Languages of France

Map of the regional languages of France and Belgium.

The languages of France include the languages spoken by the population residing on French territory, that is, the territory of metropolitan France and politically dependent territories. Along with French, which is official throughout the French territory, and spoken by practically the entire population, there are autochthonous regional languages whose scope is regional. To these languages must be added the existence of alochthonous languages spoken by groups of immigrants from other countries, whose distribution is nil and tends to be greater in the cities.

Languages of France

Mainland France and Corsica

Along with French, other European languages are spoken in mainland France, these languages belong to three Indo-European subfamilies and one non-Indo-European family:

• Indo-European languages
  • Romance languages, they form most of the languages of the historical territory of continental France and include languages of two subgroups romances:
    • galorromance languages: which include the d'Oïl languages and the Franco-provenzal language varieties.
    • Occitance languages: Oc (West Coast) and roselanes.
    • italorromances languages: like the corso widely used in Corsica.
    • Galloitálic languages: two varieties are found in Corsica, the bonifatian of Bonifacio which is a subvaricity of the genoves and the calves spoken in Calvi also related to the ligur.
  • Germanic languageswhich includes languages of three subgroups:
    • Bajogermánico: represented by Dutch-flamenco in French Flanders.
    • Central High-Germanic (high-Franium): represented by the Luxembourg, the Moselano and the Renano-Lorenese phranium.
    • Upper Germanic: represented by Alsace Alsatian, Swiss German and walser (valaisanVallorcine. And the Yeniche language of the Yeniches.
  • Celtic languages: with the Breton language as the only representative. It is important to note that the Breton is not a direct descendant of the old Welsh language, but that its presence in the territory of the present France is due to a colonization of the island cell from the British islands.
  • Greek languages: present in the town of Cargèse (Καργκγε) in Corsica.
• Euskera, in the French Basque Country at the southwest end of the country, next to the border with Spain.

Outside mainland France, Corsican and Italian are spoken in Corsica.

Overseas France

Outside the European continent there are numerous territories under French administration in which, in addition to official French, other native languages are spoken:

• Oceania, in various territories of Oceania under French administration such as New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna and French Polynesia, speak Austrian languages.
• Various French-based Creoles are spoken in the Caribbean such as antillan criollo (Guadalupe, Martinique, San Martín, San Bartolomé); Guayanese Creole in French Guiana. Native American languages are also spoken in French Guyana among them arawak languages (arawak-lokono, palikur) Caribbean languages (kari'ña, wayana) and tupi-guaraní languages (wayampi, emerillon), as well as various English-based criollos (the saamáka, the ndyuka, the Pamakaand aluku). There is also an important community of hmong njua.
• In the Indian Ocean: Bantu languages such as shimaore, shindzwani and shimwali, Malagasy dialects kibushi and kiantalaotsi, and Arabic all of them in Mayotte; Criollo de Reunion in Reunion.

Languages of immigration

According to official statistics from 2008, 5.6 million immigrants from the European Union (between first and second generation) resided in France. The main European countries that provide immigration are, in this order: Portugal, Italy and Spain (so there would be almost 1 million speakers of these languages in France or as a first or second language). Other contingents of Europeans who have significant populations in France speak Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian and Czech, but there are many more speakers of Spanish, Portuguese or Italian.

After Europeans, the region that has brought the most migrants to France next is the Maghreb, between the first and second generations there are 1.7 million speakers of Algerian Arabic, 1.3 million Moroccan Arabic and just over half a million of Tunisian Arabic speakers. Therefore, the variants of Maghrebi Arabic would have about 3.5 million speakers in France (which far exceeds the number of speakers of other regional languages autochthonous to France). An important part of the population coming from North Africa speaks Berber languages. In addition, there are almost half a million first and second generation Turks in France.

In addition to immigration from Mediterranean countries, in France there are also established important communities from China (who speak Mandarin and Wu) and also communities from sub-Saharan Africa, especially there are speakers of Mandé languages and there are also important contingents of languages of Cameroon and also Bantu languages.

Official Status

None of these regional languages have the same protection and promotion in France as, for example, some of those in Spain. In the French educational system, languages other than French enjoy even less favor (for example, schools teaching Catalan -escoles bressola-) are financed with donations from Spanish or French institutions and citizens in a personal capacity).

Some French people study or know foreign languages, mainly the languages of their neighboring countries: English, Spanish, German and Italian, in that order.

French is officially considered the main vehicle for citizen integration in France. Immigrants, however, are not completely unusual in the sounds and voices in their own languages, highlighting among them Arabic in its Maghrebi variants.

In June 2008, the French Academy spoke out against the inclusion of French regional languages in the French Constitution, alleging that it is something that "attempts against national identity".

Disappeared languages

In addition to modern languages, other languages were spoken in France in ancient times and in the Middle Ages. Some of them have modern descendants, other languages disappeared without leaving any known descendants.

Antiquity

• Greek languages. In ancient times on the southern coast of France there were several Greek settlements in which varieties of Ionian Greek were spoken, among these enclaves are: Agathe, Masalia, Nicea, Antipolis and Olbia.
• Popular Latin which was initially restricted to Roman cities and settlements, and gradually through the extension of bilingualisms was established in much of the territory as the main language long before German invasions.
  • Old French, ancestor of medium French and modern French.
• Galalic languagesfor the time of the war of the Galias, portrayed by Julius Caesar in his Beautiful Gallicothe territory of France was divided between numerous Celtic peoples independent. The languages of each group are not known accurately, but presumably all of them spoke Celtic varieties of the Gallic language, although there would naturally have been some dialectal variation among them.
• Pre-indo-European languagesin the territory of France there is evidence of at least two different languages:
  • Iberian language confined to the western part of the Pyrenean region.
  • Aquitaine language, ancestor of the modern Basque language, and which was extended from the Pyrenees and largely the extensive region of Aquitaine.

Middle Ages

• Germanic languages:
  • Old phrancic would be the language of the Franks who dominated the north of Galia for centuries. This language survived for centuries as the ethnic language of the German nobility of France. The old phrancic is assumed to be a kind of ancestor of the modern Dutch.
  • Burgundio, an Eastern Germanic language related to that of the gods, which spoke the Germanic nobility that was established in Burgundy (known as Burgundia)
  • Gothic, spoken by the Visigoths who initially established the capital of their kingdom in Tolosa.
• Neo-Romantic languages
  • Late Latin, proto-galorromance, proto-occitanorromance
  • Old French, ancestor of medium French and modern French.