French Language

INTRODUCTION

French is a Romance language, descended from Latin and closely related to Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Romanian, and in medieval times until the nineteenth century, this was the language used routinely in diplomacy, culture, administration and royal courts throughout Europe as well as in the negotiations, so that the term "frank language" or "lingua franca" (literally,French) is used to note clarity when to negotiate or communicate, as it is now English. The relationship between French and the other native language is interesting one.
Writing has rather little to do with the actual pronunciation. Overall, the writing is more conservative than the spoken form. This is due to the strong phonetic changes which have taken place since the Old French period, and that didnot correspond to changes in handwriting. However, there have been some conscious changes in writing to restore Latin orthography.
French a descendant of Latin as the Italian. The French came from the Vulgar Latin (common Latin speaking) for a period of about 800 years, and the first example of French as a language written apart is the Oaths of Strasbourg in 842.
French is one of the easiestlanguages to learn for speakers of Spanish. An estimated over 80% of the words in French are related to words in Spanish. This gives the Spanish speaker a tremendous advantage when learning French vocabulary.
The relationship between French and the other native languages of France is an interesting one. Up until the early part of the twentieth century the official response of the Frenchgovernment to anybody trying to speak another native French language, such as Breton or Occitan (which is now officially referred to as a dialect), was to charge them with treason, and signs were erected in fishing villages in Brittany warning "No spitting or speaking Breton". Some people may find this attitude hard to reconcile with French complaints of the dominance of the English language, but it mustbe realized that the reason French governments have done this is because they are certain that their language is superior.

French Language

Area of Distribution and Number of Speakers

French is a Romance language spoken in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada principally Quebec, northern New England (especially the state of Vermont), the state of Louisiana and in many other countries andregions formerly or currently governed by France. It is an official language of more than 25 countries. Argelia, Bélgica, Benín ,Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Camboya, Camerún, Costa de marfil, Gabón, Guinea, Haití, Islas Comoras, Italia, Líbano, Luxemburgo, Madagascar, Mali, Marruecos, Mauritania, Mónaco, Níger, Suiza, Republica centroafricana, Republica democrática del Congo, Ruanda, Senegal, Togo,Túnez, Vanuatu, Yibuti, etc.
French is spoken as a mother language by 72,000,000 people and as a second language by some other 52,000,000. It is one of the five official languages of the United Nations.

Origin and History

French dialects developed from the Vulgar Latin which was brought to Northern Gaul with the Roman conquest in the 1st century B.C. The history of French language is dividedinto 6 main periods:

* Gallo-Romance: The Vulgar Latin in Gaul has developed specific features that made it distinct from the Latin spoken in the other regions of the Roman Empire. The Reichenau Glosses are a good example of its phonetics and vocabulary.

* Old French: The dialects of Northern Gaul developed into separate language with a grammar of its own. The first written materials init date from the Strasbourg Oaths of 842. The Old French literature flourished since the 10th century (chansons de geste etc.). French in this period was already taught in the neighboring countries (especially in Germany). In 11th-13th centuries it was the dominant language of the English administration (see more in the Romance Influences on English). It was, also, the language of the...