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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]
French orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language.It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of Old French c. 1100 –1200 AD, and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite enormous changes to the pronunciation of the language in the intervening years.
English. Read; Edit; View history; Tools. ... French language in France (4 P) M. Macaronic forms of French (5 P) N. National dialects of French (1 P)
The langues d'oïl (/ d ɔɪ (l)/ doy(l), [3] US also / d ɔː ˈ iː l / daw-EEL, [4] [5] [Note 1] French: [lɑ̃ɡ dɔjl] [6]) are a dialect continuum that includes standard French and its closest autochthonous relatives historically spoken in the northern half of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands.
French, a Gallo-Romance language, is spoken by nearly the entire population of France. In addition to French, several regional languages are also spoken to varying degrees, such as Alsatian, a German dialect (specifically Alemannic; spoken by 1.44% of the national population); Basque, a language isolate; Breton, a Celtic language (spoken by 0. ...
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The thirteenth-century philosopher Roger Bacon was the first to distinguish it along with other dialects such as Picard and Bourguignon. [8] Today, although it does not enjoy any official status, some reports of the French Ministry of Culture have recognized it as one of the regional languages of France. [9]
While some dialects feature a long /ɛː/ distinct from /ɛ/ and a distinction between an open front /a/ and an open back /ɑ/, Parisian French features only /ɛ/ and just one open vowel /a/ realised as central [ä]. Some dialects also feature a rounded /œ̃/, which has merged with /ɛ̃/ in Paris.