History of French Language

 French is one of the interesting languages to learn about and its emergence involves major milestones which will be discussed below.

Roman Gaul

The emergence of French can be dated back two millennia to the age of Roman Empire. Gallic war ended between 58 BCE and 51 BCE and the territories located to the south of the Rhine became Roman provinces. This change contributed towards the emergence of population centers and trade. This entire situation increased the communication between Gauls and Romans. For five centuries, oral Latin coexisted with the language of Celtic origin i.e Gaulish.  Nevertheless, Gaulish was never used for writing that’s why its survival was threatened in the more romanized areas in the south. Due to this, Vulgar Latin superseded Gaulish and became the primary language of the region. About 100 words among 100,000 entries in the Le Grand Robert French dictionary are of Gaulish origin and most of these words refer to land related objects and animals. For example: char (cart), if (yew), ruche (hive) and mouton (lamb).

The Ancestor of the Franks

By 4^th century, several franks (tribes of Germanic origin) had already settled in the northeast of Gaul and were unified into Roman army. But even after the fall of Western Roman Empire, the Franks remained in modern day France. In King Clovis period, people of the French proto culture were unified via military victories and the support of the great Gallo-Roman families. This political support was achieved by the adoption of their language i.e., Gallo Roman and their religion which was Catholicism. Furthermore, due to the Germanic origin of the Franks, the pronunciation and the musicality of the language were modified. New sounds and new words were introduced. Nonetheless the major contribution of the franks was providing the name of what was one day to become France.

Political Birth

Dark ages at the end of the 8 the century triggered educational decline for major chunk of the population. It means that most people were not able to understand the Latin that clerics spoke. So, in 813, the Council of Tours, King Charlemagne gave the order to priests that they should give sermons either in the “Roman rustic language” or “Theotiscam” (a Germanic language) so that common people can easily understand the sermons. This decision lead towards the recognition of French as an oral language. But the point to note is that the true birth of the French language occurred 3 decades later.

However, the Charlemagne’s empire was divided after his death and this incident rose conflicts between his grandchildren Lothair I, Charles the Bald and Louis the German, which ultimately resulted in war. Charles and Louis in 842 took oath to provide support to one another against Lothair so they each of them adopted language understood by their brother’s troops. Charles started speaking in Old High German while Louis adopted Gallo-Roman (proto-French). The Oaths of Strasbourg were transcribed into both these languages. This event marked the birth of German and French. Although this version of proto-French was a bit similar to Vulgar Latin but this marks as the first point where it was acknowledged in its written form.

The Frankish Inheritance

Now coming to the 10^th century, the Gallo-Romance language took on hundreds of forms and dialects. Under the Franks influence, many languages emerged in North known as Oil and Oc. Languages of Oil include Picard, Walloon, Burgundy and Frankish dialects while Oc languages include Limousin, Avergne, Provencal and Languedocian dialects. This division meant that people started speaking these variations later which became important later.

Old French (10^th -13^th centuries)

Latin continued to be the language that prevailed in religion, law and education but the vernacular language was also became in use for written communication. The end of 11^th century marks the time when troubadours started singing their poems in the various dialects of the country. Song of Roland, written in the Oil Language is one of the symbolic examples of literature of this time. This old French lacked clear rules but had considerably variety in writing and speech. Due to this, some individuals advocated the “re-latinization” of the lexicon. In 12^th century, French was still divided between Oil and Oc but the royal power of Ile-de-France region spread the Oil variant across France. Hence, Oil became an instrument of power and a symbol of unification.

Middle French (14^th -17^th Centuries)

14^th and 15^th centuries, the darkest years were witnessed in France. The Black Plague and the Hundred Years War ruined the population. The texts of Francois Villon which were written in Middle French reflect this unstable period perfectly. The terminology he used is understandable to those who speak standard French which can be due to the loss of both declensions, changes in word order and other basic changes that took place in the language. some spellings seemed funny such as doncques, pluye and oyseaulx but they were considered fashionable at the time. Later on, the letter Y was in vogue while K and W were eliminated because they were not considered Latin enough.

The history of French took turn in 15^th century with the start of Renaissance as well the printing press invention. It was thought that to disseminate large number of written works, there is a need to have necessary rules and structures for the language. It was in this context that the vernacular language achieved recognition and the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterets in 1539 established the importance of French for written laws.

Re-Latinization

to give legitimacy and distinction to the French Language it was the “re-latinized” during the Enlightenment. The word doit became doigt (finger) from the latin digitus while pie became pied (foot) from the latin pedis. The words which were considered barbaric and were not from latin origin were removed.

As a Lingua France

It might be shocking to know that at the time of French revolution less than half of France’s population could speak French. It was an extremely popular language among the elites and higher classes as mostly all European courts adopted it. It also reached to the other side of the Atlantic. It also had significance in the political and literary sphere which in turn mad it the Lingua France until English suppressed it. Even today it is one of the most spoken languages in the world.

Letters:

The alphabets used in French Language are 200 years old. French Language has 26 letters same as in the modern English language but they are pronounced differently. Out of these 26 letters 20 are consonants and 6 are vowels. Initially there were 25 letters but later on “W” was added in the mid-19^th century. Also, we pronounce W in English as “double-u” while in French it is read as “doo-bluh-vay” moreover, V is pronounced as vay

French- the 5^th World Language

There are vast number of French speakers in the world and the number stands at around 300 million. In these numbers, a very large number of speakers are under the age of 30. After Mandarin, Chinese, English, Spanish and Arabic, it is the 5^th Global language. Another interesting point to note is that it is the only language alongside English that is spoken on all continents. French is also the official language of 32 states and Government.

The number of French speakers has increased by 9.6% from the years 2014-2017. The speakers are growing rapidly in Africa and 59% individuals who speak French daily also live in Africa. When discussing its teaching aspect, it is being said that French is the 2^nd most taught foreign language after English across the 5 continents and nearly in all countries. More than 80 million people study in French while more that 50 million people are learning French as foreign language.

Few more interesting facts about this language is that it is the 2^nd most used language in diplomacy, 3^rd most language used in business and 4^th most language used on the internet. Its international significance can also be studies from the fact it the official Language of UN, official language of Olympic Games together with English and it is also the working language of the European Union and African Union.

French speaking media outlets in the world

This heading will discuss about the various media channels that are being aired around the globe to promote the culture and language of France. Some of the media outlets include TV5MONDE. It is a key partner of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the only global French language channel that is accessible in 354 million households in 198 countries. Furthermore, it is the only channel that is available on 5 continents.

TV5MONDE have 8 regional channels and 2 thematic channels. Its cumulated weekly reach includes 60 million viewers. It broadcasts programmes 24/7 on its channels along with subtitles in 13 languages. Its broadcasting also occurs in 88 member states of the International Organisation of La Francophonie which includes 40% of its global audience. It has also launched multiple programmes through which people can now learn and teach French which is available from free download on both Android and Apple phones.

Second media outlet is Radio France Internationale (RFI). It is a French radio station that broadcast everything in French and 13 other languages. Re-broadcasting of its programmes is also occurred by 1000 partner stations. It has also partnered with TV5MONDE to support the learning of French language by the provision of French complete audio and visual resources.

Third media outlet is France 24. It was created in 2005 and have been broadcasting programmes since 2006. One of its instigators was President Jacques Chirac. Today this stated owned channel broadcasts in four languages including French, Arabic, Spanish and English in around 385.3 million households worldwide.