8/7/2020 French language - Wikipedia

French language
French (français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or la langue française [la lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz]) is
a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended French
from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance français
languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken Pronunciation [fʁɑ̃sɛ]
in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest
Region Francophonie
relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken
(French-
in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French
speaking world)
(Francien) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by (geographical
native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia distribution below)
Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-
Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas Native speakers 76.8 million
expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, worldwide
An estimated
most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation
274 million
may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.
French
speakers (L1
French is an official language in 29 countries across multiple
plus L2;
continents,[5] most of which are members of the Organisation 2014)[1][2]
internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 84
countries which share the official use or teaching of French. Language family Indo-European
French is also one of six official languages used in the United Italic
Nations.[6] It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of
Romance
the number of speakers) in France, the Canadian provinces of
Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick as well as other Western
Romance
Francophone regions, Belgium (Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital
Region), western Switzerland (cantons of Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Gallo-
Jura, Neuchâtel, Vaud, Valais), Monaco, partly in Luxembourg, Romance
the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont in Oïl
the United States, and in northwestern Italy (region of Aosta French
Valley), and by various communities elsewhere.[7]
Early forms Old Latin
In 2015, approximately 40% of the francophone population
(including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 35% in sub- Classical
Latin
Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in
the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania.[8] French is the fourth Vulgar
Latin
most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union.[9] Of
Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately Old
French
one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language.[10] French
is the second most taught foreign language in the EU.[11] French is Middle
French
also the 18th most natively spoken language in the world, 6th
most spoken language by total number of speakers and the second Writing system Latin (French
or third most studied language worldwide (with about 120 million alphabet)
current learners).[12] As a result of French and Belgian colonialism French Braille
from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new Signed forms Signed French
territories in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Most second-language (français signé)
speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Official status
Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast.[13]
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8/7/2020 French language - Wikipedia

French is estimated to have about 76 million native speakers and Official language in 29 countries
about 235 million daily, fluent speakers[14][1][15] and another 77 to Belgium
110 million secondary speakers who speak it as a second language Benin
to varying degrees of proficiency, mainly in Africa.[16] According
Burkina
to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF),
Faso
approximately 300 million people worldwide are "able to speak
the language",[17] without specifying the criteria for this Burundi
estimation or whom it encompasses.[2] According to a Cameroon
demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Canada
Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la francophonie, Central
the total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 African
million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050.[18] OIF estimates 700 Republic
million by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa.[8] Chad
Comoros
French has a long history as an international language of literature
and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of Congo
many international organisations including the United Nations, DR Congo
the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Djibouti
World Trade Organization, the International Olympic Committee,
Equatorial
and the International Committee of the Red Cross. In 2011,
Guinea
Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful
France
language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin
Chinese.[19] Gabon
Guinea
Haiti
Contents Ivory
Coast
History
Vulgar Latin in Gallia Luxembourg
Old French
Middle French Madagascar
Modern French Mali
Geographic distribution Monaco
Europe Niger
Africa Rwanda
Americas Senegal
Asia Seychelles
Oceania and Australasia
Future Switzerland

Varieties Togo
Vanuatu
Current status and importance
Phonology 11 dependent
Writing system entities
Alphabet Aosta
Orthography Valley (Italy)
Grammar French
Polynesia
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