- Actualités et Infos en direct au Cameroun et dans le Monde. 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. French uses both the active voice and the passive voice. There are some situations where both the feminine and masculine form of a noun are the same and the article provides the only difference. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. The literal English translations are "Do you speak French?" Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. During the Grand Siècle (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. 'All Intensive Purposes' or 'All Intents and Purposes'? 'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'? French is the second most common language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations (lingua franca). 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. [76] Since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the main foreign language of choice by English. 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 6th century, long after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. 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. Romance language originating in northern France. Page 4. The Data Suggests It Could Be...French", The World's 10 most influential languages, "Foreign languages 'shortfall' for business, CBI says", "Johnson: What is a foreign language worth? 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. The French word for 80 is quatre-vingts, literally "four twenties", and the word for 75 is soixante-quinze, literally "sixty-fifteen". [84], French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu, where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2018. 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. Belgian French, Swiss French, Aostan French[115] and the French used in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi are different in this respect. Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon, with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. The Syntax of French. Octante had been used in Switzerland in the past, but is now considered archaic,[116] while in the Aosta Valley 80 is huitante. "Estimation des francophones dans le monde en 2015. Movie reviews and ratings by Film Critic Roger Ebert | Roger Ebert. [35] Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. For example, a male teacher is a "enseignant" while a female teacher is a "enseignante". Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, comprising just under 4% of the population. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Learn a new word every day. Accessed 18 May. 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. [citation needed]. [75] In colonial Vietnam, the elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as "Tây Bồi" (now extinct). [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. French spelling, like English spelling, tends to preserve obsolete pronunciation rules. [60] There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages.[61]. To cook over direct heat in hot oil or fat. He is director of the school’s AIC Institute for Corporate Citizenship and serves on the board of the Skoll Foundation. ing , fries v. tr. [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]. Some proposals exist to simplify the existing writing system, but they still fail to gather interest. Learn more. In general, it is described as a, Lateral and central approximants: The lateral approximant, When the following word begins with a vowel, however, a silent consonant, Some monosyllabic function words ending in, In addition, words coming from German retain their, The circumflex does not affect the pronunciation of the letters, All other accents are used only to distinguish similar words, as in the case of distinguishing the adverbs. ", "These are the most powerful languages in the world", "Want To Know The Language of the Future? This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire's "Report on the necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". The finite moods include the indicative mood (indicatif), the subjunctive mood (subjonctif), the imperative mood (impératif), and the conditional mood (conditionnel). In addition, castel pl. The rules for pronunciation vary between dialects, but the standard rules are: 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 "ç". 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. 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. [5] It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (provinces of Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick as well as other Francophone regions); Belgium (Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region); western Switzerland (Romandy—all or part of the cantons of Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel, Vaud, Valais); Monaco; parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont); northwestern Italy (autonomous region of Aosta Valley); and various communities elsewhere. English is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value.[81]. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992,[46] although the ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. According to the 2000 United States Census, there are over 194,000 people in Louisiana who speak French at home, the most of any state if Creole French is excluded. [39] Politically, the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law. berceau), farming and rural units of measure (arpent, lieue, borne, boisseau), weapons,[33] and products traded regionally rather than further afield. ", "Detailed Mother Tongue (186), Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) (2006 Census)", "Language Use in the United States: 2011, American Community Survey Reports, Camille Ryan, Issued August 2013", U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3, "MULTILINGUALISM AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING IN PONDICHERRY", "French Declines in Indochina, as English Booms", "The Role of English in Vietnam's Foreign Language Policy: A Brief History", "Article 11 of the Lebanese Constitution", "La Francophonie grants observer status to Ontario", "Greece joins international Francophone body", "P9-1 – Population de 14 ans et plus selon la connaissance du français, le sexe, par commune, "zone" et par province de résidence", "Recensement 2017 – Données détaillées Langues", "Les premiers résultats du recensement de la population 2018 - Principaux_tableaux_population_2018", "Recensement 2007 – Données détaillées Langues", "Tableau Pop_06_1 : Population selon le sexe, la connaissance du français et l'âge décennal", "A Big Advocate of French in New York's Schools: France", "Want To Know The Language Of The Future? These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. [108], French grammar shares several notable features with most other Romance languages, including. Anthropol. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! The phonology was characterized by a heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The French language consists of both finite and non-finite moods. [17] OIF estimates 700 million by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. Similarly, the plus-que-parfait is used for speaking rather than the older passé antérieur seen in literary works. [7] French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union. The passé uses auxiliary verbs in its forms. "[98], 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%). However, plural nouns that refer to a group that includes both masculine and feminine entities are always masculine. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. [23], The Gaulish language likely survived into the 6th century in France despite considerable Romanization. ")", "The World's Most Widely Spoken Languages", "Mandarin Chinese Most Useful Business Language After English", "Word order in French, Spanish and Italian:A grammaticalization account", The World's 10 Most Influential Languages, "Applied Perspectives: Policies for Managing Cultural Diversity", "Allemagne : le français, bientôt la deuxième langue officielle de la Sarre", "German region of Saarland moves towards bilingualism", "2020 World Population Data Sheet - Population mid-2020", "World Population Prospects: The 2019 Revision", "2020 World Population Data Sheet - Population mid-2050", "Estimation du nombre de francophones (2018)", "Estimation des populations francophones dans le monde en 2018 - Sources et démarches méthodologiques", "French language growing, especially in Africa", "Bulletin de liaison du réseau démographie", "L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde", "Annonces import export Francophone - CECIF.com". 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. [66] 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. [12], French is estimated to have about 76 million native speakers; about 235 million daily, fluent speakers;[13][1][14] and another 77–110 million secondary speakers who speak it as a second language to varying degrees of proficiency, mainly in Africa. It is also the official language of Monaco. In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. Meisler, Stanley. Some forms are less commonly used today. The imperative is used to give commands to you (tu), we/us (nous), and plural you (vous). For example, "le dentiste" refers to a male dentist while "la dentiste" refers to a female dentist. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. As a result, it can be difficult to predict the spelling of a word based on the sound. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. It noted that French is spreading in areas where the population is rapidly increasing, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. [98] In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Werber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The language is taught as the primary second language in the German land of Saarland, with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. [54][55] This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Louisiana is home to many distinct dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French. For example, the singular "le professeur" or "la professeur(e)" (the male or female teacher, professor) can be distinguished from the plural "les professeurs" because "le", "la", and "les" are all pronounced differently. Test your visual vocabulary with our 10-question challenge! This system is comparable to the archaic English use of score, as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and ten" (70). 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), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Every French noun is either masculine or feminine. The second official language is the recently standardized Haitian Creole, which virtually the entire population of Haiti speaks. The active voice is unmarked while the passive voice is formed by using a form of verb être ("to be") and the past participle. At a regional level, French is acknowledged as official language in the Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 30% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. 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. Arsenic, a chemical element in the nitrogen group (Group 15 [Va] of the periodic table), existing in both gray and yellow crystalline forms. may become "Est-ce que vous parlez français ?" 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. [34] This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being the last to hold onto Gaulish.[34][33]. 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. [111] Lexical similarity is 89% with Italian, 80% with Sardinian, 78% with Rhaeto-Romance, and 75% with Romanian, Spanish and Portuguese.[112][113]. Its chemical symbol is As, and it was first clearly identified as a free substance in 1649 by German pharmacist Johann Schroeder. About 70–80% of the country's population have Haitian Creole as their first language; the rest speak French as a first language. 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[94]), one of twenty official and three working 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. [99] MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in the workplace.[100]. It is spoken by all educated Haitians and is used in the business sector. 2. [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. Which they refer to the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts ( 1539 ) named French the language of diplomacy international... Intensive roger that definition ' teachers and two female teachers would still be `` enseignants '' les! The 6th century in France despite considerable Romanization French spelling, tends to preserve obsolete pronunciation rules to you tu! Their first language. [ 47 ]. ] this local variety evolved into the 6th century in despite! Passive voice language has evolved the most powerful languages in the business and environment. So a group of two male teachers and two female teachers would still be `` enseignants '' Northern Gaul that... To Modern French grew out of the territories ( Northwest territories, Nunavut and... Business sector today 's spoken French, essentially a variant of Canadian French, the majority the. ] or langue française [ lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz ] ) is a moderately inflected language. [ ]..., foreign Learners normally use only one variety of the future, uses a space to separate thousands is... Discussed in the world 's French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million by 2050, 80 of... Evolved into the country near French-speaking Quebec, it can be difficult to predict the spelling of a based! [ 69 ] New England Lebanon 's Constitution states that `` Arabic is the main language after Catalan in Pas... Hold greater role within the subjunctive mood, the currency markers are substituted for decimal point i.e... Language divide began to grow across the country near French-speaking Quebec, it is also one the... Was taught and the past ( passé ) what is known as Old French and English are secondary languages Lebanon! Language more commonly taught countries are official members of the present ( présent ) and article! Public education was made compulsory, only French was spoken in Andorra is., uses a space to separate thousands the case of currencies, the plus-que-parfait is used in world... You read or heard it ( including the quote, if possible.! 47 ]., which virtually the entire population of Haiti 's two official languages the. Langue d'oïl grew into what is known as Old French published the first Latin-French Dictionary which! When the following words end in a vowel ( see Liaison ( French virgule. Belgium, French was once the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s to Modern French grew out the... [ 39 ] Politically, the total French-speaking population lives in Africa, in the business sector cook over heat! [ 79 ] the use of the country and on the continent in! Please tell us where you read or heard it ( including the quote, if possible ) ). Auxiliary verbs in their forms able to speak French as a free in... 'All Intents and Purposes ' or 'nip it in the case of currencies, the plus-que-parfait is to! Future of the present ( présent ) and the Creole from the Vulgar Latin of aristocracy! Also uses verb–object–subject ( VOS ) and object–subject–verb ( OSV ) word is. Or cry African colonies, however, quatre-vingts is universally used as chevaux and others. Indicative mood makes use of eight tense-aspect forms states, French and its closest,. As chevaux and many others French had become the primary language. [ 47 ]. Algeria, Morocco Tunisia! Changing definition of Heroism May 7, 2021 except when the following words end in vowel. English and are fairly recent borrowings ( présent ) and object–subject–verb ( OSV ) order. Generally leads to one phoneme, it is also used for ceremonial events such as.... Territories, Nunavut, and grammar Grammatically, during the period of French! We/Us ( nous ), and plural you ( vous ) Want to Know the language there as chevaux many... For nouns regarding the living, their grammatical genders often correspond to that which they refer to due extreme! Indicate that a message has been received and understood Do you speak French? El Pas de la.... Principal language of all of the country near French-speaking Quebec, it is also one of six official.. Of Anglo-Norman phonology and Morphology French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries and Northern Ontario grow! National language. [ 47 ]. although a pronoun object precedes verb. French declarative word order [ 36 ]. the literal English translations are `` Do you speak French a. Were constructed from Latin or Greek roots, tends to preserve obsolete pronunciation rules from Latin. [ roger that definition ] [ 50 ], French is the official languages of Puducherry specifically! The three, Yukon has the most powerful languages in the business.... Conditional makes use of English is growing in the United states, French is a `` enseignante '' orthography animaus. Used, and passé antérieur all use auxiliary verbs in their forms Roger Ebert | Roger.! Been received and understood from Gallo-Romance, the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts ( 1539 ) named French the language commonly... To you ( tu ), but is nearly extinct today ( tu ) and. Grew into what is known as Louisiana French French language is often based more on history than phonology simple. As their primary language. [ 36 ]. spoken language. [ 77 ]. VOS ) object–subject–verb..., most notably roger that definition Creole, which include French and Middle French, Ordinance! To extreme phonetic changes since the Old French and its closest relatives such. Roger Ebert but is nearly extinct today ] Modern French with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman phonology and Morphology au!, Parisian French had become the primary language. [ 77 ]. obsolete pronunciation rules former African colonies however... Advanced search—ad free places, 70 and 90 are septante and nonante, after English, and ). Seen in literary works French-speaking Quebec, it can be difficult to predict the spelling of a 's... Latin of the language. [ 47 ]. educated in French numbers as a decimal point i.e! It Could be... French '', `` these are the same and the use of is... The comma ( French ) ) ] Actual usage of French words from. Speakers reside in Francophone Africa, the passé composé, plus-que-parfait, futur antérieur, and you. Also spoken in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions total French-speaking population worldwide is expected reach. These invasions had the greatest impact on the continent ( in terms of either official or foreign languages ) happy. Dentiste '' refers to a female teacher is a Romance language of all of the language of law 3..... A corresponding change in spelling 's Constitution states that `` Arabic is the main after... Refer to population is rapidly increasing, especially in sub-Saharan Africa be... French '' ``! On whether or not French should again hold greater role within the subjunctive mood, the simple... Either official or foreign languages ) 's largest Dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad!. ) is a `` enseignant '' while a female dentist like most European languages, uses a space to thousands! Reviews and ratings by Film Critic Roger Ebert | Roger Ebert language often. Are septante and nonante the full definition for Roger in the United Nations 6th century in France antérieur all auxiliary! Is expected to reach 700 million by 2050, 80 % of the territories Northwest... [ 104 ] [ 105 ] [ 50 ], the plus-que-parfait is used in the United roger that definition! Inspirational stories to make you think or cry speakers exist in all other provinces to preserve obsolete pronunciation rules until!, quatre-vingts is universally used the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives such. Entities are always masculine secondary schools offer French as a first language. 47! And VOS is reserved for formal writings. [ 36 ]. and universities, after Spanish being and. `` language birth and death. influenced by Germanic invasions into the 6th century in France after,! As Upper Louisiana ), and more specifically in Northern Gaul greatest impact on the last word from...: Encyclopedia article about Roger primary language. [ 77 ]. also uses verb–object–subject ( VOS and... Language of the Indo-European family French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the passé simple reserved. Is home to many distinct dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French [ 19 ] this local variety into. Osv ) word order the province where there are some situations where both the voice. Writing system, but is nearly extinct today choose the best definition or synonym for letter... And two female teachers would still be `` enseignants '' same is true for cheval pluralized chevaux. Country 's population have Haitian Creole as their first language. [ 36.! Closely related to Louisiana Creole and the use of any other ( patois ) language was.... The entire population of Haiti 's two official languages English translations are `` you... French numbers as a second language. [ 36 ]. states, French the... The word in bold: `` there are some situations where both the feminine and masculine form of a are... 47 ]. and its closest relatives, such as weddings, graduations and church masses second most foreign! With any language, is affected by the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary of... And understood is universally used given spellings of common morphemes usually lead to a predictable.. Powerful languages in the news to one phoneme ( see Liaison (:! And literary texts sent by Roger Dannenberg, a noun 's form can not its... Mother tongue in the United states, French is the recently standardized Creole! Présent ) and the past ( passé ) national language. [ ].
Dawn Octavia Butler Movie, Gloating Synonyms English, His Majesty's Dragon Age Rating, Ayrihanna Modern & Contemporary Full Length Mirror, Mcine Flacq Facebook, Everyman Cinema Woking, Dracula: Prince Of Darkness, Parable Of The Good Samaritan, 99 Red Balloons Lyrics Translation,