French (Langue Française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered only by Spanish and Portuguese. French is the 11th most spoken language in the world, spoken by about 77 million people as a mother tongue, and 128 million including second language speakers, in 1999. It is an official or administrative language in various communities and organizations (such as the European Union, IOC, United Nations and Universal Postal Union).
History
Although in the past many Frenchmen liked to refer to their descent from Gallic ancestors ("Nos ancêtres les gaulois"), very little Celtic influence seems to remain in the French of today. Most of the vocabulary is of Latin and Germanic (Frankish) origin.
Originally, many dialects and languages were spoken throughout contemporary French territory (among them were several langue d'Oïl dialects, like Picard, Valon, etc.), Occitan dialects (Gascon, Provençal, etc.), Breton, Basque, Catalan, Low German, etc., but over time the dialect of the Ile-de-France (the region around Paris), Francien, has supplanted the others and has become the basis for the official French language. The earliest text in French is the Oath of Strasbourg from 842; the period of the language up to around 1300 is called Old French, which after 1300 turned into Middle French, and ultimately, Modern French. Old French became a literary language with the chansons de geste that told tales of the paladins of Charlemagne and the heroes of the Crusades. By the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts, in 1539 King Francis I made French the official language of administration and court proceedings in France, ousting the Latin that had been used before then.
The worldwide use of French
French is a first language (that is, it is natively spoken by a significant proportion of the population) in:
- France (60 million speakers; including overseas territories: Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Martinique and St. Pierre and Miquelon)
- Canada (6,700,001 speakers), especially in Quebec (see Quebecois French) and New Brunswick (see Acadian French)
- Belgium (4,000,000 speakers). Walloon is a dialect of the Langue d'Oïl which differs significantly from Belgian French.
- Switzerland (Suisse Romande)
- Monaco
Also, it is the major second language in Algeria, Haiti, Lebanon, Mauritius, Morocco, New Caledonia, Reunion and Tunisia.
It is the official and only language for instruction in schools in Comoros, Republic of the Congo, French Polynesia, Gabon and Mali.
It is the official language, but actually less commonly used than the native languages, in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Guinea, Madagascar, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Togo, Vanuatu and Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire).
It is a common third language in Andorra and Luxembourg.
Also, there are some French-speakers in Egypt, India (Pondicherry), Italy (Aosta Valley), Laos, Mauritania, United Kingdom (Channel Islands), United States of America mainly (Louisiana & New England) and Vietnam.
La Francophonie is an international organization of French-speaking countries and governments.
Historically, for nearly 300 years French was also the language of the ruling classes and commerce in England, from the time of the Norman Conquest until 1362, when the use of English was resumed.
French Phonemes
French spelling is by no means phonetic. Terminal consonants have often become silent in most dialects, unless followed by a vowel sound (liaison) or silent altogether (e.g., "et" is never pronounced with the ending "t"). In many words, the "n" and "m" becomes silent and causes the preceding vowel to become nasalized (i.e. pronounced with the soft palate extended downward so as to cause the air to leave through the nostrils instead of through the mouth). Furthermore, French words tend to run together when spoken, with ending consonants often being chained to the start of the next word.
Rounded
i y u
e 2 o
E 9 O
a A
E~9~o~
ã
Note: /A/ is for many speakers no longer a phoneme. Whether /@/ (Schwa) is a phoneme of French is controversial. Some see it as an allophone of /9/
/p, b/
/k, g/
/t, d/
/s, z/
/f, v/
/S, Z/
/m, n, n_j/ For some speakers, /n_j/ is probably /n/ + /j/
/l/
/r/ (Uvular trill)
/j/
Some common phrases
- French: français /frA~ sE/ ("fron-seh")
- hello: bonjour /bO~ Zur/ ("bon-zhoor")
- good-bye: au revoir /o r@ vwar/ ("o-ruh-vwar")
- please: s'il vous plaît /sil vu plE/ ("seel voo pleh")
- thank you: merci /mEr si/ ("mair-see")
- that one: celui-là ("sull-wee la") or celle-là /s@ la/ ("cell-la")
- how much?: combien /kO~ bjE~/ ("kom-bee-an")
- English: anglais /A~ glE/ ("ahng-gleh")
- yes: oui /wi/ ("wee")
- no: non /nO~/ ("non")
- I'm sorry: Je suis désolé ("zhuh swee day-so-lay")
- I don't understand: Je ne comprends pas /Z@~ co~'pRA~ 'pa/ ("zhuh nuh comprahn pa")
- Where is the toilet?: Où sont les toilettes? /u sO~ lE twa lEt/ ("ooh song lay twa-let")
- toast to someone's health: A votre santé /sA~te/ ("a votr(uh) sahn-TAY")
- Do you speak English?: Parlez-vous anglais ? /par lE vu A~ glE/ ("parlay voo ahng-glay") OR "Vous parlez anglais ?" /vu par lE A~ glE/ ("voo parlay ahng-lay")
See also:
Legal issues
France
France mandates the use of French in official government publications, education (though these dispositions are often ignored) and legal contracts; avertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. Contrary to a myth common in the American and British media, France does not prohibit the use of foreign words in Web pages or any other private publication, which would anyway contradict constitutional guarantees on freedom of speech.
Canada
French is one of Canada's two official languages, with English; various provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms deal with the right of Canadians to access services in French. 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 English and French; and all Canadian products must be labelled in both English and French.
French is an official language of New Brunswick, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, and is the sole official language of Quebec. The Quebec government enforces certain laws regarding the status of French in the province, including requirements for the use of French in businesses of a certain size; precedence of French-language outdoor signs over English-language ones in commercial settings; and requirements for French-language education for children. Policy regarding the French language in Quebec is the department of the Office québécois de la langue française.