What are the languages of France? French is spoken by 88% of the population. According to the second article of the French Constitution, French is the sole official language of France. French, a Gallo-Romance language, is spoken by nearly all of France’s population. Because minority languages are not legally recognized, the majority of those who speak them also speak French. German dialects are spoken by 3% of the population, primarily in the eastern provinces of Alsace-Lorraine and Moselle. Flemish is spoken by approximately 90,000 people in the north-east of France, accounting for 0.2% of the French population. Around 1 million people near the Italian border speak Italian, accounting for roughly 1.7% of the population.
Basque is spoken by 0.1% of the population, primarily along the French-Spanish border.
Catalan dialects are spoken by approximately 260,000 people, or 0.4% of the French population, in the French Pyrenees.
Breton, a Celtic language, is spoken by 1.2% of the French population, primarily in the north-west. These three languages do not have official status in France.
Over 7 million people speak Occitan dialects in the south of France, accounting for 12% of the French population, but these dialects have no official status. Corsu, the dialect of the island of Corsica that is closely related to Tuscan and is spoken by 0.3% of the population.
Arabic, the country’s third most spoken minority language, is spoken by approximately 1.7% of the population. Kabyle and Antillean Creole are two other immigrant languages from former French colonies.
What is the official languages of France
Although French is the official language of France, we have determined that many regional languages are spoken within its borders for at least as long, if not longer, than French. Let’s take a closer look at these languages.
There are numerous languages and related dialects that reflect the populations that developed in this region prior to France becoming l’Hexagone. Most of these languages, including French, are Indo-European in origin, having evolved from a large, widespread family of languages ranging from Italic to Indo-Iranian, all of which have Proto-Indo-European ancestors. Although many of France’s regional languages evolved from Vulgar Latin as Romance languages, they also include languages of Germanic and Celtic origin. Furthermore, the Basque language is spoken within France’s borders and has the distinction of being a language isolate, predating the arrival of Indo-European languages.
Regional languages of Metropolitan France are listed on the French government website as “basque, breton, catalan, corse, dialectes allemands d’Alsace et de Moselle (alsacien et francique mosellan), flamand occidental, francoprovençal, langues d’ol (bourguignon-morvandiau, champenois, franc-comtois, gallo, As you can see, this list includes languages that are not limited to Metropolitan France’s borders, such as Catalan, which has official status in parts of Spain and Italy, and West Flemish, a dialect of Dutch spoken in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Germanic Languages of France
Within Metropolitan France’s borders, Germanic languages are also prevalent, with Alsatian, or Elsässerditsch, being the second-most spoken regional language in France, after Occitan. It is spoken in France’s Alsace region and shares many similarities with German. It is also mutually intelligible with the local Basel German dialect spoken across the border in Basel, Switzerland. The Alsace region has been passed back and forth between France and Germany four times in the last century and a half, and the language reflects both French and German influences. Alsatian, like many other regional languages in France, declined in use during the twentieth century, with the use of Germanic languages in schools prohibited in France after 1945, but it is still spoken and used in regional educational programs. Alsatians have promoted Alsatian language instruction in schools and have preserved their region’s traditions and customs. The older generation, in particular, communicates in Alsatian for everyday activities like grocery shopping and socializing with friends and family.
Celtic Languages of France
Celtic languages are languages that expanded in Western Europe during the pre-Roman and Roman periods and are now primarily spoken in the British Isles, Ireland, and Brittany. The Breton language, or Brezhoneg, arrived in Brittany in the fifth century after traveling from the north, and has since experienced periods of decline and expansion. It shares basic vocabulary with Welsh and Cornish, but has a distinct literary tradition dating from the 15th century, due in part to French influence on Breton as opposed to English influence on Welsh and Cornish. Breton is currently taught in schools in Brittany, and institutions such as the Diwan school have been established to promote the language.
The Office public de la langue bretonne is a state and regionally funded public institution that conducts research, collects data, and promotes Breton instruction and use in daily life. In addition to educational and social initiatives by Breton supporters, the language is used for public works projects such as the Brest tramway, which is trilingual, as it uses Breton, French, and English in its navigation. In Brittany, bilingual street signs in both Breton and French are common.
Basque
The Basque language, also known as Euskara, predates the arrival of Latin languages in the region and even the presence of Indo-European languages. It is spoken in the Basque region, which spans the Franco-Spanish border in the Pyrenées Mountains. Basque is an officially recognized language in Spain, as Article 3 of the 1978 Spanish Constitution allows autonomous communities to grant co-official language status to languages other than Spanish. There are various theories about the development of the Basque language, as well as efforts to discover its relationship to other languages. The Basque language, also known as Euskara, predates the arrival of Latin.
These include a genetic link between Basque and Iberian (an ancient language no longer spoken, found in inscriptions on the eastern coast of Spain and the southern coast of France), a link between Basque and Caucasus languages, and the development of Basque from the Dogon language of north-western Africa. Although research into the relationship between Basque and other languages has been inconclusive, one feature that is widely accepted is that it is one of the oldest living languages.
Regional Languages of France
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) classifies world languages based on their level of endangerment. Vulnerable, Definitely Endangered, Severely Endangered, Critically Endangered, and Extinct are the categories. All of the non-Romance languages discussed above fall into one of these categories, with Basque and Alsatian (as an Alemannic language) classified as Vulnerable and Breton classified as Severely Endangered. Despite signing the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, a European Treaty adopted in 1992 with the goal of protecting and promoting historical regional and minority languages in Europe, France has not ratified the law. While France works hard to promote the French language, even establishing the regulating body of the Académie Française in 1635 to protect and promote it, its relationship to its own regional languages appears to be more complicated. Attachment to a specific regional language can be interpreted as a desire for greater autonomy and, eventually, independence, as evidenced by Jean-Guy Talamoni’s 2016 speech to the Corsican Assembly, which was entirely in Corsican, or Corsu.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve learned about the languages of France, why not pay France a visit? Check out abroadtravell.com to make travel plans.
