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This article is about the concept of speaking French. For the organization sometimes called "la Francophonie", see Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. For the geography of francophones, see Geographical distribution of French speakers.

The Francophonie or Francophone World is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important as part of the conceptual rethinking of cultures and geography in the late 20th century.[1] The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) is a body uniting countries where French is spoken.

Geographic distribution of the French language:
  Majority native language
  Official but not majority native language
  Administrative or cultural language
Map showing the member states of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (in blue and green). This map does not exactly represent the francophone space, as it is a political organisation.
Proportion of French-speakers (including L2-speakers) by country in 2022 according to the OIF
  1–9% francophone
  10–19% francophone
  20–29% francophone
  30–39% francophone
  40–49% francophone
  50%+ francophone

Denominations

Francophonie, francophonie and francophone space are syntagmatic. This expression is relevant to countries which speak French as their national language, may it be as a mother language or a secondary language.

These expressions are sometimes misunderstood or misused by English speakers. They can be synonymous but most of the time they are complementary.

  • "francophonie", with a small "f", refers to populations and people who speak French for communication or/and in their daily lives.[2]
  • "Francophonie", with a capital "F", can be defined as referring to the governments, governmental and non-governmental organisations or governing officials that share the use of French in their work and exchange.[2]
  • "Francophone space", "Francophone world", "Francosphere" represents not only a linguistic or geographic reality, but also a cultural entity: for example describing any individual who identifies with one of the francophone cultures, may it be Slavic, Latin, Creole, North American or Oceanian for example.[3][4]

Origins

The term francophonie was invented by Onésime Reclus in 1880: "We also put aside four large countries, Senegal, Gabon, Cochinchina and Cambodia, whose future from a "Francophone" point of view is still very doubtful, except perhaps for Senegal" (in French « Nous mettons aussi de côté quatre grands pays, le Sénégal, le Gabon, la Cochinchine, le Cambodge dont l’avenir au point de vue « francophone » est encore très douteux sauf peut-être pour le Sénégal »); and then used by geographers.[5]

During the Third Republic, the French language progressively gained importance.

The Académie française, a French institution created in 1635 in charge of officially determining and unifying the rules and evolutions of the French language, participated in the promotion and the development of the French language.[6]

Countries

The definition of the Francophone world is distinguished by countries and territories where French is an official language, those where it is the native language of the majority of the population, and those where the language is used as a working language of administration or where the language still has an important cultural impact and prestige. There are 50 countries and territories which fall into this category, although in some countries the Francosphere is limited to certain regions or states.[7]

Being merely a member state of the OIF does not automatically make a country or territory "francophone" in the sense of the language having a major role in its society, be it as a working language or a strong cultural heritage to the French language. This is in part due to the OIF increasingly admitting new members based on loose criteria such as "significant second language learning" of French or parties interested in furthering the organisation's promotion of human rights, democracy, international cooperation, sustainable development, cultural and linguistic diversity, and education and training.[8] Therefore, member states such as Romania, Egypt, and Armenia which have minimal to no connection with the French language and culture should not be considered as part of the Francophone world.[9][10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Alexander B. Murphy, "Placing Louisiana in the Francophone World: Opportunities and Challenges" Archived 10 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine, published in Atlantic Studies, Volume 5, Issue 3, 2008; Special Issue: New Orleans in the Atlantic World, II, accessed 7 April 2013
  2. ^ a b "Qu'est-ce que la Francophonie ? - Organisation internationale de la Francophonie". francophonie.org. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Données et statistiques sur la langue française - Organisation internationale de la Francophonie". francophonie.org. Archived from the original on 23 March 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  4. ^ L'année francophone internationale, Québec, ACCT, 1994
  5. ^ Pinhas, Luc (2004). "Aux origines du discours francophone". Communication & Langages. 140 (1): 69–82. doi:10.3406/colan.2004.3270.
  6. ^ "La Francophonie: The History of the French Language Training School". Language Connections. July 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  7. ^ Vigouroux, Cecile (2013). "Francophonie". Annual Review of Anthropology. 42: 379–397. doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145804.
  8. ^ Christian Rioux, "Franco... quoi?", Le Devoir, Montreal, 4 September 1999.
  9. ^ QUESTION ECRITE no 1630/97 de Jean-Antoine GIANSILY à la Commission. Avenir des brevets en Europe, Publications Office of the European Union, 10 February 1998.
  10. ^ Vif, Le (9 October 2018). "La Francophonie au bord de la cacophonie ?". Site-LeVif-FR. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2019.


source: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francophonie