Languages of France: Difference between revisions

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			{{Short description\|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see ] -->
	{\| border=1 align=right cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=300 style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
			{{Languages of
	\|+
			\| country = France<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf \|title=Europeans and their Languages \|publisher=Ec.europa.eu \|access-date=2015-03-30}}</ref>
	\| align="center" colspan="2"\| <big><big><b>Languages of France</b></big></big>
			\| image = Langues de la France.svg
	\|-
			\| image size= 300px
	\| '''Official language'''\|\| ]
			\| caption = Languages and dialects of ]
	\|-
			\| official = ]
	\| '''Regional languages'''\|\| ]; ]; ]; ]; ]; ]; ]; ]; ] (except French)
			\| regional =
	\|-
			]; ]; ]; ]; ]; ]; ]; some ]; ]; ]; ]; ]; ]; ]; ]; ]; ]; some twenty ], ], the ] creoles and ] of ]
	\| '''Main immigrant languages'''\|\| <!--Please don't put too many languages here--> ]; ]; ]; ]
			\| immigrant = <!--Please don't put too many languages here-->], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ]<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web\|url=http://www.ined.fr/fichier/t_publication/65/publi_pdf1_pop_et_soc_francais_376.pdf\|title=La dynamique des langues en France au fil du XXe siècle\|language=fr\|publisher=Ined.fr\|access-date=2015-03-30}}</ref>
	\|-
	\| ~~'''Main~~ foreign ~~languages'''\|\|~~ ] 36%, ] 13%, ] 8%<~~small~~>~~Source~~: </~~small~~>		\| foreign = English (39%) <br> Spanish (13%) <br> German (6%)<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf \|title=SPECIAL EUROBAROMETER 386 Europeans and their Languages \|publisher=ec.europa.eu \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106183351/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf \|archive-date=2016-01-06 }}</ref>
			\| sign = ]
	\|}
			\| keyboard = ], ]
	There are a number of '''languages of France'''. The ] is by far the most widely spoken and the only ] of ]. Several ]s are also spoken to varying degrees. Other ]s are spoken by a substantial percentage of the population due to ].
			\| keyboard image = ]<br>]
			}}
			{{Culture of France}}

			] is the sole ] in France according to the second article of the ]. French, a ], is spoken by nearly the entire population of France.

			In addition to French, several ]s are also spoken to varying degrees, such as ], a ] (specifically ]; spoken by 1.44% of the national population); ], a ]; ], a ] (spoken by 0.61%); ], an ]; and various other ] (] 1.25%, ] 1.33%). Some of these languages are also spoken in neighbouring countries, such as ], ], ], ], ], or ].

	==Status==		==Status==
	{{~~main~~\|Language policy in France}}		{{Main\|Language policy in France}}
	The official language of the French Republic is French (art. 2 of the French Constitution), and the French government is, by law, compelled to communicate primarily in French. The government, furthermore, mandates that commercial advertising ~~should~~ be available in French (though it can also use other languages)~~; ''see ]''~~. The French government, however, does not mandate the ~~usage~~ of French ~~in non-commercial publications~~ by private individuals or corporations.		The official language of the French Republic is French (art. 2 of the ]) and the French government is, ], compelled to communicate primarily in French. The government, furthermore, mandates that commercial advertising be available in French (though it can also use other languages). The French government, however, does not mandate the use of French by private individuals or corporations or in any other media.

			A revision of the French constitution creating official recognition of ] was implemented by the Parliament in Congress at Versailles in July 2008.<ref>Article 75-1: (a new article): "Les langues régionales appartiennent au patrimoine de la France" ("Regional languages belong to the patrimony of France"). See ].</ref>
	The ] written for the government by ] identified 75 languages that would qualify for recognition under the government's proposed ratification of the ]. 24 of those languages are indigenous to the European territory of the state while all the others are from overseas areas of the French Republic (in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and South America).

			The 1999 written for the government by ] identified 75 languages that would qualify for recognition under the government's proposed ratification of the ]. Of those languages, 24 are indigenous to the European territory of the state while all the others are from overseas areas of the French Republic (in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and South America).
	Although ratification was blocked by the ] as contradicting the Fifth Republic's constitutional provision enshrining French as the language of the Republic, the government continues to recognise regional and minority languages to a limited extent (i.e. without granting them official status) and the ''Délégation générale à la langue française'' has acquired the additional function of observing and studying the languages of France and has had ''et aux langues de France'' added to its title. The category of ''languages of France'' (in French: ''langues de France'') is thus administratively recognised even if this does not go as far as providing any official status.

			Although ratification was blocked by the ] as contradicting the Fifth Republic's constitutional provision enshrining French as the language of the Republic, the government continues to recognise regional and minority languages to a limited extent (i.e. without granting them official status) and the ''Délégation générale à la langue française'' has acquired the additional function of observing and studying the languages of France and has had ''et aux langues de France'' added to its title. The category of ''languages of France'' (in French: ''langues de France'') is thus administratively recognised even if this does not go so far as to provide any official status. Following his election as president, ] reasserted in 2012 his campaign platform to ratify the European Charter and ensure a clear legal framework for regional languages (within a programme of administrative decentralisation that would give competencies to the regions in language policy).<ref>{{cite news\|title=Hollande : "Je ferai ratifier la Charte des langues régionales"\|url=http://www.eitb.com/fr/infos/politique/detail/958543/langues-regionales--hollande-fera-ratifier-charte-langues/\|access-date=5 October 2012\|newspaper=EITB\|date=2012-09-25}}</ref>
	Some of the languages of France are sometimes called '']'', but this term (roughly meaning ''dialect'') is often considered derogatory. ''Patois'' is used to refer to supposedly purely oral, syntactically loose and inferior languages but this Francocentric perception does not, for instance, take into account that Occitan was already written when French was not and its literature has been thriving throughout the last thousand years, with even a ] for ] in ].

			The regional languages of France are sometimes called '']'', but this term (roughly meaning "dialects") is often considered derogatory. ''Patois'' is used to refer to essentially oral languages,<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/patois/58677 \|title=Définitions : patois - Dictionnaire de français Larousse \|access-date=2023-12-21}}</ref> even though some have a current and/or historical use, such as Occitan, which was already being written at a time when French was not and its literature has continued to thrive, with a ] for ] in 1904.
	===Education===

			It is estimated that at the time of the ] in 1789, only half of the population of France could speak French, and as late as 1871 only a quarter spoke French as their native language.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://oyc.yale.edu/transcript/357/hist-276 \|title=Open Yale Courses \|publisher=Oyc.yale.edu \|date=2007-09-17 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323024438/https://oyc.yale.edu/transcript/357/hist-276 \|access-date=2023-09-07\|archive-date=2017-03-23 }}</ref>
	In April ], the Minister of Education, ] , admitted formally that for more than two centuries, the political powers of the French government had repressed regional languages, and announced that bilingual education would, for the first time, be recognized, and bilingual teachers recruited in French public schools.

			===Language education===
	The topic of the teaching of regional languages in public primary and secondary schools is controversial. Proponents of the measure state that it would be necessary for the preservation of those languages and to show respect to the local culture. Opponents contend that local languages are often non-standardized (thus making curricula difficult), of dubious practical usefulness (since most are spoken by a small number of people, without any sizable corpus of publications) and that the curriculum and funding of public schools are already too strained. The topic also leads to wider controversial questions of autonomy of the '']s''.
			The topic of the teaching of regional languages in public primary and secondary schools is controversial. Proponents of the measure state that it would be necessary for the preservation of those languages and to show respect to the local culture. Opponents contend that local languages are often non-standardised (thus making curricula difficult), of dubious practical usefulness (since most are spoken by a small number of people, without any sizable corpus of publications) and that the curriculum and funding of public schools are already too strained. The topic also leads to wider controversial questions of autonomy of the '']s''. Regarding other languages, English, Spanish, Italian and German are the most commonly studied foreign languages in French schools.

			In April 2001, the Minister of Education, ],<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://prouvenco.presso.free.fr/archi.educ.html#lang \|title=Educacioun \|publisher=Prouvenco.presso.free.fr \|access-date=2015-03-30}}</ref> stated formally that "Depuis plus de deux siècles, les pouvoirs politiques ont combattu les langues régionales", ie for more than two centuries, the political powers of the French government had repressed regional languages, and announced that bilingual education would, for the first time, be recognised, and bilingual teachers recruited in French public schools.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.vie-publique.fr/discours/178066-declaration-de-m-jack-lang-ministre-de-leducation-nationale-sur-len \|title=Déclaration de M. Jack Lang, ministre de l'éducation nationale, sur l'enseignement des langues régionales, notamment le breton, Paris le 28 mai 2001 \|publisher=vie-publique.fr \|access-date=2023-12-22}}</ref>

	===Cross-border languages===		===Cross-border languages===
			Some of the languages of France are also ]s (for example, ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and others), some of which enjoy a recognised or official status in the respective neighbouring state or territory. French itself is also a cross-border language, being spoken in neighbouring ], ], ], ], ], and ].

	Certain of the languages of France are also cross-border languages (for example, ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and others), some of which enjoy a recognised or official status in the respective neighbouring state or territory.

	==List of languages==		==List of languages==
			{{Pie chart\|thumb=right\|caption=Mother tongues of the French population (2007 AES)\|label1=]\|value1=87.2\|color1=DodgerBlue\|label2=]\|value2=3.6\|color2=Green\|label3=]\|value3=1.5\|color3=Brown\|label4=]\|value4=1.2\|color4=Yellow\|label5=]\|value5=1.0\|color5=MediumSeaGreen\|label6=]\|value6=0.7\|color6=Red\|label7=]\|value7=0.5\|color7=Pink\|label8=]\|value8=0.4\|color8=Indigo\|label9=Other languages\|value9=3.9\|color9=Chartreuse}}According to the 2007 Adult Education survey, part of a project by the ] and carried in France by the ] and based on a sample of 15,350 people, French was the mother tongue of 87.2% of the total population, or roughly 55.81 million people, followed by Arabic (3.6%, 2.3 million), Portuguese (1.5%, 960,000), Spanish (1.2%, 770,000) and Italian (1.0%, 640,000). People who spoke other languages natively made up the remaining 5.2% of the population.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.gesis.org/en/missy/metadata/AES/2007/Cross-sectional/original#2007-Cross-sectional-MOTHTONG1\|title=GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences\|website=www.gesis.org\|language=en\|access-date=2018-04-24}}</ref>
	]
	The languages of ] include:
	*]:
	** ]
	*]:
	** ]
	* ]:
	** ] (Elsässerdeutsch)
	** ] dialect of ]
	** ]
	* ]:
	** ]
	** ] (Corsu)
	** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	** ] (also ''Lenga d'òc, Langue d'oc''):
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	**** ] (Béarnais)
	**** ] (Landais)
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ] (Niçois or Nissart)
	*** ]
	** ]:
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]
	*** ]

			===National language===
	There are migrant languages spoken by large minority groups (North Africans) and/or smaller communities, including groups from former French colonies.
	* ] ~~(dialectal)~~		* ]

	* ] (] mostly, due to immigration from former French mandates in the Middle East, ] and ]; but there is an increasing minority of ] speakers due to recent immigrants arriving from ], ] and ].
			===Regional languages===
	* ]
	* ]		The regional languages of Metropolitan France include:

	* ]
			====Celtic====
	* ]
			{{See also\|Celtic languages}}
	* ]
	* ]		* ] (Brezhoneg)
			** ] (Leoneg)
	* ]
			** ] (Kerneveg)
	* ]
			** ]rois (Tregerieg)
	* ]
			** ] (Gwenedeg)
	* ]

	* ]
			====Germanic====
	* ]
			{{See also\|Germanic languages}}
	* ] by refugees from Albania, ] in former Yugoslavia and ].
			* ] (Elsässerditsch)
	* ]
	* ]		* ]: ] dialect of ]
			* ] (Lothringisch)
	* ]
	* ]		* ] (Jenisch)
			* ]
	* ] from ] and ].

	* ]
			====Italo-Dalmatian====
	* ]
			{{See also\|Italo-Dalmatian languages\|Tuscan dialect}}
	* ]
			* ] (Corsu)
	* ] - Brought over by workers and refugees from former ], the area made up of republics of ], ], ] and ].

	* ]
			====Gallo-Romance====
	* ]
			{{See also\|Gallo-Romance languages}}
	* ]
			* ]:
	* ]
			** ]
	* ], a West African language of the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Western Sahara.
	* ]		** ]
			** ] or Campanois
			** ]
			** ]
			** ]
			** ]
			** ]
			** ]
			** ]
			** ]
			** ]
			* ] (also ''Lenga d'òc, Langue d'oc''):
			** ]
			*** ] (Mentonnais or Mentonasque)
			** ]
			** ] including ] (Béarnais) and ] (Landais)
			** ]
			** ]
			** ]
			*** ] (Niçois or Niçart)
			* ]
			* ] (also ''Arpitan''):
			** ]
			** ]
			** ]
			** ]
			** ]
			** ]
			* ]
			** ]
			***]

			====Others====
			* ] (Euskara)
			* ]

			===Overseas languages===
			There are also several languages spoken in France's overseas areas (see ] for details):

	There are also several languages spoken in France's overseas areas (see ] for details)
	* ] languages in ]		* ] languages in ]
	* ] in ] and ]		* ] in the ] (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, and Saint Barthélemy), ], and ] (see: ], ], ] and ]);
	* ] in ]		** also ], and ] in ];
			** also Saint-Barths Patois (local derivation from regional dialects of French in France), and English in ]
	* 35 ] languages in ]
			* Many ] languages:
	* ] - in ], ] and ] (e.g., ])
			** several languages in ] (see: ], ])
	* ] and ] in ]
			** two languages in ] (see: ], ])
			** many languages in ] (] and other ])
			** ] in ]
			* ] (a ]) in ]

			===Sign language===
			] is also recognised as a language of France (with at least one regional variant in Provence).{{Citation needed\|date=October 2022}}

			===Immigrant languages===
			<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web\|url=https://files.eke.eus/pdf/topaketen_aktak/insee/enquete_transmission_familiale_des_langues.pdf\|title=Enquete familiale\|website=files.eke.eus\|access-date=2019-01-07}}</ref>
			A large number of immigrant languages are spoken in France, with a handful having a significant number of home speakers. (Figures as of 2000)<ref name="autogenerated1"/>

			====Main immigrant languages====
	] is also recognised as a language of France.
			{{refimprove section\|date=November 2017}}
			* ], especially the ] dialects, is the second-most common language in French homes, with several million speakers.<ref>Emmanuelle Talon, "L’arabe, une « langue de France » sacrifiée", Le Monde Diplomatique, Oct. 2012, http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2012/10/TALON/48275, access date: 12/05/2015</ref>
			*] (]) from North Africans are one of the most spoken languages in France, about 2,200,000 speakers.
			* ]: spoken by Italian communities in many major French cities, especially in southern regions, such as ], ], and ]. {{citation needed\|date=March 2015}} About 790,000 speakers, excluding ].
			* ]: spoken by about 700,000 people.
			* ]: significant British minorities in ] and ], as well as commuters working in the UK but living in ]. Dispersed minorities in Paris and on the ] (French Riviera). The most widely taught foreign language in the French education system, but not widely used and understood except in specific job positions (chiefly technical and tourism). About 325,000 home speakers.{{citation needed\|date=June 2022}}
			* ]: spoken by about 130,000 people<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://joshuaproject.net/languages/pol\|title=Language: Polish \|work=]}}</ref>{{better source\|date=July 2019}}
			* ]: spoken by about 125,000 people <ref>{{Citation \|last=Lack \|first=Roland-François \|title=Lumière, Méliès, Pathé and Gaumont: French filmmaking in the suburbs, 1896–1920 \|date=2018-03-16 \|work=Screening the Paris suburbs \|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7228/manchester/9781526106858.003.0003 \|access-date=2024-07-16 \|publisher=Manchester University Press \|isbn=978-1-5261-0685-8}}</ref>
			* ]: spoken by about 221,000 people<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://joshuaproject.net/languages/tur?limit=50 \|title=Turkish \|work=Joshua Project}}</ref>{{better source\|date=July 2019}}
			* ]: the most spoken Asian language in France, spoken by about 324,000 people<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://joshuaproject.net/languages/vie \|title=Language: Vietnamese \|work=Joshua Project}}</ref>{{better source\|date=July 2019}}
			* ] and ]: spoken by about 300,000 people. Figure includes both standard German and other dialects of ]. See ] and ], spoken respectively in ] and ].
			*] – 200,000 (2014 estimate)<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants : some lessons from research \|date=2017 \|publisher=] \|isbn=9783110477498 \|page=133}}</ref>

	==Statistics==		==Statistics==
			=== INSEE 1999 ===
	At the ] census, ] sampled 380,000 adult people all across ], and asked them questions about their family situation. One of the questions was about the languages that their parents spoke with them before the age of 5. This is the first time serious statistics were computed about the proportion of mother tongues in France. The results were published in ''Enquête familiale, Insee, 1999''.
			At the 1999 census, ] sampled 380,000 adult people all across ], and asked them questions about their family situation. One of the questions was about the languages that their parents spoke with them before the age of five. This is the first time serious statistics were computed about the proportion of mother tongues in France. The results were published in ''Enquête familiale, Insee, 1999''.<ref name="autogenerated2"/>{{Citation needed\|date=April 2013}}

	Here is a list of the nine most prominent mother tongues in France based on ''Enquête familiale''.		Here is a list of the nine most prominent mother tongues in France based on ''Enquête familiale''.{{Citation needed\|date=April 2013}} <!--Unsourced section ?-->
	{\| class="wikitable ~~sortable" style="text-align:right;~~"		{\| class="wikitable"
			\|-
	!Rank		!Rank
	!Language		!Language
	!Mother tongue ~~of<br>(in thousands of adults)~~		!Mother tongue
	!Percentage of adult population		!Percentage of adult population
	\|-		\|-
			\| 1
	\| align="center" \| 1
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| ]		\| ]
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 39,360		\| 39,360,000
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 86%~~<br><small>~~(note that this figure is an underestimate because people under 18-years~~-old~~ ~~where~~ not surveyed; see note #2 below the table)		\| 86% (note that this figure is an underestimate because people under 18 years of age were not surveyed; see note #2 below the table)
	\|-		\|-
			\| 2
	\| align="center" \| 2
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| ~~] and~~ ]~~<br>~~(], ], etc.)		\| ] (], ], etc.)
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 970~~<br><small>~~(of whom Alsatian: 660;~~<br>~~standard German: 210;~~<br>~~Lorraine Franconian: 100)~~</small>~~		\| 970,000 (of whom Alsatian: 660,000; standard German: 210,000; Lorraine Franconian: 100,000)
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 2.12%~~<br><small>~~(of whom Alsatian: 1.44%;~~<br>~~standard German: 0.46%;~~<br>~~Lorraine Franconian: 0.22%)~~</small>~~		\| 2.12% (of whom Alsatian: 1.44%; standard German: 0.46%; Lorraine Franconian: 0.22%)
	\|-		\|-
			\| 3
	\| align="center" \| 3
	\| ~~align="center" \| ]<br>(especially~~ ])		\| ]
			\| 940,000
	\| align="center" \| 940
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 2.05%		\| 2.05%
	\|-		\|-
			\| 4
	\| align="center" \| 4
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| ]~~<br>~~(], ], ], etc.)		\| ] (], ], ], etc.)
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 610~~<br><small>~~(another 1,060 had some exposure)~~</small>~~		\| 610,000 (another 1,060,000 had some exposure)
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 1.33%~~<br><small>~~(another 2.32% had some exposure, see notes)~~</small>~~		\| 1.33% (another 2.32% had some exposure, see notes)
	\|-		\|-
			\| 5
	\| align="center" \| 5
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| ]		\| ]
			\| 580,000
	\| align="center" \| 580
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 1.27%		\| 1.27%
	\|-		\|-
			\| 6
	\| align="center" \| 6
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| ]~~<br>~~(], ], ], etc.)		\| ] (], ], ], ], etc.)
	\| ~~align="center"~~ ~~\| 570<br><small>~~(another 850 had some exposure)~~</small>~~		\| 570,000 (another 850,000 had some exposure)
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 1.25%~~<br><small>~~(another 1.86% had some exposure, see notes)~~</small>~~		\| 1.25% (another 1.86% had some exposure, see notes)
	\|-		\|-
			\| 7
	\| align="center" \| 7
			\| ], ] and ] (Monegasque)
	\| align="center" \| ] (and dialects)
			\| 540,000
	\| align="center" \| 540
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 1.19%		\| 1.19%
	\|-		\|-
			\| 8
	\| align="center" \| 8
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| ]		\| ]
			\| 485,000
	\| align="center" \| 485
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 1.06%		\| 1.06%
	\|-		\|-
			\| 9
	\| align="center" \| 9
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| ]		\| ]
	\| ~~align="center"~~ ~~\| 280<br><small>~~(another 405 had some exposure)~~</small>~~		\| 280,000 (another 405,000 had some exposure)
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 0.61%~~<br><small>~~(another 0.87% had some exposure, see notes)~~</small>~~		\| 0.61% (another 0.87% had some exposure, see notes)
	\|-		\|-
			\| 10
	\| align="center" \| 10
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| About 400 other languages~~<br>(~~], ], ], ], ], ], ], etc.~~)<br>~~as well as no ~~answers~~		\| About 400 other languages: ], ], ]s, ], ], ], ], etc., as well as those who gave no response
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 2,350~~<br><small>~~(of whom English: 115)~~</small>~~		\| 2,350,000 (of whom English: 115,000)
	~~\| align="center"~~ \| 5.12%~~<br><small>~~(of whom English: 0.25% of total adult population)~~</small>~~		\| 5.12% (of whom English: 0.25% of total adult population)
	\|-		\|-
			\|
	\| align="center" \|
	\| ~~align="center"~~ \| '''Total'''		\|\| '''Total'''
	\| ~~align="center"~~ \| 45,762~~<br><small>~~(46,680 including those with two mother tongues who were counted twice)		\|\| 45,762,000 (46,680,000 including those with two mother tongues who were counted twice)
	\| ~~align="center"~~ \| 102%~~<br><small>~~(2% of people have both French and another language as their mother tongue, thus, they are counted twice)		\|\| 102% (2% of people have both French and another language as their mother tongue, thus, they are counted twice)
	\|}		\|}

	If ~~we add up~~ people with mother tongue and people with some exposure to the language before the age of 5 (see note #3 below), ~~then~~ the five most ~~important~~ languages in metropolitan France are (note that the percentages add up to more than 100, because many people are now counted twice):		When the people with mother tongue and people with some exposure to the language before the age of five (see note #3 below) are added together, the five most widely spoken languages in metropolitan France are (note that the percentages add up to more than 100, because many bilingual people are now counted twice):

	* French: 42,100,000 (92%)		* French: 42,100,000 (92%)
	* ~~Oc languages~~: 1,670,000 (3.65%)		* Occitan: 1,670,000 (3.65%)
	* German and German dialects: 1,440,000 (3.15%)		* German and German dialects: 1,440,000 (3.15%)
	* Oïl languages (excl. French): 1,420,000 (3.10%)		* Oïl languages (excl. French): 1,420,000 (3.10%)
	* Arabic: 1,170,000 (2.55%)		* Arabic: 1,170,000 (2.55%)

	===Notes on the table===		==== Notes on the table ====
	~~'''1-'''~~ The data in the table are about ''']s''', and not about actual language practice. It states that 14% of the adult people living in France in 1999 were born and raised up to the age of 5 in families that spoke only (or predominantly) some other languages than French. It does not mean that 14% of adult people in France spoke some other languages than French in 1999.		# The data in the table are about ''']s''', and not about actual language practice. It states that 14% of the adult people living in France in 1999 were born and raised up to the age of 5 in families that spoke only (or predominantly) some other languages than French. It does not mean that 14% of adult people in France spoke some other languages than French in 1999.
			# Only adults (i.e. 18 years and older) were surveyed. This means that French people born between 1981 and 1999 are not included in the survey. The mother tongue of the younger generations is more predominantly French than is the case with the older generations because, as the ''Enquête familiale'' survey explains, regional and immigrant language transmission decreases dramatically with each new generation, as French replaces the regional and immigrant languages. In the ''Enquête familiale'' survey, only 35% of parents whose mother tongue was a regional or immigrant language reported that they spoke that language to their children. Thus, the 86% figure of people with French as their mother tongue is an underestimate because the younger generations whose predominant mother tongue is French are not counted.
			# The concept of "mother tongue" may not give a complete idea of the phenomenon of minority languages in France. This is because there are many people who were born and raised in families in which parents spoke to them only (or predominantly) French, but in which some regional or immigration languages were also occasionally used. One example: while the data shows that 610,000 adults in 1999 had one of the Occitan dialects as their mother tongue, the survey also found out that another 1,060,000 adults were born and raised in families in which one of the Occitan dialects was occasionally spoken. Some of these 1,060,000 people may speak Occitan as fluently as the 610,000 people who have it as a mother tongue, while some other (the majority, probably) have only a limited knowledge of Occitan. That 1,670,000 adults are speakers of Occitan cannot be corroborated, but it may be the case that the total number of people with some form of exposure to Occitan is higher than the 610,000 figure, though some of may have stopped using the language altogether since then.

			=== ''Ethnologue'', Metropolitan France ===
	'''2-''' Only adults (i.e. 18-years-old and above) were surveyed. This means that French people born between 1981 and 1999 are not included in the survey. The mother tongue of the younger generations is more predominantly French than is the case with the older generations, because as the ''Enquête familiale'' survey explains, regional and immigrant language transmission decreases dramatically with each new generation, as French replaces the regional and immigrant languages. In the ''Enquête familiale'' survey, only 35% of parents whose mother tongue was a regional or immigrant language reported they spoke that language to their children. Thus, the 86% figure of people with French as their mother tongue is an underestimate because the younger generations whose predominant mother tongue is French are not counted.
			The following languages are listed as having 50,000 or more total speakers in Metropolitan France according to the 2022 edition of '']''.<ref name="Ethnologue"/> Entries identified by ''Ethnologue'' as ] (such as ], ], ], ], and ], encompassing all their respective ]) are not included in this section.

			{{static row numbers}}
	'''3-''' The concept of "mother tongue" may not give a complete idea of the phenomenon of minority languages in France. This is because there are many people who were born and raised in families in which parents spoke to them only (or predominantly) French, but in which some regional or immigration languages were also occasionally used. One example: while the data tell us that 610,000 adults in 1999 had one of the languages of Oc as their mother tongue, the survey also found out that another 1,060,000 adults were born and raised in families in which one of the languages of Oc was occasionally spoken. Some of these 1,060,000 people may speak Occitan as fluently as the 610,000 people who have it as a mother tongue, while some other (the majority, probably) have only a limited knowledge of Occitan. We cannot infer from this that 1,670,000 adults are speakers of Occitan, but it may be the case that the total number of people with some form of exposure to Occitan is higher than the 610,000 figure, though some of this number may have abandoned the language since then.
			{\| class="static-row-numbers sortable wikitable"
			\|+ Languages of Metropolitan France, ''Ethnologue'' (25th ed., 2022){{efn\|Only languages with at least 50,000 speakers are shown.}}<ref name="Ethnologue">{{cite web\|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/FR/languages\|title=France\|website=]\|year=2022}}</ref>
			! Language
			! ]
			! Branch
			! data-sort-type=number \| ] (L1)<br>speakers in France
			! data-sort-type=number \| ] (L2)<br>speakers in France
			! data-sort-type=number \| Total (L1+L2)<br>speakers in France
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="0.9 million" ! \| 900,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="1.35 million" ! \| 1,350,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="1.14 million" ! \| 1,140,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="0.447 million" ! \| 447,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="0.07 million" ! \| 70,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="0.15 million" ! \| 150,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| {{N/A}}
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="0.072 million" ! \| 72,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="0.206 million" ! \| 206,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="0.126 million" ! \| 126,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="0.15 million" ! \| 150,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="0.236 million" ! \| 236,000
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="26.2 million" ! \| 26,200,000
			\| style=text-align:right data-sort-value="26.436 million" ! \| 26,436,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \| 62,400,000
			\| style=text-align:right \| 1,500,000
			\| style=text-align:right \| 63,900,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| {{N/A}}
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 100,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 4,000,000
			\| style=text-align:right \| 4,000,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 829,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 537,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 50,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 150,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 400,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 110,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 500,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 959,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \| 461,000
			\| style=text-align:right \| 5,990,000
			\| style=text-align:right \| 6,451,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 150,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| Southern
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 125,000
			\|-
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| ]
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \|
			\| style=text-align:right \| 444,000
			\|}

	==See also==		==See also==
	* ]		* ]
	* ]		* ]
	* ]		* ]
	* ]		* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
	* ]		* ]
			* ]
	* ]
	* ]		* ]

	* ]
			==Notes==
	* ]
			{{noteslist}}
	* ]

			==References==
			{{Reflist}}

	==External links==		==External links==
			{{Commons category}}
	*(clickable map)
	*		* (clickable map)
			*
	*		*
	*		*
	* association of bilingual Basque-French schools		* association of bilingual Basque-French schools
	* association for promotion of Breton		* association for promotion of Breton
	* association of bilingual Occitan-French schools		* association of bilingual Occitan-French schools
	* Catalan schools		* Catalan schools
			*
	*, association of "la Bressola" friends
			* Frédéric Vernier, Philippe Boula de Mareüil and Albert Rillard (Laboratoire UPR3251 - CNRS), (2017)
	*http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/europe/france.htm

	{{~~Europe in topic\|~~Languages of}}		{{Languages of France}}
			{{Languages of Europe}}
			{{Minority languages of Europe}}

			{{DEFAULTSORT:Languages Of France}}
	]		]
	]

	]
	]
	]
	]
	]
	]
	]
	]
	]
	]
	]
	]

Latest revision as of 08:41, 14 December 2024

Languages of France
Languages and dialects of metropolitan France
Official	French
Regional	Alsatian; Catalan; Basque; Corsican; Breton; Gallo; Occitan; some Walloon; West Flemish; Franco-Provençal; Savoyard; Lorraine Franconian; French Guiana Creole; Guadeloupean Creole; Martiniquan Creole; Oïl languages; Réunion Creole; some twenty languages of New Caledonia, Yenish, the Maroon creoles and Amerindian languages of French Guiana
Immigrant	Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, German, Polish, Berber, Turkish, English, Vietnamese
Foreign	English (39%) Spanish (13%) German (6%)
Signed	French Sign Language
Keyboard layout	AZERTY, BÉPO

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French is the sole official language in France according to the second article of the French Constitution. 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 0.61%); Corsican, an Italo-Dalmatian language; and various other Gallo-Romance languages (Langues d'oïl 1.25%, Occitan 1.33%). Some of these languages are also spoken in neighbouring countries, such as Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Andorra, or Spain.

Status

Main article: Language policy in France

The official language of the French Republic is French (art. 2 of the French Constitution) and the French government is, by law, compelled to communicate primarily in French. The government, furthermore, mandates that commercial advertising be available in French (though it can also use other languages). The French government, however, does not mandate the use of French by private individuals or corporations or in any other media.

A revision of the French constitution creating official recognition of regional languages was implemented by the Parliament in Congress at Versailles in July 2008.

The 1999 Report written for the government by Bernard Cerquiglini identified 75 languages that would qualify for recognition under the government's proposed ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Of those languages, 24 are indigenous to the European territory of the state while all the others are from overseas areas of the French Republic (in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and South America).

Although ratification was blocked by the Constitutional Council as contradicting the Fifth Republic's constitutional provision enshrining French as the language of the Republic, the government continues to recognise regional and minority languages to a limited extent (i.e. without granting them official status) and the Délégation générale à la langue française has acquired the additional function of observing and studying the languages of France and has had et aux langues de France added to its title. The category of languages of France (in French: langues de France) is thus administratively recognised even if this does not go so far as to provide any official status. Following his election as president, François Hollande reasserted in 2012 his campaign platform to ratify the European Charter and ensure a clear legal framework for regional languages (within a programme of administrative decentralisation that would give competencies to the regions in language policy).

The regional languages of France are sometimes called patois, but this term (roughly meaning "dialects") is often considered derogatory. Patois is used to refer to essentially oral languages, even though some have a current and/or historical use, such as Occitan, which was already being written at a time when French was not and its literature has continued to thrive, with a Nobel Prize for Frédéric Mistral in 1904.

It is estimated that at the time of the French Revolution in 1789, only half of the population of France could speak French, and as late as 1871 only a quarter spoke French as their native language.

Language education

The topic of the teaching of regional languages in public primary and secondary schools is controversial. Proponents of the measure state that it would be necessary for the preservation of those languages and to show respect to the local culture. Opponents contend that local languages are often non-standardised (thus making curricula difficult), of dubious practical usefulness (since most are spoken by a small number of people, without any sizable corpus of publications) and that the curriculum and funding of public schools are already too strained. The topic also leads to wider controversial questions of autonomy of the régions. Regarding other languages, English, Spanish, Italian and German are the most commonly studied foreign languages in French schools.

In April 2001, the Minister of Education, Jack Lang, stated formally that "Depuis plus de deux siècles, les pouvoirs politiques ont combattu les langues régionales", ie for more than two centuries, the political powers of the French government had repressed regional languages, and announced that bilingual education would, for the first time, be recognised, and bilingual teachers recruited in French public schools.

Cross-border languages

Some of the languages of France are also cross-border languages (for example, Basque, Catalan, Corsican, Dutch, Franc-Comtois, Franco-Provençal, Norman, Picard, Occitan and others), some of which enjoy a recognised or official status in the respective neighbouring state or territory. French itself is also a cross-border language, being spoken in neighbouring Andorra, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, and Switzerland.

List of languages

Mother tongues of the French population (2007 AES)

French (87.2%) Arabic (3.6%) Portuguese (1.5%) Spanish (1.2%) Italian (1.0%) German (0.7%) Turkish (0.5%) English (0.4%) Other languages (3.9%)

According to the 2007 Adult Education survey, part of a project by the European Union and carried in France by the Insee and based on a sample of 15,350 people, French was the mother tongue of 87.2% of the total population, or roughly 55.81 million people, followed by Arabic (3.6%, 2.3 million), Portuguese (1.5%, 960,000), Spanish (1.2%, 770,000) and Italian (1.0%, 640,000). People who spoke other languages natively made up the remaining 5.2% of the population.

National language

French

Regional languages

The regional languages of Metropolitan France include:

Celtic

Germanic

Italo-Dalmatian

See also: Italo-Dalmatian languages and Tuscan dialect

Corsican (Corsu)

Gallo-Romance

Others

Basque (Euskara)
Romani

Overseas languages

There are also several languages spoken in France's overseas areas (see Administrative divisions of France for details):

Amerindian languages in French Guiana
French-based creole languages in the French West Indies (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, and Saint Barthélemy), French Guiana, and Réunion (see: Antillean Creole, Haitian Creole, French Guiana Creole and Réunion Creole);
- also Dutch, and English in Saint Martin;
- also Saint-Barths Patois (local derivation from regional dialects of French in France), and English in Saint Barthélemy
Many Austronesian languages:
- several languages in New Caledonia (see: New Caledonian languages, Loyalty Island languages)
- two languages in Wallis & Futuna (see: Wallisian language, Futunan language)
- many languages in French Polynesia (Tahitian and other Eastern Polynesian languages)
- Shibushi in Mayotte
Shimaore (a Bantu language) in Mayotte

Sign language

French Sign Language is also recognised as a language of France (with at least one regional variant in Provence).

Immigrant languages

A large number of immigrant languages are spoken in France, with a handful having a significant number of home speakers. (Figures as of 2000)

Main immigrant languages

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Arabic, especially the Maghrebi Arabic dialects, is the second-most common language in French homes, with several million speakers.
Berber languages (Tamazigh) from North Africans are one of the most spoken languages in France, about 2,200,000 speakers.
Italian: spoken by Italian communities in many major French cities, especially in southern regions, such as Nice, Savoie, and Corsica. About 790,000 speakers, excluding Italian dialects.
Portuguese: spoken by about 700,000 people.
English: significant British minorities in Aquitaine and Brittany, as well as commuters working in the UK but living in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Dispersed minorities in Paris and on the Côte d'Azur (French Riviera). The most widely taught foreign language in the French education system, but not widely used and understood except in specific job positions (chiefly technical and tourism). About 325,000 home speakers.
Polish: spoken by about 130,000 people
Tamil: spoken by about 125,000 people
Turkish: spoken by about 221,000 people
Vietnamese: the most spoken Asian language in France, spoken by about 324,000 people
German and German dialects: spoken by about 300,000 people. Figure includes both standard German and other dialects of High German. See Alsatian and Lorraine Franconian, spoken respectively in Alsace and Lorraine.
Kurdish languages – 200,000 (2014 estimate)

Statistics

INSEE 1999

At the 1999 census, INSEE sampled 380,000 adult people all across Metropolitan France, and asked them questions about their family situation. One of the questions was about the languages that their parents spoke with them before the age of five. This is the first time serious statistics were computed about the proportion of mother tongues in France. The results were published in Enquête familiale, Insee, 1999.

Here is a list of the nine most prominent mother tongues in France based on Enquête familiale.

Rank	Language	Mother tongue	Percentage of adult population
1	French	39,360,000	86% (note that this figure is an underestimate because people under 18 years of age were not surveyed; see note #2 below the table)
2	German dialects (Alsatian, Lorraine Franconian, etc.)	970,000 (of whom Alsatian: 660,000; standard German: 210,000; Lorraine Franconian: 100,000)	2.12% (of whom Alsatian: 1.44%; standard German: 0.46%; Lorraine Franconian: 0.22%)
3	Maghrebi Arabic	940,000	2.05%
4	Occitan (Languedocian, Gascon, Provençal, etc.)	610,000 (another 1,060,000 had some exposure)	1.33% (another 2.32% had some exposure, see notes)
5	Portuguese	580,000	1.27%
6	Oïl languages (Picard, Gallo, Poitevin, Saintongeais, etc.)	570,000 (another 850,000 had some exposure)	1.25% (another 1.86% had some exposure, see notes)
7	Italian, Corsican and Ligurian (Monegasque)	540,000	1.19%
8	Spanish	485,000	1.06%
9	Breton	280,000 (another 405,000 had some exposure)	0.61% (another 0.87% had some exposure, see notes)
10	About 400 other languages: Polish, Berber languages, East Asian languages, Catalan, Franco-Provençal, Basque, West Flemish, etc., as well as those who gave no response	2,350,000 (of whom English: 115,000)	5.12% (of whom English: 0.25% of total adult population)
	Total	45,762,000 (46,680,000 including those with two mother tongues who were counted twice)	102% (2% of people have both French and another language as their mother tongue, thus, they are counted twice)

When the people with mother tongue and people with some exposure to the language before the age of five (see note #3 below) are added together, the five most widely spoken languages in metropolitan France are (note that the percentages add up to more than 100, because many bilingual people are now counted twice):

French: 42,100,000 (92%)
Occitan: 1,670,000 (3.65%)
German and German dialects: 1,440,000 (3.15%)
Oïl languages (excl. French): 1,420,000 (3.10%)
Arabic: 1,170,000 (2.55%)

Notes on the table

The data in the table are about mother tongues, and not about actual language practice. It states that 14% of the adult people living in France in 1999 were born and raised up to the age of 5 in families that spoke only (or predominantly) some other languages than French. It does not mean that 14% of adult people in France spoke some other languages than French in 1999.
Only adults (i.e. 18 years and older) were surveyed. This means that French people born between 1981 and 1999 are not included in the survey. The mother tongue of the younger generations is more predominantly French than is the case with the older generations because, as the Enquête familiale survey explains, regional and immigrant language transmission decreases dramatically with each new generation, as French replaces the regional and immigrant languages. In the Enquête familiale survey, only 35% of parents whose mother tongue was a regional or immigrant language reported that they spoke that language to their children. Thus, the 86% figure of people with French as their mother tongue is an underestimate because the younger generations whose predominant mother tongue is French are not counted.
The concept of "mother tongue" may not give a complete idea of the phenomenon of minority languages in France. This is because there are many people who were born and raised in families in which parents spoke to them only (or predominantly) French, but in which some regional or immigration languages were also occasionally used. One example: while the data shows that 610,000 adults in 1999 had one of the Occitan dialects as their mother tongue, the survey also found out that another 1,060,000 adults were born and raised in families in which one of the Occitan dialects was occasionally spoken. Some of these 1,060,000 people may speak Occitan as fluently as the 610,000 people who have it as a mother tongue, while some other (the majority, probably) have only a limited knowledge of Occitan. That 1,670,000 adults are speakers of Occitan cannot be corroborated, but it may be the case that the total number of people with some form of exposure to Occitan is higher than the 610,000 figure, though some of may have stopped using the language altogether since then.

Ethnologue, Metropolitan France

The following languages are listed as having 50,000 or more total speakers in Metropolitan France according to the 2022 edition of Ethnologue. Entries identified by Ethnologue as macrolanguages (such as Arabic, Persian, Malay, Pashto, and Chinese, encompassing all their respective varieties) are not included in this section.

Languages of Metropolitan France, *Ethnologue* (25th ed., 2022)
Language	Family	Branch	First-language (L1) speakers in France	Second-language (L2) speakers in France	Total (L1+L2) speakers in France
Alsatian	Indo-European	Germanic			900,000
Algerian Arabic	Afro-Asiatic	Semitic			1,350,000
Moroccan Arabic	Afro-Asiatic	Semitic			1,140,000
Tunisian Arabic	Afro-Asiatic	Semitic			447,000
Western Armenian	Indo-European	Armenian			70,000
Arpitan	Indo-European	Romance			150,000
Basque	Isolate	—			72,000
Breton	Indo-European	Celtic			206,000
Catalan	Indo-European	Romance			126,000
Corsican	Indo-European	Romance			150,000
English	Indo-European	Germanic	236,000	26,200,000	26,436,000
French	Indo-European	Romance	62,400,000	1,500,000	63,900,000
French Sign Language	Francosign	—			100,000
Standard German	Indo-European	Germanic		4,000,000	4,000,000
Italian	Indo-European	Romance			829,000
Kabyle	Afro-Asiatic	Berber			537,000
Khmer	Austroasiatic	Mon–Khmer			50,000
Lesser Antillean French Creole	Indo-European	Romance			150,000
Lorraine Franconian	Indo-European	Germanic			400,000
Occitan	Indo-European	Romance			110,000
Picard	Indo-European	Romance			500,000
Portuguese	Indo-European	Romance			959,000
Spanish	Indo-European	Romance	461,000	5,990,000	6,451,000
Central Atlas Tamazight	Afro-Asiatic	Berber			150,000
Tamil	Dravidian	Southern			125,000
Turkish	Turkic	Oghuz			444,000

Notes

Only languages with at least 50,000 speakers are shown.

References

"Europeans and their Languages" (PDF). Ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
^ "La dynamique des langues en France au fil du XXe siècle" (PDF) (in French). Ined.fr. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
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External links

Map of languages of France (clickable map)
Ethnologue report for France
Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France
Langues de France
Ikastola Elkartea association of bilingual Basque-French schools
Diwan Breizh association for promotion of Breton
Calandreta association of bilingual Occitan-French schools
La Bressola Catalan schools
Tlfq.ulaval.ca
Frédéric Vernier, Philippe Boula de Mareüil and Albert Rillard (Laboratoire UPR3251 - CNRS), Atlas sonore des langues régionales de France (2017)

v t e Languages of France
Official language	French Meridional Saint-Barthélemy
Regional languages	Alemannic German Alsatian Basque Navarro-Lapurdian Souletin Berrichon Breton Trégorrois Burgundian Catalan Northern Catalan Champenois Corsican Frainc-Comtou Franco-Provençal Savoyard Gallo Ligurian Brigasc Intemelio Royasc Lorrain Lorraine Franconian Luxembourgish Norman Cauchois Cotentinais Occitan Auvergnat Gascon Languedocien Limousin Marchois Provençal Niçard Vivaro-Alpine Mentonasc Picard Poitevin–Saintongeais Poitevin Saintongeais Walloon West Flemish French Flemish
Overseas languages	Ajië Antillean Creole Drehu Guianese Creole Futunan Kibushi Nengone Paicî Réunion Creole Shimaore Tahitian Wallisian Xaracuu
Minority languages	Algerian Jewish Sign Language Caló Erromintxela French Sign Language Manuš Romani Wenzhounese Western Armenian Yenish Yiddish
See also	Guillemet
See also: Language policy in France

v t e Languages of Europe
Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Vatican City
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Kosovo Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria
Dependencies and other entities	Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Svalbard
Other entities	European Union Sovereign Military Order of Malta

v t e Minority languages of Europe
European Union	Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden
Other European states	Albania Andorra Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Bosnia and Herzegovina Georgia Iceland Kazakhstan Liechtenstein Moldova Monaco Montenegro North Macedonia Norway Russia San Marino Serbia Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Vatican City
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus Transnistria South Ossetia
Dependencies and other territories	Akrotiri and Dhekelia Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Svalbard
Languages of Europe European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities European Day of Languages Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights

Category:

Languages of France