French language in the United States
(
French-american Culture
)
The French language is spoken as a minority language in the United States. Roughly 1.18 million Americans over the age of five reported speaking the language at home in the federal 2020 American Community Survey, making French the seventh most spoken language in the country after American English, Spanish (the most spoken Romance language, and French is second), Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Arabic. Several varieties of French evolved in what is now the United States:
- Acadian French, spoken in Northern Maine by descendants of colonists in Acadia
- Louisiana French, spoken in Louisiana by descendants of colonists in French Louisiana
- New England French, spoken in New England by descendants of 19th and 20th-century Canadian migrants
- Missouri French, spoken in Missouri by descendants of French settlers in the Illinois Country
- Muskrat French, spoken in Michigan by descendants of habitants, voyageurs and coureurs des bois in the Pays d'en Haut
- Métis French, spoken in North Dakota by Métis people
More recently, French has also been carried to various parts of the nation via immigration from Francophone countries and regions. Today, French is the second most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and Vermont. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Louisiana, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
As a second language, French is the second most widely taught foreign language (after Spanish) in American schools, colleges and universities. While the overwhelming majority of French Americans grew up American English, some enroll their children in French heritage language classes.
Dialects and varieties
Louisiana French is traditionally divided into three dialects, Colonial French, Louisiana Creole French, and Cajun French. Colonial French is traditionally said to have been the form of French spoken in the early days of settlement in the lower Mississippi River valley, and was once the language of the educated land-owning classes. Cajun French, derived from Acadian French, is said to have been introduced with the arrival of Acadians exiles in the 18th century. The Acadians, the francophone inhabitants of Acadia (modern Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and northern Maine), were expelled from their homeland between 1755 and 1763 by the British. Many Acadians settled in lower Louisiana, where they became known as Cajuns (a corruption of "Acadians"). Their dialect was regarded as the typical language of white lower classes, while Louisiana Creole French developed as the language of the black community. Today, most linguists regard Colonial French to have largely merged with Cajun, while Louisiana Creole remains a distinct variety.
Missouri French was spoken by the descendants of 17th-century French settlers in the Illinois Country, especially in the area of Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis, and in Washington County. In the 1930s there were said to be about 600 French-speaking families in the Old Mines region between De Soto and Potosi."Creole Dialect of Missouri". J.-M. Carrière, American Speech, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Apr., 1939), pp. 109–119 By the late 20th century the dialect was nearly extinct, with only a few elderly speakers able to use it. Similarly, Muskrat French is spoken in southeastern Michigan by descendants of habitants, voyageurs and coureurs des bois who settled in the Pays d'en Haut.
New England French, essentially a local variety of Canadian French, is spoken in parts of the New England states. This area has a legacy of significant immigration from Canada, especially during the 19th and the early 20th centuries. Some Americans of French heritage who have lost the language are currently attempting to revive it. Acadian French is also spoken by Acadians in Maine in the Saint John Valley.
Métis French is spoken by some Métis people in North Dakota.
Ernest F. Haden identifies the French of Frenchville, Pennsylvania as a distinct dialect of North American French.Haden, Ernest F. 1973. "French dialect geography in North America." In Thomas A. Sebeok (Ed). Current trends in linguistics. The Hague: Mouton, 10.422–439. "While the French enclave of Frenchville, Pennsylvania first received attention in the late 1960s, the variety of French spoken has not been the subject of systematic linguistic study. Haden reports that the geographical origin of its settlers is central France, as was also the case of New Orleans, but with settlement being more recent (1830–1840). He also reports that in the 1960s French seemed to be on the verge of extinction in the state community."
Brayon is spoken in the Beauce of Quebec; Edmundston, New Brunswick; and Madawaska, Maine mostly in Aroostook County, Maine. Although superficially a phonological descendant of Acadian French, analysis reveals it is identical to Quebec French.Geddes, James (1908). Study of the Acadian-French language spoken on the north shore of the Baie-des-Chaleurs. Halle: Niemeyer; Wittmann, Henri (1995) "Grammaire comparée des variétés coloniales du français populaire de Paris du 17e siècle et origines du français québécois." in Fournier, Robert & Henri Wittmann. Le français des Amériques. Trois-Rivières: Presses universitaires de Trois-Rivières, 281–334. It is believed to have resulted from a localized levelling of contact dialects between Québécois and Acadian settlers. Some of the Brayons view themselves as neither Acadian nor Québécois, affirming that they are a distinctive culture with a history and heritage linked to farming and forestry in the Madawaska area.
Canadian French spoken by French Canadian immigrants is also spoken by Canadian Americans and French Canadian Americans in the United States across Little Canadas and in many cities of New England. French Canadians living in Canada express their cultural identity using a number of terms. The Ethnic Diversity Survey of the 2006 Canadian census found that French-speaking Canadians identified their ethnicity most often as French, French Canadians, Québécois, and Acadian. The latter three were grouped together by Jantzen (2006) as "French New World" ancestries because they originate in Canada.Jantzen (2006) Footnote 9: "These will be called "French New World" ancestries since the majority of respondents in these ethnic categories are Francophones."
All these ancestries are represented among French Canadian Americans. Franco-Newfoundlanders speaking Newfoundland French, , , Fransaskois, , , Franco-Ténois, Franco-Yukonnais, Franco-Nunavois are part of the French Canadian American population and speak their own form of French language.
Various dialects of French spoken in France are also spoken in the United States by recent immigrants from France, by people of French ancestry and descendants of immigrants from France.
In Maine, there is a recent increase of French speakers due to immigration from Francophone countries in Africa.
Many American universities offer French-language courses, and degree programs in the language are common. In the fall of 2021, 135,088 American university students were enrolled in French courses, or 11.4% of all foreign-language students and the second-highest total of any language (behind Spanish, with 584,453 students, or 49.4%).
Traditionally, French teaching has been more important in , but it is difficult to obtain accurate data because of the optional requirements of languages in these schools. Indeed, the study of a foreign language is not required of American students in all states. Some states, however, including New York, Virginia and Georgia, require a minimum of two years of foreign-language instruction.
Native speaker populations
French ancestry
Newer Francophone immigrants
Francophone tourists and retirees
Seasonal migrations
Language study
Local communities
+ Francophone communities
! scope="col" colspan=2 style="text-align: left;" Town/county/parish
! scope="col" ! scope="col" colspan=3 Population
Towns with more than 1000 inhabitants
3,809 980 2,078 6,533 2,582 Towns with fewer than 1000 inhabitants
642 394 352 169 146 408
Counties/parishes with highest Francophone %
13,312 9,107 13,398 16,562 17,185 11,184 7,301 4,116 14,646 5,364 5,092 27,432 14,842
Media and education
Cultural and language governmental bodies
Cultural organizations
Television channels
Newspapers
Radio stations
Multimedia Platforms
French language schools
See also
External links
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