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French (français, ) is a Romance language originally spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, and today by about 300 million people around the world as either a native or a second language,[1] with significant populations in 54 countries.
Descended from the Latin of the Roman Empire, along with languages such as Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Romanian, and Portuguese, its development was influenced by the native Celtic languages of Roman Gaul and by the Germanic language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders.
It is an official language in 41 countries, most of which form what is called in French La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking nations. French as a foreign language is the second most frequently taught language in the world, after English.[2]
It is an official or administrative language of the African Union, the European Broadcasting Union, ESA, the European Union, the Council of Europe, FIA, FIFA, ICUP, FINA, IHO, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, the International Court of Justice, the International Olympic Committee, the International Political Science Association, the International Secretariat for Water, Interpol, NATO, the UCI, the United Nations and all its agencies (including the Universal Postal Union), the World Anti-Doping Agency, and the World Trade Organization. Along with English it is the most used language in the European Commission.
Per the Constitution of France, French has been the official language since 1992 [3] (although previous legal text have made it official since 1539, see ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts). France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education outside of specific cases (though these dispositions are often ignored) and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In France, all matters concerning the orthography, grammar, vocabulary and use of the French language have been governed by the Académie française since the mid 17th century.
Contrary to a common misunderstanding both in the American and British media, France does not prohibit the use of foreign words in websites nor in any other private publication, as that would violate the constitutional right of freedom of speech. The misunderstanding may have arisen from a similar prohibition in the Canadian province of Quebec which made strict application of the Charter of the French Language between 1977 and 1998, although these regulations addressed language used in advertising and the provision of commercial services offered within the province, not the language of private communication.
In addition to French, there are also a variety of regional languages. France has signed the European Charter for Regional Languages but has not ratified it since that would go against the 1958 Constitution.
French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland (along with German, Italian, and Romansh), and is spoken in the part of Switzerland called Romandie. French is the native language of about 20% of all Swiss.
In Belgium, French is the official language of the Walloon Region (excluding the East Cantons, which are German-speaking) and one of the two official languages of the capital, Brussels, along with Dutch, where it is spoken by the majority of the population. Conversely the Dutch language dominates among the city's largely non-resident workforce. It should be noted that French is not an official language nor a recognised minority language in Flanders, although there are some districts in Belgium along linguistic borders that have special compromise linguistic regimes (so called linguistic facilities). In total, native French-speakers make up about 40% of the country's population, the remaining 60% speak Dutch, the latter of which 59% claim to speak French as a second language.[3] French is thus known by an estimated 75% of all Belgians, either as a mother tongue or second language[4].
French is one of the three official languages in Luxembourg, along with German and Luxembourgish.
Although Monégasque is the national language of the Principality of Monaco, French is the only official language, and French nationals make up some 47% of the population
French is also an official language, along with Italian, in the province of Aosta Valley, Italy. In addition, a number of Franco-Provençal dialects are spoken in the province, although they do not have official recognition.
Although Jersey and Guernsey, the two baliwicks collectively referred to as the Channel Islands, are separate entities, both use French to some degree, mostly in an administrative capacity. Jersey Legal French is the standardized variety used in Jersey.
Although Catalan is the only official language of Andorra, French nationals make up 7% of the population, giving the French language some presence there.
See Canadian French, Languages of Canada, Bilingualism in Canada About 7 million Canadians are native French-speakers, of whom 6 million live in Quebec [4], and French is one of Canada's two official languages (the other being English). Various provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms deal with Canadians' right to access services in both languages, including the right to a publicly funded education in the minority language of each province, where numbers warrant in a given locality. By law, the federal government must operate and provide services in both English and French, proceedings of the Parliament of Canada must be translated into both these languages, and most products sold in Canada must have bilingual labels.
Overall, about 13% of Canadians have knowledge of French only, while 18% have knowledge of both English and French. In contrast, over 80% of the population of Quebec speaks French natively, and 95% can speak it. It has been the sole official language of Quebec since 1974. The legal status of French was further strengthened with the 1977 adoption of the Charter of the French Language (popularly known as Bill 101), which guarantees that every person has a right to have the civil administration, the health and social services, corporations, and enterprises in Quebec communicate with him in French. While the Charter mandates that certain provincial government services, such as those relating to health and education, be offered to the English minority in its language, where numbers warrant, its primary purpose is to cement the role of French as the primary language used in the public sphere.
The provision of the Charter that has arguably had the most significant impact mandates French-language education unless a child's parents or siblings have received the majority of their own primary education in English within Canada, with minor exceptions. This measure has reversed a historical trend whereby a large number of immigrant children would attend English schools. In so doing, the Charter has greatly contributed to the "visage français" (French face) of Montreal in spite of its growing immigrant population. Other provisions of the Charter have been ruled unconstitutional over the years, including those mandating French-only commercial signs, court proceedings, and debates in the legislature. Though none of these provisions are still in effect today, some continued to be on the books for a time even after courts had ruled them unconstitutional as a result of the government's decision to invoke the so-called notwithstanding clause of the Canadian constitution to override constitutional requirements. In 1993, the Charter was rewritten to allow signage in other languages so long as French was markedly "predominant." Another section of the Charter guarantees every person the right to work in French, meaning the right to have all communications with one's superiors and coworkers in French, as well as the right not to be required to know another language as a condition of hiring, unless this is warranted by the nature of one's duties, such as by reason of extensive interaction with people located outside the province or similar reasons. This section has not been as effective as had originally been hoped, and has faded somewhat from public consciousness. As of 2006, approximately 65% of the workforce on the island of Montreal predominantly used French in the workplace.
The only other province that recognizes French as an official language is New Brunswick, which is officially bilingual, like the nation as a whole. Outside of Quebec, the highest number of Francophones in Canada, 485,000, excluding those who claim multiple mother tongues, reside in Ontario, whereas New Brunswick, home to the vast majority of Acadians, has the highest percentage of Francophones after Quebec, 33%, or 237,000. In Ontario, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba, French does not have full official status, although the provincial governments do provide some French-language services in all communities where significant numbers of Francophones live. Canada's three northern territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut) all recognize French as an official language as well.
All provinces make some effort to accommodate the needs of their Francophone citizens, although the level and quality of French-language service varies significantly from province to province. The Ontario French Language Services Act, adopted in 1986, guarantees French language services in that province in regions where the Francophone population exceeds 10% of the total population, as well as communities with Francophone populations exceeding 5,000, and certain other designated areas; this has the most effect in the north and east of the province, as well as in other larger centres such as Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Mississauga, London, Kitchener, St. Catharines, Greater Sudbury and Windsor. However, the French Language Services Act does not confer the status of "official bilingualism" on these cities, as that designation carries with it implications which go beyond the provision of services in both languages. The City of Ottawa's language policy (by-law 2001-170) has two criteria which would allow employees to work in their official language of choice and be supervised in the language of choice; this policy is being challenged by an organization called Canadians for Language Fairness.
Canada has the status of member state in the Francophonie, while the provinces of Québec and New Brunswick are recognized as participating governments. Ontario is currently seeking to become a full member on its own.
French is an official language of Haiti, although it is mostly spoken by the upper class and well-educated, while Haitian Creole (a French-based creole language) is more widely spoken as a mother tongue.
French is also the official language in France's overseas territories of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthelemy, St. Martin, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.
See French in the United States
Although it has no official recognition on a federal level, French is the third [5] or fourth [6] most-spoken language in the United States, after English, Spanish, and possibly Chinese (if Chinese languages such as Mandarin and Cantonese are grouped together), and the second most-spoken in the states of Louisiana, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. Louisiana is home to a unique dialect, Cajun French.
See:African French<br> A majority of the world's population of Francophones lives in Africa. Most Africans, however, do not speak French as their mother tongue (although the number of native French speakers on the continent is said to be increasing) but tens of millions can speak it as a second language. It is impossible to speak of a single form of African French, but rather of diverse forms of African French which have developed due to the contact with many indigenous African languages.[7] In the territories of the Indian Ocean, the French language is often spoken alongside French-derived creole languages, the major exception being Madagascar. There, a Malayo-Polynesian language (Malagasy) is spoken alongside French.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand due to the expansion of education and it is also there the language has evolved most in recent years[8][9] Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries[10] but written forms of the language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world.
French is an official language of many African countries, most of them former French or Belgian colonies:
In addition, French is an administrative language of Mauritania and is commonly used, though not on an official basis, in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.
Various reforms have been implemented in recent decades in Algeria to improve the status of Arabic relative to French, especially in education.
While the predominant European language in Egypt is English, French is considered to be a more sophisticated language by some elements of the Egyptian upper and upper-middle classes; for this reason, a typical educated Egyptian will learn French in addition to English at some point in his or her education. The perception of sophistication may be related to the use of French as the royal court language of Egypt during the 19th century. Egypt participates in La Francophonie.
French is also the official language of Mayotte and Réunion, two overseas territories of France located in the Indian Ocean, as well as an administrative and educational language in Mauritius, along with English.
In Asia, French is an administrative language in Laos and Lebanon, and is used unofficially in parts of Cambodia, India (Mahé, Karikal and Yanam), Vietnam and Syria. French has official status in Union Territory of Pondicherry, along with the regional language Tamil.
French is also an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu, along with France's territories of French Polynesia, Wallis & Futuna and New Caledonia.
Main article: French-based creole languages
Main article: French phonology
Although there are many French regional accents, only one version of the language is normally chosen as a model for foreign learners. This is the educated standard variety of Tours , which has no commonly used special name, but has been termed "français neutre" (neutral French).
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:
Main article: French grammar French grammar shares several notable features with most other Romance languages, including:
French word order is Subject Verb Object, except when the object is a pronoun, in which case the word order is Subject Object Verb. Some rare archaisms allow for different word orders.
The majority of French words derive from Vulgar Latin or were constructed from Latin or Greek roots. There are often pairs of words, one form being popular (noun) and the other one savant (adjective), both originating from Latin. Example:
The last example, Saint-Étienne/Stéphanois, illustrates common practice for gentilics throughout France.
In some examples there is a common word from "vulgar" Latin and a more savant word from classical Latin or even Greek.
The French words which have developed from Latin are usually less recognisable than Italian words of Latin origin because as French developed into a separate language from Vulgar Latin, the unstressed final syllable of many words was dropped or elided into the following word.
It is estimated that 12 percent (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. About 25 percent (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 ancient 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 Afro-Asiatic languages, 55 from Slavic languages and Baltic languages, 10 for Basque and 144—about three percent—from other languages (Walter & Walter 1998).
The French counting system is partially vigesimal: twenty () is used as a base number in the names of numbers from 80-99. The French word for 80, for example, is , which literally means "four twenties", and (literally "sixty-fifteen") indicating 75. This reform arose after the French Revolution to unify the different counting system (mostly vigesimal near the coast, due to Celtic (via Basque) and Viking influence). This system is comparable to the archaic English use of "score", as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and ten" (70).
Belgian French and Swiss French are different in this respect. In Belgium and Switzerland 70 and 90 are and . In Switzerland, depending on the local dialect, 80 can be: (Geneva, Neuchâtel, Jura) or (Vaud, Valais, Fribourg). Octante had been used in Switzerland in the past, but is now considered archaic.[11] In Belgium, however, quatre-vingts is universally used.
French is written using the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, plus five diacritics (the circumflex accent, acute accent, grave accent, diaeresis, and cedilla) and the two ligatures (œ) and (æ).
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 a result, it is difficult to predict the spelling on the basis of the sound alone. Final consonants are generally silent, except when the following word begins with a vowel. For example, all of these 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-à-terre.
On the other hand, a given spelling will almost always lead to a predictable sound, and the Académie française works hard to enforce and update this correspondence. In particular, a given vowel combination or diacritic predictably leads to one phoneme.
The diacritics have phonetic, semantic, and etymological significance.
There are two ligatures, which have various origins.
French writing, as with any language, is affected by the spoken language. In Old French, the plural for "animal" was "animals". Common speakers pronounced a "u" before a word ending in "l" as the plural. This resulted in "animauls". As the French language evolved this vanished and the form "animaux" ("aux" pronounced ) was admitted. The same is true for "cheval" pluralized as "chevaux" and many others. Also "castel" pl. "castels" became "château" pl. "châteaux".
Some attempts have been made to reform French spelling, but few major changes have been made over the last two centuries.
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()ранцуская мова
(H)oat-gí
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