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Francophonie

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Geographic distribution of the French language:   Majority native language (core Francophonie)   Official but not majority native language   Administrative or cultural language but without official st
Geographic distribution of the French language:   Majority native language (core Francophonie)   Official but not majority native language   Administrative or cultural language but without official status Image: source and license
Proportion of French speakers (including L2-speakers) by country in 2022, saturating at 100%, according to the OIF   0–19% Francophone   20–39% Francophone   40–59% Francophone   60–79% Francophone   
Proportion of French speakers (including L2-speakers) by country in 2022, saturating at 100%, according to the OIF[1]   0–19% Francophone   20–39% Francophone   40–59% Francophone   60–79% Francophone   80–99% Francophone Image: source and license

The Francophonie or Francosphere or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880[2] and became important as part of the conceptual rethinking of cultures and geography in the late 20th century.

When used to refer to the French-speaking world, the Francophonie encompasses the countries and territories where French is official or serves as an administrative or major secondary language, which spans 50 countries and dependencies across all inhabited continents. It is a de jure official language in 26 countries (the third most number of countries after English and Arabic).[3] The vast majority of these are also member states of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), a body uniting countries where French is spoken and taught.

While it holds official status in more than two dozen countries, it is the majority's first language in only five states and territories,[4] as the rest of French-speaking nations use it primarily administratively and as a lingua franca among populations whose mother tongues are indigenous or regional languages.[5] This disparity is reflected in the number of speakers: of the 327 million total (the 6th-most in the world), about 74 million are native speakers (the 22nd in the world).[6][7][8][9] In 2017 it was among the top five most studied languages in the world with about 120 million learners.[10]

Denominations#edit

Francophonie, francophonie and francophone space are syntagmatic. This expression is relevant to countries which speak French as their national language, may it be as a mother language or a secondary language.

These expressions are sometimes misunderstood or misused by English speakers. They can be synonymous but most of the time they are complementary.

  • "francophonie", with a small "f", refers to populations and people who speak French for communication or/and in their daily lives.[11]
  • "Francophonie", with a capital "F", can be defined as referring to the governments, governmental and non-governmental organisations or governing officials that share the use of French in their work and exchange.[11]
  • "Francophone space", "Francophone world", "Francosphere" represents not only a linguistic or geographic reality, but also a cultural entity: for example describing any individual who identifies with one of the francophone cultures, may it be Slavic, Latin, Creole, North American or Oceanian for example.[12][13]

Origins#edit

Map showing the member states of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (in blue and green). This map does not exactly represent the francophone space, as it is a political organisation.
Map showing the member states of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (in blue and green). This map does not exactly represent the francophone space, as it is a political organisation. Image: source and license

The term francophonie was invented by Onésime Reclus in 1880: "We also put aside four large countries, Senegal, Gabon, Cochinchina and Cambodia, whose future from a "Francophone" point of view is still very doubtful, except perhaps for Senegal" (in French « Nous mettons aussi de côté quatre grands pays, le Sénégal, le Gabon, la Cochinchine, le Cambodge dont l’avenir au point de vue « francophone » est encore très douteux sauf peut-être pour le Sénégal »); and then used by geographers.[14]

During the Third Republic, the French language progressively gained importance.

The Académie française, a French institution created in 1635 in charge of officially determining and unifying the rules and evolutions of the French language, participated in the promotion and the development of the French language.[15]

Countries#edit

The definition of the Francophone world is distinguished by countries and territories where French is an official language, those where it is the native language of the majority of the population, and those where the language is used as a working language of administration or where the language still has an important cultural impact and prestige without having official status. There are 50 countries and territories which fall into this category, although in some countries the Francosphere is limited to certain regions or states.[16]

RankCountry/territoryFrench-speaking
population[17][18]		Land area (km2)Land area (sq mi)
1France[19]66,394,000551,695213,011
2Democratic Republic of the Congo48,925,0002,344,858905,354
3Algeria14,904,0002,381,741919,595
4Morocco13,457,000446,550172,410
5Cameroon11,491,000475,650183,650
6Canada11,061,0009,984,6703,855,100
7Côte d'Ivoire9,325,000322,462124,503
8Belgium8,815,00030,52811,787
9Madagascar7,729,000587,041226,658
10Tunisia6,321,000163,61063,170
11 Switzerland5,889,00041,29115,943
12Burkina Faso5,404,000274,200105,900
13Haiti4,906,00027,75010,710
14Senegal4,640,000196,71275,951
15Benin4,306,000114,76344,310
16Guinea3,777,000245,85794,926
17Mali3,703,0001,240,192478,841
18Togo3,554,00056,78521,925
19Congo3,518,000342,000132,000
20Niger3,363,0001,267,000489,200
21Lebanon2,540,00010,4524,036
22Chad2,249,0001,284,000495,800
23United States
* Louisiana
* New England		2,179,0009,525,0673,677,647
24Gabon1,519,000267,668103,347
25Central African Republic1,435,000622,984240,535
26Burundi1,074,00025,6809,915
27Mauritius926,0002,040788
28Réunion799,0002,511970
29Rwanda793,00026,33810,169
30Vietnam693,000331,340127,930
31Mauritania656,0001,030,700397,960
32Luxembourg642,0002,586998
33Djibouti508,00023,2008,960
34Cambodia463,000181,03569,898
35Guadeloupe336,0001,628629
36Martinique303,0001,128436
37New Caledonia288,00018,5757,172
38French Polynesia278,0004,1671,609
39Comoros237,0001,861719
40Laos204,000236,80091,430
41French Guiana195,00084,00032,433
42Mayotte180,000374144
43Vanuatu100,00012,1894,706
44Seychelles53,000457176
45Monaco39,00020.7
46Saint Martin33,0005320
47India
* Puducherry		10,000483186
48Wallis and Futuna9,00014255
49Saint Barthélemy8,000208
50Saint Pierre and Miquelon6,00023089
Total350,281,00028,223,18510,897,033

See also#edit

Notes#edit

  1. ^ Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (2022). La langue française dans le monde, 2019-2022 (PDF) (in French). Gallimard. pp. 30–35. ISBN 978-2-07-297686-5. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  2. ^ Alexander B. Murphy, "Placing Louisiana in the Francophone World: Opportunities and Challenges" Archived 10 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine, page 4, published in Atlantic Studies, Volume 5, Issue 3, 2008; Special Issue: New Orleans in the Atlantic World, II, accessed 7 April 2013
  3. ^ "The world's languages, in 7 maps and charts". The Washington Post. 18 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  4. ^ French is spoken as a mother tongue by the majority of the population (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France, Canada (Quebec), Belgium (Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region), western Switzerland (Romandy) and Monaco. name="4">"Census in Brief: English, French and official language minorities in Canada". www12.statcan.gc.ca. 2 August 2017. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.>
  5. ^ "The world's languages, in 7 maps and charts". The Washington Post. 18 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  6. ^ Statistics, in Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2025). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (28th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
  7. ^ "Qui parle français dans le monde – Organisation internationale de la Francophonie – Langue française et diversité linguistique" (in French). Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  8. ^ 327 millions de francophones dans le monde en 2023 odsef.fss.ulaval.ca (in French)
  9. ^ Verdeau, Paul (20 March 2023). "En 2023, 327 millions de personnes parlent français dans le monde, dont près de la moitié en Afrique". RTBF (in French). Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  10. ^ "How many people speak French and where is French spoken". Archived from the original on 21 November 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  11. ^ a b "Qu'est-ce que la Francophonie ? - Organisation internationale de la Francophonie". francophonie.org. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  12. ^ "Données et statistiques sur la langue française - Organisation internationale de la Francophonie". francophonie.org. Archived from the original on 23 March 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  13. ^ L'année francophone internationale, Québec, ACCT, 1994
  14. ^ Pinhas, Luc (2004). "Aux origines du discours francophone". Communication & Langages. 140 (1): 69–82. doi:10.3406/colan.2004.3270.
  15. ^ "La Francophonie: The History of the French Language Training School". Language Connections. July 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  16. ^ Vigouroux, Cecile (2013). "Francophonie". Annual Review of Anthropology. 42: 379–397. doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145804.
  17. ^ La langue française dans le monde, 2022, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF),
  18. ^ Note: Excludes partial speakers and learners.
  19. ^ Note: Metropolitan France only.
Categories Countries and territories where French is an official languageFrench languageCountry classificationsFrancophonie

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