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A man from Labé, Guinea, speaking Pular and West African French. African French (French: français africain) is the generic name of the varieties of the French language spoken by an estimated 320 million people in Africa in 2023 or 67% of the French-speaking population of the world [1] [2] [3] spread across 34 countries and territories.
French is an administrative language and is commonly but unofficially used in the Maghreb states, Mauritania, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.As of 2023, an estimated 350 million African people spread across 34 African countries can speak French either as a first or second language, mostly as a secondary language, making Africa the continent with the most French speakers in the world. [2]
Wamalwa, E. W., & Stephen, O. (2013). Language endangerment and language maintenance: Can endangered indigenous languages of Kenya be electronically preserved?. Sands, B. (2017). The challenge of documenting Africa's least known languages. Africa's endangered languages: Documentary and theoretical approaches, 11–38.
Some linguists discuss a "second French language" [70] or even an "African French language". [71] Native Speakers in Africa. According to Paul Wald, "The notion of ownership of an imported language begins when – despite its identification as a foreign and/or vernacular language – its use does not imply a relationship with the foreigner."
By extension, language extinction is when the language is no longer known, including by second-language speakers, when it becomes known as an extinct language. A related term is linguicide , [ 1 ] the death of a language from natural or political causes, and, rarely, glottophagy , the absorption or replacement of a minor language by a major ...
In June 2023, Mali removed French, the language of its former colonizer, as an official language with the approval of a new constitution by 97% of voters in a referendum conducted by the junta. [102] On 7 September 2023, al-Qaeda linked JNIM militants attacked a vessel on the Niger River, killing at least 154 civilians. [103]
French is still a lingua franca in most Western and Central African countries and an official language of many, a remnant of French and Belgian colonialism. These African countries and others are members of the Francophonie. French is the official language of the Universal Postal Union, with English added as a working language in 1994. [46
French in South Africa: 380,000: ... Although declining by the turn of the 20th century, ... French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States, after ...