Francophone Africa. The countries colored dark blue had a population of 321 million in 2007.^[1] Their population is forecasted to reach 733 million in 2050.^[1]

French in Africa is present and spoken by many people. As of 2006 an estimated 115 million African people spread across 31 francophone African countries can speak French either as a first or second language, making Africa the continent with the most French speakers in the world.^[2] French arrived in Africa with colonisation from France and Belgium. These African French speakers are now an important part of the Francophonie. Image File history File links Francophone_Africa. ... Image File history File links Francophone_Africa. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... “Native Language” redirects here. ... A second language (L2) is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue (L1). ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... For the historic phenomenon of colonization and imperialism, see main article colonialism (and also decolonization). ... Motto Égalité, Complémentarité, Solidarité Members and participants of La Francophonie. ...

French is mostly a second language in Africa, but in some areas it has become a first language, such as in Réunion or in the region of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.^[3] In some countries it is a first language among some classes of the population, such as in Tunisia and Morocco where French is a first language among the upper classes (many people in the upper classes are simultaneous bilinguals Arabic/French), but only a second language among the general population. Freeway along the Ébrié Lagoon near the Plateau, Abidjans business district and centre of the city. ... Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ... Upper class refers to the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. ... When a child becomes bilingual by learning two languages at one time. ...

In each of the francophone African countries French is spoken with local specificities in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary.

French African varieties

There are many different varieties of African French, but they can be broadly grouped in three categories:

• the French spoken by black Africans in Western, Central, and East Africa - about 75 million first and second language speakers of this French variety
• the French variety spoken by the Arabs and Berbers in Northwest Africa (see Maghreb French) - about 36 million first and second language speakers of this French variety
• the French spoken by Creoles in the Indian Ocean (Réunion, Mauritius, and Seychelles) - about 1.6 million first and second language speakers of this French variety, not to be confused with French-based creole languages which are also spoken in the area.

All the African French varieties differ from standard French both in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary. Though most indigenous Africans possess relatively dark skin, they exhibit much variation in physical appearance. ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ...  Central Africa  Middle Africa (UN subregion)  Central African Federation (defunct) Central Africa is a core region of the African continent often considered to include: Burundi Central African Republic Chad Democratic Republic of the Congo Rwanda Middle Africa (as used by the United Nations when categorising geographic subregions) is an analogous...  Eastern Africa (UN subregion)  East African Community  Central African Federation (defunct)  geographic, including above East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easternmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. ... “Native Language” redirects here. ... A second language (L2) is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue (L1). ... For other uses, see Arab (disambiguation). ... Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. ... A map showing Northwest Africa Northwest Africa is the northwestern part of Africa. ... Maghreb French is the French accent used by people who reside in Morocco. ... The term Creole and its cognates in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. ... A French creole, more properly French-based creole language, is a creole language with substantial influence from the French language. ... Standard French (in French: le français standard, le français neutre or even le français international) is an unofficial term for a standard variety of the French language. ...

Pronunciation

Supermarket sign in French in Dakar, Senegal.

Differences in pronunciation between varieties of African French can be quite important (e.g. pronunciation of French in Morocco is quite different from the pronunciation of French in Senegal). Despite these significant regional variations, there exist some trends among African French speakers, such as the pronunciation of the letter R which tends to be pronounced like a trilled R instead of the guttural R of standard French (although some African speakers also pronounce R as a guttural R). Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2048 × 1536 pixels, file size: 587 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2048 × 1536 pixels, file size: 587 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... (City of Dakar, divided into 19 communes darrondissement) City proper (commune) Région Dakar Département Dakar Mayor Pape Diop (PDS) (since 2002) Area 82. ... Look up R, r in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

In most cases, however, it is not possible to make general rules about the pronunciation of French in Africa, each local pronunciation of French being influenced by the African languages spoken locally.

Vocabulary

In terms of vocabulary, there exist three phenomena in African French. First, the presence of words which do not exist in standard French. These words were either coined locally or borrowed from local African languages. As a consequence, each regional variety of African French has its own local words that are not the same as in other varieties of African French, although this local vocabulary only constitutes a small part of the overall vocabulary which for the most part is identical to standard French. When talking to people from other regions or countries, African French speakers often switch to a more standard form of French avoiding this local vocabulary. However, there also exist some African French words that are found across many African countries (see for example chicotter in the Abidjan French vocabulary section below).

A second phenomenon is the use of some words with a meaning different from standard French. For example, the word présentement (which means "at the moment" in standard French) is used a lot in sub-Saharan Africa (but not in the Maghreb) with the meaning of "as a matter of fact", "as it were" and not "at the moment". A political map showing national divisions in relation to the ecological break (Sub-Saharan Africa in green) A geographical map of Africa, showing the ecological break that defines the sub-Saharan area Sub-Saharan Africa is the term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

A third phenomenon is hypercorrection, which is found especially among the educated and upper classes of sub-Saharan Africa. Educated people there tend to speak a very formal sort of French which may sound a bit old fashioned and conservative to European and North American French speakers. This is somewhat similar to the way English is spoken by people of the upper class in India. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The local African French vocabulary not found in standard French ranges from slang frowned upon by educated people, to colloquial usage, to words that have entered the formal usage (such as chicotter). The French spoken in Abidjan, the largest city of Côte d'Ivoire, offers a good example of these contrasting registers. Freeway along the Ébrié Lagoon near the Plateau, Abidjans business district and centre of the city. ... In linguistics, a register is a subset of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. ...

Abidjan French vocabulary

Freeway in the centre of Abidjan

According to some estimates, French is spoken by 75% to 99% of Abidjan's population,^[4] either alone or alongside indigenous African languages. There are three sorts of French spoken in Abidjan. A formal French is spoken by the educated classes. Most of the population, however, speaks a colloquial form of French known as français de Treichville (after a working-class district of Abidjan) or français de Moussa (after a character in chronicles published by the magazine Ivoire Dimanche which are written in this colloquial Abidjan French). Finally, an Abidjan French slang called nouchi is spoken by people in gangs and also by young people copying them. New words usually appear in nouchi and then make their way into colloquial Abidjan French after some time. ^[5] Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (819 × 614 pixel, file size: 99 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Centre-ville dAbidjan au bord de la lagune Ebrié File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (819 × 614 pixel, file size: 99 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Centre-ville dAbidjan au bord de la lagune Ebrié File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file... Freeway along the Ébrié Lagoon near the Plateau, Abidjans business district and centre of the city. ...

Here are some examples of words used in the African French variety spoken in Abidjan (the spelling used here conforms to French orthography, except ô which should be read as -aw in the English word "law"):^[6] Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

• une go is a slang word meaning a girl or a girlfriend. It is a loanword either from the Mandinka language or from English ("girl").
• un maquis is a colloquial word meaning a street-side eating joint, a working-class restaurant serving African food. This word exists in standard French too but its meaning is "maquis shrubland", and by extension "guerilla", see Maquis (World War II). It is not known exactly how this word came to mean street-side restaurant in Ivory Coast.
• un bra-môgô is a slang word meaning a bloke or a dude. It is a loanword from the Mandika language.
• chicotter is a word meaning to whip, to beat, or to chastise (children). It is a loanword from Brazilian Portuguese where it meant "to whip (the black slaves)". It has now entered the formal language of the educated classes.
• un braiseur is a colloquial word meaning an arsonist or someone who kills a person by burning that person alive (usually during a lynching). This word exists in standard French too but its meaning is "someone who grills or roasts meat". The local meaning proper to Ivory Coast was first recorded in 1993.
• le pia is a slang word meaning money. It comes perhaps from the standard French word pièce ("coin") or pierre ("stone").

When speaking in a formal context, or when meeting French speakers from outside Ivory Coast, Abidjan speakers would replace these local words with the French standard words une fille, un restaurant or une cantine, un copain, battre, un incendiaire, and l'argent respectively. Note that some local words are used across several African countries. For example chicotter is attested not only in Ivory Coast but also in Senegal, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Central African Republic, Benin, Togo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.^[5] A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. ... The Mandinka language, sometimes referred to as Mandingo, is a Mandé language spoken by some 1. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Maquis (French) or macchia (Italian; plural macchie) is a shrubland biota in Mediterranean countries, typically consisting of densely-growing evergreen shrubs such as sage, juniper and myrtle. ... Members of the Maquis in La Tresorerie For other uses, see Maquis. ... Brazilian Portuguese (português do Brasil in Portuguese) is a group of dialects of Portuguese written and spoken by virtually all the 190 million inhabitants of Brazil and by a couple of million Brazilian emigrants, mainly in the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, Japan, and Paraguay. ... Lynching is a form of violence, usually execution, conceived of by its perpetrators as extrajudicial punishment for offenders or as a terrorist method of enforcing social domination. ...

As already mentioned, these local words range from slang to formal usage, and their use therefore vary depending on the context. In Abidjan, this is how the sentence "The girl stole my money." is constructed depending on the register:^[5] In linguistics, a register is a subset of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. ...

• formal Abidjan French of the educated people: La fille m'a subtilisé mon argent.
• colloquial Abidjan French (français de Moussa): Fille-là a prend mon l'argent. (in standard French, the grammatically correct sentence should be "La fille a pris mon argent.")
• Abidjan French slang (nouchi): La go a momo mon pia. (momo is an Abidjan slang word meaning "to steal")

Kinshasa French vocabulary

Boulevard du 30 Juin in the commercial heart of Kinshasa

With more than 7 million inhabitants, Kinshasa is the largest francophone city in the world after Paris. It is the capital of the second most populated francophone country in the world, the Democratic Republic of Congo, where an estimated 24 million people (40% of the total population) can speak French (essentially as a second language).^[2] Contrary to Abidjan where French is the first language of a large part of the population, in Kinshasa French is only a second language, and its status of lingua franca is shared with Lingala. People of different African mother tongues living in Kinshasa usually speak Lingala to communicate with each other in the street, but French is the language of businesses, administrations, schools, newspapers and televisions. French is also the predominant written language. Image File history File links Kinshasa_downtown. ... Image File history File links Kinshasa_downtown. ... The Boulevard du 30 Juin (French for Boulevard of the 30th of June) is a major road in the capital city the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... Lingala is one of the Bantu languages spoken throughout the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa) and a large part of the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), as well as to some degree in Angola and the Central African Republic. ...

Due to its widespread presence in Kinshasa, French has become a local language with its own pronunciation and some local words borrowed for the most part from Lingala. Depending on their social status, some people may mix French and Lingala, or code switch between the two depending on the context. Here are examples of words particular to Kinshasa French. As in Abidjan, there exist various registers and the most educated people may frown upon the use of slangish/lingala terms. Code-switching is a term in linguistics referring to alternation between one or more languages, dialects, or language registers in the course of discourse between people who have more than one language in common. ... In linguistics, a register is a subset of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. ...

• cadavéré means broken, worn out, exhausted, or dead. It is the local pronunciation of the standard French word cadavre whose meaning in standard French is "corpse". The word cadavéré has now spread to other African countries due to the popularity of Congolese music in Africa.
• makasi means strong, resistant. It is a loanword from Lingala.
• anti-nuit are sunglasses worn by partiers at night. It is a word coined locally and whose literal meaning in standard French is "anti-night". It is one of the many Kinshasa slang words related to nightlife and partying. A reveler is known locally as un ambianceur, from standard French ambiance which means atmosphere.
• casser le bic, literally "to break the Bic", means to stop going to school.
• merci mingi means "thank you very much". It comes from standard French merci ("thank you") and Lingala mingi ("a lot").
• un zibolateur is a bottle opener. It comes from the Lingala verb kozibola which means "to open something that is blocked up or bottled", to which was added the standard French ending -ateur.
• un tétanos is a rickety old taxi. In standard French tétanos means "tetanus".
• moyen tê vraiment means "absolutely impossible". It comes from moyen tê ("there's no way"), itself made up of standard French moyen ("way") and Lingala tê ("not", "no"), to which was added standard French vraiment ("really").

Image:Bic Cristal Pen 2006-07-11. ... Tetanus is a medical condition that is characterized by a prolonged contraction of skeletal muscle fibers. ...

African member states of La Francophonie

Street sign in Arabic and French in Illizi, Algeria. The French text means: "I am fond of nature, I protect it."

Membership of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie does not require or imply that the French language is a primary language, or even a widely understood language, in a particular country. The names of countries that were never ruled by a Francophone colonial power are italicised. Note that Algeria, a former part of metropolitan France and the second largest francophone country in Africa, has so far refused to join the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie due to political tensions with France. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (3072 × 2047 pixels, file size: 907 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (3072 × 2047 pixels, file size: 907 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Illizi is a wilaya (province) in the south-eastern corner of Algeria. ... Motto Égalité, Complémentarité, Solidarité Members and participants of La Francophonie. ... Metropolitan France Metropolitan France (French: or la Métropole) is the part of France located in Europe, including Corsica (French: Corse). ...

• Benin (official language)
• Burkina Faso (official language)
• Burundi (official language, with Kirundi)
• Cameroon (official language, with English)
• Cape Verde
• Central African Republic (official language, with Sango)
• Chad (official language, with Arabic)
• Comoros (official language, with Shikomor and Arabic)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo (official language)
• Republic of the Congo (official language)
• Côte d'Ivoire (official language)
• Djibouti (official language, with Arabic)
• Egypt
• Equatorial Guinea (official language, with Spanish and Portuguese)
• France (official language)
  • Mayotte (official language)
  • Réunion
• Gabon (official language)
• Guinea (official language)
• Guinea-Bissau
• Madagascar (official language)
• Mali (official language)
• Mauritania (French is commonly used)
• Mauritius (official language)
• Morocco (French is commonly used)
• Niger (official language)
• Rwanda (official language, with Kinyarwanda and English)
• São Tomé and Príncipe
• Senegal (official language)
• Seychelles (official language, with English and Creole)
• Togo (official language)
• Tunisia (French is commonly used)

Kirundi (also written Rundi) is a Bantu language (D62 in Guthries classification) spoken by some 6 million people in Burundi and adjacent parts of Tanzania and Congo-Kinshasa, as well as in Uganda. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... For other uses, see Sango (disambiguation) Sango (also spelt Sangho) is the primary language spoken in the Central African Republic: it has 5 million second-language speakers, but only 400,000 native speakers, mainly in the towns. ... Arabic redirects here. ... Comorian (Shikomor) is the most widely used language on the Comoros (independent islands in the Indian Ocean, off Mozambique and Madagascar). ... Arabic redirects here. ... Arabic redirects here. ... Kinyarwanda is the chief spoken language in Rwanda. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Seychellois Creole, also known as Kreol, is the creole language of the Seychelles. ...

African countries with the largest numbers of French speakers

According to the 2007 report by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie,^[2] the African countries with more than 5 million French speakers are: Motto Égalité, Complémentarité, Solidarité Members and participants of La Francophonie. ...

• Democratic Republic of the Congo: 24,320,000 people can speak French either as a first or second language
• Algeria (not a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie): 19,000,000^[7]
• Côte d'Ivoire: 12,740,000
• Morocco: 10,131,000
• Cameroon: 7,343,400
• Tunisia: 6,360,000
• Guinea: 6,000,000

“Native Language” redirects here. ... A second language (L2) is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue (L1). ...

African countries with the largest percentages of French speakers

According to the 2007 report by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie,^[2] the African countries where more than 50% of the population can speak French are: Motto Égalité, Complémentarité, Solidarité Members and participants of La Francophonie. ...

• Réunion (France): 94.5% of the population can speak French either as a first or second language
• Gabon: 80%
• Mauritius: 72.7%
• Côte d'Ivoire: 70%
• São Tomé and Príncipe: 65%
• Tunisia: 63.6%
• Guinea: 63.2%
• Seychelles: 60%
• Republic of the Congo: 60%
• Equatorial Guinea: 60%
• Mayotte (France): 59%^[8]
• Algeria (not a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie): 57%^[7]

“Native Language” redirects here. ... A second language (L2) is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue (L1). ...

See also

• Maghreb
• North Africa
• French West Africa
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Colonisation of Africa
• French language

This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...  Northern Africa (UN subregion)  geographic, including above North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa. ... Location of French West Africa French West Africa (French: ) was a federation of eight French territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea (now Guinea), Côte dIvoire, Niger, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and Dahomey (now Benin). ... A political map showing national divisions in relation to the ecological break (Sub-Saharan Africa in green) A geographical map of Africa, showing the ecological break that defines the sub-Saharan area Sub-Saharan Africa is the term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south... Map showing European claimants to the African continent in 1913. ... French (français, langue française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered in speakers only by Spanish and Portuguese. ...

References

The Population Reference Bureau is a non-governmental organization, founded in 1929 by Guy Irving Burch, with support of Raymond Pearl. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto Égalité, Complémentarité, Solidarité Members and participants of La Francophonie. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... The Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) is the largest and most prominent public research organization in France. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Lund University (Swedish: ), located in Lund in southernmost Sweden, is one of Swedens most prestigious universities[2] and Scandinavias largest institution for education and research[3], frequently ranked among the worlds top 100 universities[4][5]. The university was founded in 1666 and is the second oldest... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 149th day of the year (150th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 149th day of the year (150th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 213th day of the year (214th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The honour entrance to the Ministry building on the Quai dOrsay The Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the Government of France, is the cabinet member responsible for the Republics network of relationships with foreign nations. ... This article is about the political and administrative structures of the French government. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 161st day of the year (162nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... INSEE is the French abbreviation for the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (French: Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques). ... This article is about the political and administrative structures of the French government. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 161st day of the year (162nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Links for Afrique francophone
• Dictionaries of various French speaking countries
• For French speaking Africans in London
• [1]