Francophonie

The Francophonie 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 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). 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, 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. 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). In 2017 it was among the top five most studied languages in the world with about 120 million learners.

Denominations

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.
• "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.
• "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.

Origins

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.

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.

Countries

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.

Being merely a member state of the OIF does not automatically make a country or territory "francophone" in the sense of the language having a major role in its society, be it as a working language or a strong cultural heritage to the French language. This is in part due to the OIF increasingly admitting new members based on loose criteria such as "significant second language learning" of French or parties interested in furthering the organisation's promotion of human rights, democracy, international cooperation, sustainable development, cultural and linguistic diversity, and education and training. Therefore, member states such as Romania, Egypt, and Armenia which have minimal to no connection with the French language and culture should not be considered as part of the Francophone world.

See also

• List of countries and territories where French is an official language
• Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
• Agence universitaire de la Francophonie
• Francophone literature
• Institut Français
• Alliance française
• French language in Canada, Lebanon, United States, Minnesota, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia
• Swiss, Belgian, and African French
• French-based creole languages
• Language geography
• Sprachraum
• Romandy

Notes