronounced and the silent final consonant of a noun is only pronounced in the plural and in
set phrases
like
pied-a-terre
.
- Doubling a final
n
and adding a silent
e
at the end of a word (e.g.,
chien
→
chienne
) makes it clearly pronounced. Doubling a final
l
and adding a silent
e
(e.g.,
gentil
→
gentille
) adds a [j] sound if the
l
is preceded by the letter
i
.
- Some monosyllabic function words ending in
a
or
e
, such as
je
and
que
, drop their final vowel when placed before a word that begins with a vowel sound (thus avoiding a
hiatus
). The missing vowel is replaced by an apostrophe. (e.g.,
*je ai
is instead pronounced and spelled →
j'ai
). This gives, for example, the same pronunciation for
l'homme qu'il a vu
("the man whom he saw") and
l'homme qui l'a vu
("the man who saw him"). However, for Belgian French the sentences are pronounced differently; in the first sentence the syllable break is as "qu'il-a", while the second breaks as "qui-l'a". It can also be noted that, in
Quebec French
, the second example (
l'homme qui l'a vu
) is more emphasized on
l'a vu
.
Writing system
Alphabet
French is written with the 26 letters of the basic
Latin script
, with four diacritics appearing on vowels (
circumflex
accent,
acute accent
,
grave accent
,
diaeresis
) and the
cedilla
appearing in "c".
There are two
ligatures
, "œ" and "æ", but they are often replaced in contemporary French with "oe" and "ae", because the ligatures do not appear on the
AZERTY
keyboard layout used in French-speaking countries. However this is nonstandard in formal and literary texts.
Orthography
French spelling, like English spelling, tends to preserve obsolete pronunciation rules. This is mainly due to extreme phonetic changes since the Old French period, without a corresponding change in spelling. Moreover, some conscious changes were made to restore Latin orthography (as with some English words such as "debt"):
- Old French
doit
> French
doigt
"finger" (Latin
digitus
)
- Old French
pie
> French
pied
"foot" [Latin
pes
(stem:
ped-
)]
French orthography is
morphophonemic
. While it contains 130
graphemes
that denote only 36
phonemes
, many of its spelling rules are likely due to a consistency in morphemic patterns such as adding suffixes and prefixes.
[102]
Many given spellings of common morphemes usually lead to a predictable sound. In particular, a given vowel combination or diacritic generally leads to one phoneme. However, there is not a one-to-one relation of a phoneme and a single related grapheme, which can be seen in how
tomber
and
tombe
both end with the /e/ phoneme.
[103]
Additionally, there are many variations in the pronunciation of consonants at the end of words, demonstrated by how the
x
in
paix
is not pronounced though at the end of
Aix
it is
.
As a result, it can be difficult to predict the spelling of a word based on the sound. Final consonants are generally silent, except when the following word begins with a vowel (see
Liaison (French)
). For example, the following words end in a vowel sound:
pied
,
aller
,
les
,
finit
,
beaux
. The same words followed by a vowel, however, may sound the consonants, as they do in these examples:
beaux-arts
,
les amis
,
pied-a-terre
.
French writing, as with any language, is affected by the spoken language. In Old French, the plural for
animal
was
animals
. The
/als/
sequence was unstable and was turned into a diphthong
/aus/
. This change was then reflected in the orthography:
animaus
. The
us
ending, very common in Latin, was then abbreviated by copyists (monks) by the letter
x
, resulting in a written form
animax
. As the French language further evolved, the pronunciation of
au
turned into
/o/
so that the
u
was reestablished in orthography for consistency, resulting in modern French
animaux
(pronounced first
/animos/
before the final
/s/
was dropped in contemporary French). The same is true for
cheval
pluralized as
chevaux
and many others. In addition,
castel
pl.
castels
became
chateau
pl.
chateaux
.
- Nasal
:
n
and
m
. When
n
or
m
follows a vowel or diphthong, the
n
or
m
becomes silent and causes the preceding vowel to become nasalized (i.e., pronounced with the soft palate extended downward so as to allow part of the air to leave through the nostrils). Exceptions are when the
n
or
m
is doubled, or immediately followed by a vowel. The prefixes
en-
and
em-
are always nasalized. The rules are more complex than this but may vary between dialects.
- Digraphs
: French uses not only
diacritics
to specify its large range of vowel sounds and
diphthongs
, but also specific combinations of vowels, sometimes with following consonants, to show which sound is intended.
- Gemination
: Within words, double consonants are generally not pronounced as geminates in modern French (but geminates can be heard in the cinema or TV news from as recently as the 1970s, and in very refined elocution they may still occur). For example,
illusion
is pronounced
[ilyzj??]
and not
[ilːyzj??]
. However, gemination does occur between words; for example,
une info
("a news item" or "a piece of information") is pronounced
[yn??fo]
, whereas
une nympho
("a nymphomaniac") is pronounced
[ynː??fo]
.
- Accents
are used sometimes for pronunciation, sometimes to distinguish similar words, and sometimes based on etymology alone.
- Accents that affect pronunciation
- The
acute accent
(
l'accent aigu
)
e
(e.g.,
e
cole
?school) means that the vowel is pronounced
/e/
instead of the default
/?/
.
- The
grave accent
(
l'accent grave
)
e
(e.g.,
el
e
ve
?pupil) means that the vowel is pronounced
/?/
instead of the default
/?/
.
- The
circumflex
(
l'accent circonflexe
)
e
(e.g.
for
e
t
?forest) shows that an
e
is pronounced
/?/
and that an
o
is pronounced
/o/
. In standard French, it also signifies a pronunciation of
/?/
for the letter
a
, but this differentiation is disappearing. In the mid-18th century, the circumflex was used in place of
s
after a vowel, where that letter
s
was not pronounced. Thus,
forest
became
foret
,
hospital
became
hopital
, and
hostel
became
hotel
.
- Diaeresis
or
trema
(
e
,
i
,
u
,
y
): over
e
,
i
,
u
or
y
, indicates that a vowel is to be pronounced separately from the preceding one:
naive
,
Noel
.
- The combination of
e
with diaeresis following
o
(
N
oe
l
[??]
) is nasalized in the regular way if followed by
n
(
Sam
oe
ns
[w??]
)
- The combination of
e
with diaeresis following
a
is either pronounced
[?]
(
Raph
ae
l
,
Isr
ae
l
[a?]
) or not pronounced, leaving only the
a
(
St
ae
l
[a]
) and the
a
is nasalized in the regular way if
ae
is followed by
n
(
Saint-S
ae
ns
[??]
)
- A diaeresis on
y
only occurs in some proper names and in modern editions of old French texts. Some proper names in which
y
appears include
Ay
(a commune in
Marne
, formerly
Ay-Champagne
),
Rue des Cloys
(an alley in Paris),
Croy
(family name and hotel on the Boulevard Raspail, Paris),
Chateau du Fay
[
fr
]
(near
Pontoise
),
Ghys
(name of Flemish origin spelt
Ghijs
where
ij
in handwriting looked like
y
to French clerks),
L'Hay-les-Roses
(commune near Paris),
Pierre Louys
(author),
Moy-de-l'Aisne
(commune in
Aisne
and a family name), and
Le Blanc de Nicolay
(an insurance company in eastern France).
- The diaeresis on
u
appears in the Biblical proper names
Archelaus
,
Capharnaum
,
Emmaus
,
Esau
, and
Saul
, as well as French names such as
Hauy
. Nevertheless, since the 1990 orthographic changes, the diaeresis in words containing
gue
(such as
aigue
or
cigue
) may be moved onto the
u
:
aigue
,
cigue
, and by analogy may be used in verbs such as
j'argue
.
- In addition, words coming from German retain their
umlaut
(
a
,
o
and
u
) if applicable but use often French pronunciation, such as
Karcher
(trademark of a pressure washer).
- The
cedilla
(
la cedille
)
c
(e.g.,
gar
c
on
?boy) means that the letter
c
is pronounced
/s/
in front of the back vowels
a
,
o
and
u
(
c
is otherwise
/k/
before a back vowel).
C
is always pronounced
/s/
in front of the front vowels
e
,
i
, and
y
, thus
c
is never found in front of front vowels. This letter is used when a front vowel after ?c?, such as in
France
or
placer
, is replaced with a back vowel. To retain the pronunciation of the ?c?, it is given a cedilla, as in
francais
or
placons
.
- Accents with no pronunciation effect
- The circumflex does not affect the pronunciation of the letters
i
or
u
, nor, in most dialects,
a
. It usually indicates that an
s
came after it long ago, as in
ile
(from former
isle
, compare with English word "isle"). The explanation is that some words share the same orthography, so the circumflex is put here to mark the difference between the two words. For example,
dites
(you say) /
dites
(you said), or even
du
(of the) /
du
(past participle for the verb
devoir
= must, have to, owe; in this case, the circumflex disappears in the plural and the feminine).
- All other accents are used only to distinguish similar words, as in the case of distinguishing the adverbs
la
and
ou
("there", "where") from the article
la
("the" feminine singular) and the conjunction
ou
("or"), respectively.
Some proposals exist to simplify the existing writing system, but they still fail to gather interest.
[104]
[105]
[106]
[107]
In 1990, a
reform
accepted some changes to French orthography. At the time the proposed changes were considered to be suggestions. In 2016, schoolbooks in France began to use the newer recommended spellings, with instruction to teachers that both old and new spellings be deemed correct.
[108]
Grammar
French is a moderately
inflected
language.
Nouns
and most
pronouns
are inflected for
number
(singular or plural, though in most nouns the plural is pronounced the same as the singular even if spelled differently);
adjectives
, for number and
gender
(masculine or feminine) of their nouns;
personal pronouns
and a few other pronouns, for
person
, number, gender, and
case
; and
verbs
, for
tense
,
aspect
,
mood
, and the person and number of their
subjects
. Case is primarily marked using
word order
and
prepositions
, while certain verb features are marked using
auxiliary verbs
. According to the French lexicogrammatical system, French has a rank-scale hierarchy with clause as the top rank, which is followed by group rank, word rank, and morpheme rank. A French clause is made up of groups, groups are made up of words, and lastly, words are made up of morphemes.
[109]
French grammar shares several notable features with most other Romance languages, including
Nouns
Every French
noun
is either masculine or feminine. Because French nouns are not inflected for gender, a noun's form cannot specify its gender. For nouns regarding the living, their
grammatical genders
often correspond to that which they refer to. For example, a male teacher is an
enseignant
while a female teacher is an
enseignante
. However, plural nouns that refer to a group that includes both masculine and feminine entities are always masculine. So a group of two male teachers would be
enseignants
. A group of two male teachers and two female teachers would still be
enseignants
. However, a group of two female teachers would be
enseignantes
. In many situations, including in the case of
enseignant
, both the singular and plural form of a noun are pronounced identically. The article used for singular nouns is different from that used for plural nouns and the article provides a distinguishing factor between the two in speech. For example, the singular
le professeur
or
la professeure
(the male or female teacher, professor) can be distinguished from the plural
les professeur(e)s
because
le
/l?/,
la
/la/, and
les
/le(s)/ are all pronounced differently. With
enseignant
, however, for both singular forms the
le/la
becomes
l'
, and so the only difference in pronunciation is that the ?t? on the end of masculine form is silent, whereas it is pronounced in the feminine. If the word was to be followed by a word starting with a vowel, then liaison would cause the ?t? to be pronounced in both forms, resulting in identical pronunciation. There are also some situations where both the feminine and masculine form of a noun are the same and the article provides the only difference. For example,
le dentiste
refers to a male dentist while
la dentiste
refers to a female dentist. Furthermore, a few nouns' meanings depend on their gender. For example,
un livre
(masculine) refers to a book, while
une livre
a (feminine) is a pound.
Verbs
Moods and tense-aspect forms
The French language consists of both finite and non-finite moods. The finite moods include the
indicative mood
(indicatif), the
subjunctive mood
(subjonctif), the
imperative mood
(imperatif), and the
conditional mood
(conditionnel). The non-finite moods include the
infinitive
mood (infinitif), the
present participle
(participe present), and the
past participle
(participe passe).
Finite moods
Indicative (
indicatif
)
The indicative mood makes use of eight tense-aspect forms. These include the
present
(
present
), the
simple past
(
passe compose
and
passe simple
), the
past imperfective
(
imparfait
), the
pluperfect
(
plus-que-parfait
), the
simple future
(
futur simple
), the
future perfect
(
futur anterieur
), and the
past perfect
(
passe anterieur
). Some forms are less commonly used today. In today's spoken French, the
passe compose
is used while the
passe simple
is reserved for formal situations or for literary purposes. Similarly, the
plus-que-parfait
is used for speaking rather than the older
passe anterieur
seen in literary works.
Within the indicative mood, the
passe compose
,
plus-que-parfait
,
futur anterieur
, and
passe anterieur
all use auxiliary verbs in their forms.
Indicatif
|
Present
|
Imparfait
|
Passe compose
|
Passe simple
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
1st person
|
j'aime
|
nous aimons
|
j'aimais
|
nous aimions
|
j'ai aime
|
nous avons aime
|
j'aimai
|
nous aimames
|
2nd person
|
tu aimes
|
vous aimez
|
tu aimais
|
vous aimiez
|
tu as aime
|
vous avez aime
|
tu aimas
|
vous aimates
|
3rd person
|
il/elle aime
|
ils/elles aiment
|
il/elle aimait
|
ils/elles aimaient
|
il/elle a aime
|
ils/elles ont aime
|
il/elle aima
|
ils/elles aimerent
|
|
|
Futur simple
|
Futur anterieur
|
Plus-que-parfait
|
Passe anterieur
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
1st person
|
j'aimerai
|
nous aimerons
|
j'aurai aime
|
nous aurons aime
|
j'avais aime
|
nous avions aime
|
j'eus aime
|
nous eumes aime
|
2nd person
|
tu aimeras
|
vous aimerez
|
tu auras aime
|
vous aurez aime
|
tu avais aime
|
vous aviez aime
|
tu eus aime
|
vous eutes aime
|
3rd person
|
il/elle aimera
|
ils/elles aimeront
|
il/elle aura aime
|
ils/elles auront aime
|
il/elle avait aime
|
ils/elles avaient aime
|
il/elle eut aime
|
ils/elles eurent aime
|
Subjunctive (subjonctif)
The subjunctive mood only includes four of the tense-aspect forms found in the indicative: present (present), simple past (passe compose), past imperfective (imparfait), and pluperfect (plus-que-parfait).
Within the subjunctive mood, the passe compose and plus-que-parfait use auxiliary verbs in their forms.
Subjonctif
|
Present
|
Imparfait
|
Passe compose
|
Plus-que-parfait
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
1st person
|
j'aime
|
nous aimions
|
j'aimasse
|
nous aimassions
|
j'aie aime
|
nous ayons aime
|
j'eusse aime
|
nous eussions aime
|
2nd person
|
tu aimes
|
vous aimiez
|
tu aimasses
|
vous aimassiez
|
tu aies aime
|
vous ayez aime
|
tu eusses aime
|
vous eussiez aime
|
3rd person
|
il/elle aime
|
ils/elles aiment
|
il/elle aimat
|
ils/elles aimassent
|
il/elle ait aime
|
ils/elles aient aime
|
il/elle eut aime
|
ils/elles eussent aime
|
Imperative (imperatif)
The imperative is used in the present tense (with the exception of a few instances where it is used in the perfect tense). The imperative is used to give commands to you (tu), we/us (nous), and plural you (vous).
Imperatif
|
Present
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
1st person
|
|
aimons
|
2nd person
|
aime
|
aimez
|
Conditional (conditionnel)
The conditional makes use of the present (present) and the past (passe).
The passe uses auxiliary verbs in its forms.
Conditionnel
|
Present
|
Passe
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
1st person
|
j'aimerais
|
nous aimerions
|
j'aurais aime
|
nous aurions aime
|
2nd person
|
tu aimerais
|
vous aimeriez
|
tu aurais aime
|
vous auriez aime
|
3rd person
|
il/elle aimerait
|
ils/elles aimeraient
|
il/elle aurait aime
|
ils/elles auraient aime
|
Voice
French uses both the
active voice
and the
passive voice
. The active voice is unmarked while the passive voice is formed by using a form of verb
etre
("to be") and the past participle.
Example of the active voice:
- "Elle aime le chien."
She loves the dog.
- "Marc a conduit la voiture."
Marc drove the car.
Example of the passive voice:
- "Le chien est aime par elle."
The dog is loved by her.
- "La voiture a ete conduite par Marc."
The car was driven by Marc.
However, unless the subject of the sentence is specified, generally the pronoun
on
"one" is used:
- "On aime le chien."
The dog is loved. (Literally "one loves the dog.")
- "On conduit la voiture."
The car is (being) driven. (Literally "one drives the car.")
Word order is
subject?verb?object
although a pronoun object precedes the verb. Some types of sentences allow for or require different word orders, in particular
inversion
of the subject and verb, as in "Parlez-vous francais ?" when asking a question rather than "Vous parlez francais ?" Both formulations are used, and carry a rising inflection on the last word. The literal English translations are "Do you speak French?" and "You speak French?", respectively. To avoid inversion while asking a question, "Est-ce que" (literally "is it that") may be placed at the beginning of the sentence. "Parlez-vous francais ?" may become "Est-ce que vous parlez francais ?" French also uses
verb?object?subject
(VOS) and
object?subject?verb
(OSV) word order. OSV word order is not used often and VOS is reserved for formal writings.
[36]
Vocabulary
Root languages of
loanwords
[110]
English (25.10%)
Other Asian languages (2.12%)
Other languages (3.43%)
The majority of French words derive from
Vulgar Latin
or were constructed from
Latin
or
Greek
roots. In many cases, a single etymological root appears in French in a "popular" or native form, inherited from Vulgar Latin, and a learned form, borrowed later from
Classical Latin
. The following pairs consist of a native noun and a learned adjective:
However, a historical tendency to
Gallicise
Latin roots can be identified, whereas English conversely leans towards a more direct incorporation of the Latin:
There are also noun-noun and adjective-adjective pairs:
It can be difficult to identify the Latin source of native French words because in the evolution from
Vulgar Latin
, unstressed syllables were severely reduced and the remaining vowels and consonants underwent significant modifications.
More recently (1994) the linguistic policy (
Toubon Law
) of the French language academies of France and Quebec has been to provide French equivalents
[111]
to (mainly English) imported words, either by using existing vocabulary, extending its meaning or deriving a new word according to French morphological rules. The result is often two (or more) co-existing terms for describing the same phenomenon.
- mercatique
/
marketing
- finance
fantome
/
shadow
banking
- bloc-notes
/
notepad
- ailiere
/
wingsuit
- tiers-lieu
/
coworking
It is estimated that 12% (4,200) of common French words found in a typical
dictionary
such as the
Petit Larousse
or
Micro-Robert Plus
(35,000 words) are of foreign origin (where
Greek
and
Latin
learned words are not seen as foreign). About 25% (1,054) of these foreign words come from English and are fairly recent borrowings. The others are some 707 words from Italian, 550 from ancient
Germanic languages
, 481 from other
Gallo-Romance languages
, 215 from Arabic, 164 from German, 160 from
Celtic languages
, 159 from Spanish, 153 from
Dutch
, 112 from
Persian
and
Sanskrit
, 101 from
Native American languages
, 89 from other
Asian languages
, 56 from other
Afro-Asiatic languages
, 55 from
Balto-Slavic languages
, 10 from
Basque
and 144 (about 3%) from other languages.
[110]
One study analyzing the degree of differentiation of Romance languages in comparison to Latin estimated that among the languages analyzed French has the greatest distance from Latin.
[112]
Lexical similarity
is 89% with Italian, 80% with Sardinian, 78% with Rhaeto-Romance, and 75% with Romanian, Spanish and Portuguese.
[113]
[1]
Numerals
The numeral system used in the majority of Francophone countries employs both
decimal
and
vigesimal
counting. After the use of unique names for the numbers 1?16, those from 17 to 69 are counted by tens, while
twenty
(
vingt
) is used as a base number in the names of numbers from 70 to 99. The French word for 80 is
quatre-vingts
, literally "four twenties", and the word for
75
is
soixante-quinze
, literally "sixty-fifteen". The vigesimal method of counting is analogous to the archaic English use of
score
, as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and ten" (70).
Belgian
,
Swiss
, and
Aostan French
[114]
as well as that used in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
,
Rwanda
and
Burundi
, use different names for 70 and 90, namely
septante
and
nonante
. In Switzerland, depending on the local dialect, 80 can be
quatre-vingts
(Geneva, Neuchatel, Jura) or
huitante
(Vaud, Valais, Fribourg). The
Aosta Valley
similarly uses
huitante
[114]
for 80. Conversely, Belgium and in its former African colonies use
quatre-vingts
for 80.
In
Old French
(during the
Middle Ages
), all numbers from 30 to 99 could be said in either base 10 or base 20, e.g.
vint et doze
(twenty and twelve) for 32,
dous vinz et diz
(two twenties and ten) for 50,
uitante
for 80, or
nonante
for 90.
[115]
The term
octante
was historically used in Switzerland for 80, but is now considered archaic.
[116]
French, like most European languages, uses a space to separate thousands.
[117]
The comma (French:
virgule
) is used in French numbers as a decimal point, i.e. "2,5" instead of "2.5". In the case of currencies, the currency markers are substituted for decimal point, i.e. "5$7" for "5 dollars and 7
cents
".
Example text
Article 1 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
in French:
- Tous les etres humains naissent libres et egaux en dignite et en droits. Ils sont doues de raison et de conscience et doivent agir les uns envers les autres dans un esprit de fraternite.
[118]
Article 1 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
in English:
- All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
[119]
See also
Notes
- ^
Dots: cities with native transmission, typically a minority.
- ^
29 full members of the
Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
(OIF):
Benin
,
Burkina Faso
,
Burundi
,
Cameroon
,
Cape Verde
,
Central African Republic
,
Chad
,
Comoros
,
DR Congo
,
Republic of the Congo
,
Cote d'Ivoire
,
Djibouti
,
Egypt
,
Equatorial Guinea
,
Gabon
,
Guinea
,
Guinea-Bissau
,
Madagascar
,
Mali
,
Mauritania
,
Mauritius
,
Morocco
,
Niger
,
Rwanda
,
Sao Tome and Principe
,
Senegal
,
Seychelles
,
Togo
, and
Tunisia
.
One associate member of the OIF:
Ghana
.
Two observers of the OIF:
Gambia
and
Mozambique
.
One country not member or observer of the OIF:
Algeria
.
Two French territories in Africa:
Reunion
and
Mayotte
.
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dor
<
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< *
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(
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Works cited
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