History of French
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{{French language}}
'''[[French language|French]]''' is a [[Romance language]] (meaning that it is descended from [[Latin]]) that evolved out of the [[Gallo-Romance:]] [[dialect]]s spoken in Northern France.
==The Roman invasion of Gaul==
Before the Roman invasion of what is modern-day France by [[Julius Caesar|Julius Cæsar]] ([[58]]–[[52]] [[Before Christ|BC]]), France was inhabited largely by a [[Celt]]ic people to which the Romans referred as [[Gaul]]s. There were also other linguistic/ethnic groups in France at this time, including [[Iberians]] in southern France and [[Spain]], the [[Ligures]] on the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] coast, [[Greeks|Greek]] colonies such as [[Marseille]]<ref>Vincent Herschel Malmström, ''Geography of Europe: A Regional Analysis''</ref>, and the [[Vascons]] on the Spanish/French border.
The population of about 10 million Gauls was largely Celtic. Although the French oftern refer to their descent from Gallic ancestors (''nos ancêtres les Gaulois''), perhaps fewer than 200 words with a Celtic etymology remain in French today, largely places (''ber, lande, ''grève'' 'sandy bank''), plant names (''berle'' 'water parsnip', ''chêne'' 'oak', ''if'' 'yew', ''baume'' 'balsa(m)') and words dealing with rural life and the earth (notably: ''mouton, tonne, crème, charrue, charriot, barde, bouc, boue, brosse, caillou, cervoise, druide, magouille, orteil, souche'')<ref name="MFOG">{{cite web
|url=http://users.skynet.be/sky37816/Mots_gaulois.html
|work=Mots d'origine gauloise
|title=Mots francais d'origine gauloise
|accessdate=2006-10-22}}</ref>. It should be noted that other Gallic words were imported in French through Latin, in particular words for Gallic objects and customs which were new to the Romans and for which there were no equivalent in Latin (e.g. ''braies, ambassade, matras''). Latin quickly became a [[lingua franca]] across the entire Gallic region for both mercantile, official and educational reasons, yet it should be remembered that this was [[Vulgar Latin]], the colloquial dialect spoken by the Roman army and its agents and not the literary dialect of [[Cicero]].
{{Refimprove|date=February 2008}}
Nonetheless, a number of features can be attributed to Gaulish.
Phonological changes include:
* the raising of long [o:] to long [u:] (as in all [[Celtic languages]])
* the fronting of long open /o/ [ɔ:] to /eu/ [ø] or [œ] (cf. Celtic *''brātu'' "judgement" > Late British *brōtu [brɔ:tu] > C ''bres'', Br ''breut'' [œ:])
* the fronting and raising of [a] to [æ] to [e] (as before nasals in Goidelic)
* ct > xt > it; ''lactem'' > ''lait'' (in all Brythonic languages)
* the frication and deletion of voiced intervocalic consonants (''g, d, b'')
* the [[palatalization]] of jod [j] to [dj] to [ž]; ''ego'' > ''je'' (as Brythonic turned jod into [ð]; ex: PC *''novíjo'' > W ''newydd'', Corn ''nowyth, newyth'', Br ''nevez'')
* the diphthongization of closed [e] to [oi] (as in the Brythonic languages [ui, ue])
* the use of ''[[liaison (French)|liaison]]s'' and ''[[enchaînement]]'' (as in all Celtic languages)
* nasalization (as in [[Breton language|Breton]] and [[Goidelic languages|Gaelic]])
* the insertion of [[epenthetic]] homorganic consonants between [[nasal]]s and liquids; ''simulare'' > ''sembler'', *''venira'' > ''viendra'' (as in Welsh and [[Manx]])
Other linguistic changes include:
* possession using ''à'' instead of ''de'' (''ce livre est à moi'') (as in all Celtic languages)
* the gallicism ''c'est...qui, que'' used in emphasis
* counting by twenties; ''quatre-vingts'' and in Old French ''treis vingts'', ''cinq vingts'' (cf. Welsh ''ugain'' "twenty", ''deugain'' "forty", ''pedwar ugain'' "eighty, lit. four-twenties")
* the 1st person plural verb ending ''-ons'' (cf. Breton ''caromp'', Welsh ''aethom'')
* the influence of meaning and form on ''avec'', ''car'', ''oui'', ''chez'', ''aise'', ''aveugle'', ''tête'', ''huitaine'' and ''quinzaine'', ''fleur de farine'', ''fois'', and ''monde'' "people"
* the use of [[periphrastic phrases]] to denote [[aspect]]; i.e. ''en train de'', ''venir de'', ''après'' + verb, etc. (as in all Celtic languages)
* the adoption of the intensive prefix ''ro''-, having become modern ''re''- (compare: ''luire'' "to glisten" vs. ''reluire'' "to shine"; ''tirer'' "to pull" vs. ''retirer'' "to withdraw, take away"; cf. MW ''ry'' "too" (''ry uawr'' "too big"), Br ''re'', OIr ''ro-'' "very, too")
==The Franks==<!-- This section is linked from [[Romance languages]] -->
From the third century on, [[Western Europe]] was invaded by [[Germanic tribe|Germanic]] tribes from the east, and some of these groups settled in [[Gaul]]. For the history of the French language, the most important of these groups are the [[Franks]] in northern France, the [[Alemanni]] in the German/French border, the [[Burgundians]] in the [[Rhône River|Rhône]] valley and the [[Visigoth]]s in the [[Aquitaine]] region and Spain. Their [[Old Frankish language|language]] had a profound effect on the [[Latin]] spoken in their respective regions, altering both the pronunciation and the [[syntax]]. They also introduced a number of new words. Sources disagree on how much vocabulary of modern French comes from Germanic words, ranging from just 400 words <ref name="Catholic Central French">{{cite web |url=http://www.catholiccentral.net/academics/french/history.html
|work=Catholic Central French
|title=The History of the French Language
|accessdate=2006-03-22}}
</ref>
to 2% of modern vocabulary
<ref name="orbis latinus">{{cite web
|url=http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/French/French.html
|work=Orbis Latinus
|title=French Language - General Overview
|accessdate=2006-03-22}}</ref>.
Changes in [[lexicon]]/[[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]]:
* the name of the language itself, ''français'', comes from the Germanic ''Frank'' ('freeman'). The Franks referred to their land as ''Franko(n)'' which became ''Francia'' in Latin in the 3rd century (then an area in Gallia belgica, somewhere in modern-day Belgium or the Netherlands).
* several terms and expressions associated with their social structure (''gars/garçon, maréchal'') and military tactics (''fief, flanc'').
* a few colors derived from Frankish and other German languages (''blanc, bleu, blond, brun, gris'').
* other examples among the most usual words include ''auberge, fauteuil, laid, tuyau'' and many words starting with a hard g (like ''gagner, guerre'') or with an aspired h (''haine, hâte'') <ref name="TLIF_2">{{cite web
|url=http://atilf.atilf.fr/dendien/scripts/tlfiv5/search.exe?3402;s=1103023665;cat=2;m=frq+.;
|work=Le trésor de la langue française informatisé
|title=Recherche des mots d'origine francique
|accessdate=2006-10-22}}</ref>
* endings in ''-ard'' (from Frankish ''hard'' : ''bâtard''), ''-and'', ''-aud'', ''-ais'', ''-er'', ''-ier'' and many verb endings in ''-ir'' ( ''choisir, jaillir'').
Changes in [[pronunciation]]:
* reintroduction of the vowel [y]
* reintroduction of consonant ''h'' (that no longer exists in modern French, however a Germanic ''h'' usually disallows [[liaison]]: ''les halles'' {{IPA|/lɛ'al/}}, ''les haies'' {{IPA|/lɛ'ɛ/}}, ''les haltes'' {{IPA|/lɛ'alt/}}, whereas a Latin ''h'' allows liaison: ''les herbes'' {{IPA|/lɛzɛrb/}}, ''les hôtels'' {{IPA|/lɛzotɛl/}}.
* reintroduction of consonant [w], probably pronounced as in Dutch between /v/ and /w/, and developing into /gw/ and then /g/ in modern French (hence French ''guerre'' whereas the English form keeps the /w/: ''war'').
* profound changes in the vowel structures, caused by the Frankish [[stress (linguistics)|stress]]. Unstressed syllabes were often lost (particularly syllabes with the final vowel), while vowels in stressed syllabes often became diphthong (e.g. tela -> TEla -> toile)<ref>Cerquiglini, Bernard. ''Une langue orpheline'', Éd. de Minuit, 2007.''</ref>
Changes in [[syntax]]:
* maintenance of cases (compared to Spanish or Italian): hence Old French had ''li murs'' (the wall) or ''li fils'' (the son) (Modern French ''le mur, le fils''), respectively from Latin ''murus, filius''.
* subject pronoun: always present before the verb, whereas it is not necessary in Spanish or Italian. The pronoun ''on'' (from ''hom/homme'') is an adaptation of Germanic pronoun ''man(n)-'' (''one'', general ''you'', singular ''they'').
* adjective before the noun: ''pauvre homme, belle femme, vieil homme, grande table, petite table'' (however most adjectives are placed after the noun).
==Langue d'oïl==
{{seealso|Old French}}
The [[medieval Italian]] poet [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]], writing in Latin in his ''[[De vulgari eloquentia]]'', classified the Romance languages into three groups: "''nam alii oc, alii si, alii vero dicunt oil''" ("some say ''oc'', others say ''si'', others say ''oïl''"), thereby defining ''oïl languages'' (in northern France); ''oc languages'' (in southern France) and ''si languages'' (in [[Italy]] and [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]]). Modern linguists typically divide the languages spoken in [[medieval France]] into three geographical subgroups: [[Oïl languages|Langue d'oïl]] and [[Occitan language|Langue d'oc]] are the two major groups; the third group, [[Franco-Provençal language|Franco-Provençal]], displays features in common with both other groups, without belonging to either. The ''oïl – oc'' divide may be broadly compared to the divide illustrated by the use of "yes" in [[English language|English]] and "aye" in [[Scots language|Scots]].
[[Image:Langues d'oïl.PNG|thumb|The area of ''langue d'oïl'']]
The Romance language group in the north of France is that of the langue d'oïl, the languages which use ''oïl'' (in modern usage, ''oui'') for "yes". These languages, like [[Picard language|Picard]], [[Walloon language|Walloon]], and [[Francien]], were influenced by the [[Germanic languages]] spoken by the Frankish invaders; [[Norman language|Norman]] was later also heavily influenced by the Norse settlers who founded the Norman state. From the time period [[Clovis I]] on, the Franks extended their rule over northern Gaul. Over time, the French language developed from either the Oïl language found around [[Paris]] (the Francien theory) or from a standard administrative language based on common characteristics found in all Oïl languages (the [[lingua franca]] theory). Oïl derives from the Latin ''hoc ille'' ("that is it").
Langue d'oc, the languages which use ''oc'' for "yes", is the language group in the south of France and northern [[Spain]]. These languages, such as [[Gascon language|Gascon]] and [[Provençal language|Provençal]], have relatively little Frankish influence. Oc/òc derive from the Latin ''hoc''.
Modern French has two words for "yes", ''oui'' and ''si''; the latter is used to contradict negative statements or respond to negative questions, at least in Modern France itself. ''Si'' derives from Latin ''sic'' ("thus"), and is cognate to the word for "yes" in Spanish (sí), Portuguese (sim), Italian (sì), and Catalan (sí).
The early middle ages also saw the influence of other linguistic groups on the dialects of France:
From the [[5th century|5th]] to the [[8th century|8th]] cents, Celtic-speaking peoples from southwestern Britain ([[Wales]], [[Cornwall]], [[Devon]]) travelled across the [[English Channel]], both for reasons of trade and as a result of the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] invasions of England. They established themselves in [[Brittany]]. Their language was a dialect of the [[Brythonic languages]], which has been named [[Breton language|Breton]] in more recent centuries. This language gave notably ''bijou'' and ''menhir'' to French. It is part of the larger [[Celtic language]] family, though the modern dialects reflect a noticeable influence from French in their vocabulary (''aven'', a Breton word that French incorporated, is itself derived from the French word ''havre'').
From the [[6th century|6th]] to the [[7th century|7th]] centuries, the Vascons crossed over the [[Pyrenees]], a mountain range in the south of France. Their presence influenced the [[Occitan language]] spoken in southwestern France, resulting in the dialect called [[Gascon language|Gascon]]. Its influence is seen in words like ''boulbène, cargaison''.
Scandinavian [[Vikings]] invaded France from the [[9th century]] onwards and established themselves in what would come to be called [[Normandy|Normandie]] (Normandy). They took up the [[oïl languages|langue d'oïl]] spoken there and contributed many words to French related to maritime environment (''crabe, crique, falaise''), amongst other things. Another example is boulevard which is derived from the Norse work for quay or bulwark (Danish: [[lang|da|bolværk]]).
With their [[Norman conquest|conquest]] of England in [[1066]], the [[Normans]] brought [[Norman language|their language]]. The dialect that developed there as a language of administration and literature is referred to as [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]]. Anglo-Norman served as the language of the ruling classes and commerce in England from the time of the conquest until [[1362]], when the use of [[History of the English Language#Period of French Domination|English]] became dominant again. Because of the Norman Conquest, the [[English language]] has borrowed a considerable amount of its vocabulary from French.
The [[Arab]] peoples also supplied many words to French around this time period, including words for luxury goods (''élixir, orange''), [[spices]] (''camphre, safran''), trade stuffs (''alcool, bougie, coton''), sciences (''alchimie, hasard''), and [[mathematics]] (''algèbre, algorithme'').
==Modern French==
For the period up to around [[1300]], some linguists refer to the [[oïl languages]] collectively as [[Old French]] (''ancien français''). The earliest extant text in French is the [[Oaths of Strasbourg]] from [[842]]; Old French became a [[literary language]] with the ''[[chanson de geste|chansons de geste]]'' that told tales of the [[paladin]]s of [[Charlemagne]] and the [[hero]]es of the [[Crusade]]s.
By the [[Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts]] in [[1539]] King [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] made French the [[official language]] of administration and court proceedings in France, ousting the [[Latin]] that had been used before then. With the imposition of a standardised chancery dialect and the loss of the declension system, the dialect is referred to as [[Middle French]] (''moyen français''). The first grammatical description of French, the ''Tretté de la Grammaire française'' by [[Louis Maigret (grammarian)|Louis Maigret]], was published in [[1550]]. Many of the 700 words <ref> Henriette Walter, ''L'aventure des mots français venus d'ailleurs'', Robert Laffont, 1998. </ref> of modern French that originate from [[Italian language|Italian]] were introduced in this period, including several denoting artistic concepts (''scenario'', ''piano''), luxury items, and food.
Following a period of unification, regulation and purification, the French of the [[17th century|17th]] to the [[18th century|18th centuries]] is sometimes referred to as [[Classical French]] (''français classique''), although many linguists simply refer to French language from the 17th century to today as [[Modern French]] (''français moderne'').
The foundation of the [[Académie française]] (French Academy) in [[1634]] by [[Cardinal Richelieu]] created an official body whose goal has been the purification and preservation of the French language. This group of 40 members is known as the Immortals, not, as some erroneously believe, because they are chosen to serve for the extent of their lives (which they are), but because of the inscription engraved on the official seal given to them by their founder Richelieu—"À l'immortalité" ("to the Immortality (of the French language)"). The foundation still exists and contributes to the policing of the language and the adaptation of foreign words and expressions. Some recent modifications include the change from ''software'' to ''logiciel'', ''packet-boat'' to ''paquebot'', and ''riding-coat'' to ''redingote''. The word ''ordinateur'' for ''computer'' was however not created by the Académie, but by a linguist appointed by [[IBM]] (see [[:fr:ordinateur]]).
From the 17th to the [[19th century|19th centuries]], France was the leading power of Europe; thanks to this, together with the influence of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], French was the [[lingua franca]] of educated Europe, especially with regards to the arts, literature, and [[diplomacy]]; monarchs like [[Frederick II of Prussia]] and [[Catherine the Great]] of Russia could both speak and write in French.
During the [[17th century|17th]] and [[18th century|18th centuries]], the French language established itself permanently in the Americas. There is an academic debate about how fluent in French were the colonists of [[New France]]. While a minority of colonists (mostly women) were from the region of [[Paris]] (approximately 20% of all colonists), most of them came from northern and western regions of France where French was not the primary language natively spoken by its inhabitants. It is not clearly known, however, how many among those colonists understood French as a second language, and how many among them – who, in overwhelming majority, natively spoke an oïl language – could understand, and be understood by, those who speak French thanks to interlinguistic similarity. In any case, a linguistic unification of all the groups coming from France happened (either in France, on the ships, or in "Canada") such that, according to many sources, the then "Canadiens" were all speaking French natively by the end of the 17th century, well before the unification was complete in France. Today, French is the language of about 10 million people (not counting French-based creoles, which are also spoken by about 10 million people) in the Americas.
Through the Académie, public education, centuries of official control and the role of media, a unified official French language has been forged, but there remains a great deal of diversity today in terms of regional accents and words. For some critics, the "best" pronunciation of the French language is considered to be the one used in Touraine (around [[Tours, France|Tours]] and the [[Loire River]] valley), but such value judgments are fraught with problems, and with the ever increasing loss of lifelong attachments to a specific region and the growing importance of the national media, the future of specific "regional" accents is often difficult to predict. The French [[nation-state]], which appeared after the 1789 [[French Revolution]] and [[Napoleon]]'s empire, unified the [[French people]] in particular through the consolidation of the use of the French language. Hence, according to historian [[Eric Hobsbawm]], "the French language has been essential to the concept of 'France', although in 1789 50% of the French people didn't speak it at all, and only 12 to 13% spoke it 'fairly' - in fact, even in [[langues d'oïl|oïl language]] zones, out of a central region, it wasn't usually spoken except in cities, and, even there, not always in the [[faubourgs]] [approximatively translatable to "suburbs"]. In the North as in the South of France, almost nobody spoke French."<ref> [[Eric Hobsbawm]], ''Nations and Nationalism since 1780 : programme, myth, reality'' (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990; ISBN 0-521-43961-2) chapter II "The popular protonationalism", pp.80-81 French edition ([[Gallimard]], 1992). According to Hobsbawm, the main source for this subject is Ferdinand Brunot (ed.), ''Histoire de la langue française'', Paris, 1927-1943, 13 volumes, in particular volume IX. He also refers to [[Michel de Certeau]], Dominique Julia, Judith Revel, ''Une politique de la langue: la Révolution française et les patois: l'enquête de l'abbé Grégoire'', Paris, 1975. For the problem of the transformation of a minority official language into a widespread national language during and after the [[French Revolution]], see Renée Balibar, ''L'Institution du français: essai sur le co-linguisme des Carolingiens à la République'', Paris, 1985 (also ''Le co-linguisme'', [[PUF]], [[Que sais-je?]], 1994, but out of print) ("The Institution of the French language: essay on colinguism from the [[Carolingian]] to the [[French Republic|Republic]]. Finally, Hobsbawm refers to Renée Balibar and Dominique Laporte, ''Le Français national: politique et pratique de la langue nationale sous la Révolution'', Paris, 1974.</ref> Hobsbawm highlighted the role of [[conscription]], invented by Napoleon, and of the 1880s public instruction laws, which allowed to mix the various groups of France into a [[nationalist]] mold which created the French citizen and his consciousness of membership to a common nation, while the various "[[patois]]" were progressively eradicated.
==Modern issues==
There is some debate in today's France about the preservation of the French language and the influence of English (see [[franglais]]), especially with regard to international business, the sciences and popular culture. There have been laws (see [[Toubon law]]) enacted which require that all print ads and billboards with foreign expressions include a French translation and which require quotas of French-language songs (at least 40%) on the radio. There is also pressure, in differing degrees, from some regions as well as minority political or cultural groups for a measure of recognition and support for their [[regional language]]s.
Once the most universal language, French lost most of its international significance to the English language in the 20th century. Nevertheless, French is the second most-studied foreign language in the world after English. The legacy of French as a living language outside Europe is mixed: it is nearly extinct in some former French colonies ([[Southeast Asia]]), while the language has changed to [[creole language|creole]]s, dialects or pidgins in the French departments in the [[West Indies]] and the South Pacific ([[French Polynesia]]).{{Fact|date=February 2007}} On the other hand, many former French colonies have adopted French as an official language, and the total number of French-speakers has increased, especially in [[Africa]].
In [[Québec]], the language has thrived and today is spoken by 80% of the province's population<ref>Statistics Canada: 2006 Census</ref>. Different laws insure the preservation of French in administration, business and education since the seventies. The [[Bill 101]], for example, obliges every child whose parents did not attend an English school to be educated in French, thus preventing that English or non-Francophone languages supplant French in Québec as it the case most North-America. Efforts are also made, by [[Office Québecois de la Langue Française]] for instance, to make more uniform the variation of French spoken in Québec as well as to preserve the distinctiveness of [[Quebec French]].
There has been French emigration to the United States, Australia and South America, but the descendants of these immigrants have assimilated to the point that few of them still speak French. In the United States, efforts are ongoing in [[Louisiana]] (''see [[CODOFIL]]'') and parts of [[New England]] (particularly [[Maine]]) to preserve the language.
== See also ==
*[[Old French]]
* [[History of the English language]]
*[[Language policy in France]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/francophonie/histlngfrn.htm Histoire de la langue française] (in French)
{{Language histories}}
[[Category:language histories|French]]
[[Category:French language]]
[[es:Historia de la lengua francesa]]
[[fr:Histoire de la langue française]]