French (French: français) is the third of the Romance languages in terms of number of speakers, fallowing Spanish and Portuguese. Around 1999 French was the Eleventh virtually all spoken language in the globe, existence spoken by astir 67 million population (known as francophones) as a mother tongue, and by 128 million total including second language speakers. These are an official or even administrative language around various communities & organisations (such as a European Union, IOC, United Nations and Universal Postal Union). Prior to World War II, French was considered the international language par excellence, particularly in such fields when diplomacy & a lingua franca of much trade, shipping, and transportation.

History

The Roman invasion of Gaul

A French language occurs as Romance language, meaning that it is descended from either Latin. Prior to a Roman invasion of what is modern-contemporary France by Julius Cæsar (58–52 BC), France was inhabited largely by a Celtic people that the Romans known as Gauls, although there were also more linguistic/ethnic groups inside France at this period, like a Iberians in southern France and Spain, the Ligurians on the Mediterranean coast, Greek and Phoenician outposts like Marseille and the Vascons on the Spanish/French border.

Although it used to be that numerous Frenchmen liked to refer to their descent from either Gallic ascendent (nos ancêtres les Gaulois), mayhap fewer than 200 words sustaining a Celtic cross bit origwithin remain in French in todays world (largely place & plant list & words treating by owning rural life & the globe). around the reverse counsel, occasionally words for Gallic objects which were freshly to the Romans & for which there were there is no words in Latin were imported into Latin – e.g., clothing things like les braies. Latin quickly became a lingua franca of the entire Gallic region for mercantile, official & training purposes, eventually it should become remembered that this was Vulgar Latin, a conversational accent spoken per Roman army & its offices & non the literary idiom of Cicero.

The Franks

From either a third century in, American Europe was invaded by Germanic ("Barbarian") tribes from a east, & a bit of one groups settled inside Gaul. For a history of a French language, the first one groups come the Franks in northern France, the Alemanni in the German/French border, the Burgundians in the Rhone valley and a Visigoths in the Aquitaine region and Spain. These Germanic-speaking groups got a profound result on a Latin spoken in their various regions, altering each the pronunciation & the syntax. It likewise introduced the total of freshly words: possibly up to 15% of modern French comes from either Germanic words, including numbers of terms & expressions associated by using their social structure & military tactics.

Langue d'Oïl

Linguists generally divide a languages spoken within mediaeval France into 3 geographical subgroups: Langue five hundred'Oïl & Langue 500'Oc existence a major ones, by having Franco-Provençal being considered transitional between the two major groups. These are corresponding to the divide that another time existed between "yes" south of England and "aye" in the North.

Langue d'Oïl, the language where one says oïl (or nowadays oui) for "yes", is the group of dialects in the north of France which were the most affected by the Frankish invasions, like Picard, Walloon, Francien, Norman, etc. From either a baptism of the Frankish king Clovis (c.498) on, a Franks extended their power above lot of northern Gaul. A French language developed on the basis of the reciprocally comprehendible features of the ''langues 500'Oïl''.

Langue d'Oc, the language where one says oc for "yes", is the group of dialects in the south of France and northern Spain (Ibero-Romance dialects) which remained closer to the original Latin, like Gascon, Provençal etc.

(Modern French has deuce words for "yes", oui & si; a latter is utilized to contradict blackball statements. Si derives from either Latin set "thus", & is cognate to the word for "yes" around Spanish, Italian, & Catalan. Oïl/oui derive, based on data from either Larousse, from Latin hoc ille "thus he (did)".)

Other linguistic groups
A early middle ages likewise saw a influence of more linguistic groups on the idiom of France:

From either a 5th to the 8th centuries, Celtic-speaking peoples from southwestern Britain (Wales, Cornwall, Devon) travelled across a English Channel, both for reasons of trade & following of the Anglo-Saxon invasions of England. It established themselves inside Bretagne (Brittany). Their language was the accent of the Brythonic languages, which has been named Breton in more recent centuries. These are a share of the big Celtic language family, though the modern accent reflect the noticable influence from either French in their vocabulary.

From either a 6th to the 7th centuries, a Vascons crossed above the Pyrénées, a chain of mountains to the south of France. Their presence influenced a Occitan language spoken in southwestern France, consequent in the accent known as Gascon.

Scandinavian vikings invaded France from a 9th century onwards and established themselves around what would came to exist as known as Normandie (Normandy). It took higher a langue d'oïl spoken there and contributed many words to French related to maritime activities, amongst other things.

Sustaining their conquest of England in 1066, the Normans brought their language. A accent that developed there as a language of administration & literature is known as Anglo-Norman. Anglo-Norman served when a language of a ruling classes & commerce around England from either the period of the conquest until 1362, when a utilize of English became dominant again. Because of a Norman Conquest, the English language has borrowed a considerable total of its vocabulary from either French.

A Arab peoples also supplied several words to French around this period, including words for luxury goods, spices, trade stuffs, sciences and mathematics.

History of French

For the period of time as much as in the area of 1300, some linguists refer to the oïl languages collectively as Old French (ancien français). A earliest extant text around French is the Oaths of Strasbourg from 842; 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.

Per Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539 King Francis I made French the official language of administration and court redeeming around France, ousting a Latin that had been utilized prior to so. Sustaining a imposition of a standardised chancery accent & a loss of a declension body, the accent is known as Middle French (moyen français). As a result a period of unification, regulation & sterilization, the French of the 17th to the 18th centuries is sometimes known as Classical French (français classique), although many linguists just refer to French language from either a 17th century to in todays world when Modern French (français moderne).

A foundation of the Académie française (French Academy) in 1634 by Cardinal Richelieu created an official body whose goal has been a filtration & preservation of the French language. This class action of Xl members is referred to when a Immortals, non, as a select few mistakenly suppose, because it is chosen to serve for the extent of their dwells (which it is), however because of the inscription incised on the official seal given to the two by their founder Richelieu—"À l'immortalité" ("to the Immortality (of the French language)"). A foundation however lives & contributes to a policing of the language & the adaptation of foreign words & expressions. A bit of recent modifications include a vary from either computer software to logiciel, packet-boat to paquebot, & riding-coat to redingote. A word ordinateur for computer was all the same non created per Académie, however by the linguist appointed by IBM (see :fr:ordinateur).

From either a 17th to the 19th centuries, France was a leading power of continental Europe; thanks to this, together using the influence of the Enlightenment, French was the lingua franca of educated Europe, especially by owning regards to the arts, literature, & diplomacy; monarchs like Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia could each speak & write around French.

Through the Académie, public education, centuries of official control & the role of media, a unified official French language has been forged, however there remains much of diversity inside todays world in terms of regional accents & words. For occasionally critics, a "best" pronunciation of a French language is considered to become the a single utilized within Touraine (in Tours and the Loire River valley), but such value judgement come fraught by using problems, & by owning a ever increasing loss of womb-to-tomb attachments to a specific area & a growing importance of the national media, the first of specific "regional" accents is hard to predict.

Modern issues

There exists a select few debate inside now's France all about a preservation of a French language & the influence of English (watch franglais), especially with regard to international business, a sciences & popular culture. There own been laws (view Toubon law) enacted which necessitate that altogether print ads & hoarding by owning foreign expressions include the French translation & which require quotas of French-language songs (at least 40%) on the radio. There exists too pressure, around differing degrees, from either occasionally regions too when minority political or even ethnic groups for the measure of recognition & trend lines for their regional languages.

Geographic distribution
blue: French-speaking; violet: language of administration; red: language of culture; green: minority

French is an official language in the as punishment countries or even area thereof:

La Francophonie is an international organization of French-speaking countries and governments.

Legal status in France

Per the Constitution of France, French is the official language of the Republic since 1992 [http://www.languefrancaise.net/dossiers/dossiers.php?id_dossier=50].

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. See Toubon Law.

Contrary to a misunderstanding common in the American and British media, France does not prohibit the use of foreign words in websites or any other private publication, which would anyway contradict constitutional guarantees on 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 1993, although these regulations addressed language used in advertising and the provision of commercial services offered within the province, not the language of private communication.

There exist in addition to French a variety of languages spoken in France by minorities; see Languages of France.

Legal status in Canada

About 12% of the world's francophones are Canadian, and 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 English and French all across Canada. 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. Overall about 22% of Canadians speak French as a first language and 18% are bilingual.

French has been the only official language of Quebec since the adoption of the Charter of the French Language (a.k.a. Bill 101). By far the provision of Bill 101 with the most significant impact has been that which mandates French-language education, unless a child's parents or siblings have received the major part of their own education in English within Canada. That provision has reversed a historical trend whereby a large number of immigrant children were being sent to English schools by their parents. In so doing, Bill 101 has greatly contributed to the "visage français" (French face) of Quebec. Other provisions of Bill 101, on the other hand, have been ruled unconstitutional over the years, including those mandating French-only commercial signs, court proceedings, and debates in the legislature. Some of those provisions have remained in effect, for a while, using the constitutional "however" clause that permits a non-compliant law to temporarily remain. No "however provision" is currently in effect. In 1993 the Charter was changed to allow signage in other languages so long as French is markedly "predominant". The Charter also provides for a measure of access by Anglophones to health and social services in their own language.

French is an official language of New Brunswick, the Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. In Ontario and Manitoba, French does not have full official status, although the provincial governments do provide full French-language services in all communities where significant numbers of francophones live.

All of the other provinces do 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.

Legal status in Switzerland

French is an official language in Switzerland. It is spoken in the part of Switzerland called Romandy.

Dialects of French

Acadian French African French Belgian French Cajun French Canadian French Cambodian French Louisiana Creole French français d'Aoste français-germanique Indian French Levantine French Maghreb French Newfoundland French North American French Oceanic French Quebec French South East Asian French Swiss French West Indian French

[http://www.linguasphere.org/langues_romanes.pdf linguasphere on Romance languages]

Languages derived from French

Haitian Creole Seychellois Creole Michif Lanc-Patuá

Sounds
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:

liaison or linking: Final single consonants, in particular s, x, z, t, d, n and m, are normally mute. (The final letters 'c', 'r', 'f', and 'l' however are normally pronounced.) When the following word begins with a vowel, though, a silent consonant is once again pronounced, to provide a "hyperlink" between the two words and avoid a glottal stop between them. Certain words are exempt from this linking rule (e.g. et which never pronounces the "t"), but the exceptions vary between dialects and regions. Doubling a final consonant and adding a silent e at the end of a word (e.g. Parisien → Parisienne) makes it clearly pronounced, always.

elision or vowel dropping: Monosyllabic words such as je or que drop their final vowel before another word beginning with a vowel. The missing vowel is replaced by an apostrophe. (e.g. je ai is instead pronounced and spelt → ''j'ai)

nasal "n" and "m". When "n" or "m" follows a vowel combination, the "n" and "m" become silent and cause 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). 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 get more complex than this but may vary between dialects.

digraphs French does not introduce extra letters or diacritics to specify its large range of vowel sounds and diphthongs, rather it uses specific combinations of vowels, sometimes with following consonants, to show which sound is intended. (See French phonology and orthography or [http://www.languageguide.org/francais/grammar/pronunciation/ French Pronunciation Guide] for more details.)

accents are used sometimes for pronunciation, sometimes to distinguish similar words, and sometimes for etymology alone. Accents that affect pronunciation: "é", is pronounced , "è" (e.g., secrète) means that the vowel is pronounced (as usual), dieresis (e.g. naïve, Noël) as in English, specifies that this vowel is pronounced separately from the preceding one (or following one in some cases), not combined, the "ç" means that the letter c is pronounced before a hard vowel.) The circumflex (e.g. pâté, forêt) shows that an e is pronounced for the letter a, but this differentiation is disappearing. It usually indicates a former long vowel created by the dropping of an "s" from the Latin root (as in English "paste", "outdoors"), Accents with no pronunciation effect: The circumflex does not affect the pronunciation of the letters i or u, and in most dialects, a as well. All other accents are used only to distinguish similar words or for etymological reasons, as in the case of distinguishing the adverbs là and où ("there", "in which") from the article la and the conjunction ou'' ("a fem. sing.", "or even") respectively.

Grammar

French grammar shares several notable features with most other Romance languages, including:

the loss of Latin's declensions only two grammatical genders the development of grammatical articles from Latin demonstratives new tenses formed from auxiliaries

French word order is Subject Verb Object, except when the object is a pronoun, in which case the word order is Subject Object Verb.

Vocabulary

Word origins

The majority of French words derive from vernacular or "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:

brother: frère (brother) / fraternel finger: doigt / digital faith: foi (faith) / fidèle cold: froid / frigide eye: œil / oculaire

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, and 144 from other languages (3 percent of the total).

Source: Henriette Walter, Gérard Walter, ''Dictionnaire des mots d'origine étrangère'', 1998.

Levels of register

French, like many other languages, possesses a continuum of several levels of register. The colloquial register is used in almost any circumstance of life, and should not be confused with slang or rude talk. Formal French is used in writing or in formal occasions (when people make official speeches or when they are interviewed on television, for instance). Some level of formality is also normally used in classrooms in France, although colloquial French is now spoken by more and more professors with their students.

Colloquial French differs from formal French in terms of grammar. For instance, the negation in formal French is "ne... pas", whereas in colloquial French it is simply "... pas", such as "I personally don't believe then", which is "Je ne crois pas" in formal French, and "Je crois pas" in colloquial French. Another example of change in grammar is the way to ask a question: by inverting verb and subject in formal French, or also by using "est-ce que", whereas in colloquial French a question is phrased exactly as an affirmation, with the voice rising in the end. E.g.: "Is he honk?" would be "Est-il malade?" or "Est-ce qu'illinois eastern time malade?" in formal French, and "Il eastern time malade?" in colloquial French. On the other hand, questions with "est-ce que" are considered more colloquial than using inversion.

Secondly, colloquial French differs from formal French in terms of pronunciation. Some words undergo shortening, or sound change, whereas some syllables are dropped altogether. For instance, "yes" is "oui" in formal French, and becomes "ouais" in colloquial French; "I personally" is "je" in formal French, but becomes "j' " in colloquial French; so a sentence like "We believe he'll are" is "Je pense qu'prairie state viendra" in formal French, and "J'pense qu'we'viendra" in colloquial French. There are many instances of shortening of words, such as "teacher", which is "professeur" in formal French, but becomes "professor" in colloquial French.

Writing system

French is written using the Latin alphabet, plus five diacritics (the circumflex accent, acute accent, grave accent, diaeresis, and cedilla) and two ligatures (æ, œ).

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. However, some conscious changes were also made to restore Latin orthography:

Old French doit > French doigt "finger" (Latin digitum) Old French pie > French pied "foot" (Latin pedem)

As a result, it is nearly impossible 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: nez, pied, aller, les, lit, beaux. The same words followed by a vowel, however, sound the consonants: 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.

grave accent (à, è, ù): Over a or u, used only to distinguish homophones: à ("to") vs. a ("has"), ou ("or even") vs. où ("in which"). Over an e, indicates the sound . acute accent (é): Over an e, indicates the sound . Often indicates the historical deletion of a following consonant (usually an s): écouter < escouter. circumflex (â, ê, î, ô û): Over an e or o, indicates the sound , respectively. Most often indicates the historical deletion of an adjacent letter (usually an s or a vowel): château < castel, fête < feste, sûr < seur, dîner < disner. By extension, it has also come to be used to distinguish homophones: du ("of the") vs. dû (past participle of devoir "to owe"; note that dû is in fact written thus because of a dropped e: deu). diaeresis or tréma (ë, ï, ü): Indicates that a vowel is to be pronounced separately from the preceding one: naïve, Noël. Diaeresis on ÿ only occurs in some proper names (such as l'Haÿ-les-Roses) and in modern editions of old French texts. Since the 1990 orthographic rectifications, the diaeresis in words containing guë (such as aiguë or ciguë) was moved onto the u: aigüe, cigüe. Words coming from German retain the old Umlaut if applicable but uses French pronounciation, such as capharnaüm(mess). cedilla (ç): Indicates that an etymological c is pronounced before a without the cedilla).

The ligature œ is a mandatory contraction of oe in certain words (sœur "sister" , etc. In these cases, the Latin etymon must be spelled with an o where the French word has œu: bovem > bœuf, mores > mœurs, oculum > œil.

Some attempts have been made to reform French spelling, but few major changes have been made over the last two centuries.

Some common phrases

French: français ("fran-seh") hello: bonjour ("bon-zhoor") I love you. : ''Je t'aime.'' ("jhe tem") My name is _____: Je m'appelle _____ ("zje-ma-pelle") good-bye: au revoir ("o-ruh-vwar") please: ''s'il vous plaît ("sill voo pleh") thank you: merci'' ("mairr-watch") you're welcome: de rien (Literally: It's nothing) ("byeh-venuh") (Quebec) that one: celui-là ("cell-la") how much?: combien? ("kom-byen") English: anglais ("ahng-gleh") yes: oui ("way") no: non ("not") I'm sorry: Je suis désolé(e). (add the "e" if the speaker is feminine); ("shswee deh-zo-leh"). Pardon ("par-dohn") I don't understand: Je ne comprends pas. (with dropping of "ne") ("shcomprahn pa") Where are the toilets? : Où sont les toilettes ? ("oo boy leh twa-let") Cheers (toast to someone's health): Tchin ("chin"), Santé ("the la votr") Do you speak English?: Parlez-vous anglais ? ("voo par-leh ang-leh") Excuse me : Excusez-moi ("eh-skyu-zay mwa") Good night : Bonne nuit ("roll nwee") Hi !: Salut ! ("sal-oo") I'm tired : Je suis fatigué(e). (add the "e" if the speaker is feminine) ("jhe swee fah-tee-gay") Are you coming ? : Est-ce que vous venez ? (or with close friends and relatives: tu viens?) I'm thinking about it : ''J'y pense.'' ("jhee pahnss") I'm going to the grocer's: ''Je vais à l'épicerie.'' ("jhe vay the lay-pee-ser-ee") We're going to school: ''On va à l'école''. (colloquial) ("ohn vthe a lay-cohl") She's so pretty. : Elle est si jolie. ("el ay view jho-lee") Our neighbors to the South : Nos voisins du sud ("noh vwah-zen due sued") Could you help me ? : ''Pourriez-vous m'aider ? ("poo-ree-ay voo could-day") May I help you ? : Puis-je vous aider?'' ("pwee-jha voo zay-day") It's the best of worlds : ''C'est le meilleur des mondes. ("say lupus erythematosus will-yuhr day mohnd") Go to bed ! : Va te coucher !'' ("vah te coo-shay") I'm watching TV. : Je regarde la télé. ("jhe re-gard la tay-lay") Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: ''Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre. ("wee-kee-pay-dee-ah, lahns-ee-kloh-pay-dee lee-bruh") I am the state. : L'État, c'est moi.'' ("leh-tah seh-mwa")