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100-474: Bossier Parish ( / ˈ b oʊ ʒ ər / BOH -zhər ; French : Paroisse de Bossier [paʁwas də bɔsje] ) is a parish located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana . At the 2020 census , the population was 128,746. The parish seat is Benton . The principal city is Bossier City , which is located east of the Red River and across from the larger city of Shreveport ,

200-550: A 2.39% increase from 2020. Additionally, researchers found that the White fertility rate increased from 1.551 in 2020 to 1.598 in 2021, the first substantial rise since 2014. Although the exact reason of why the number of births rose in 2021 is unknown, a study showed that the uptick in births came among college-educated women and native-born Americans. Despite the increase, it is still below the replacement level of 2.100. According to an analysis released in 2023 by William H. Frey ,

300-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process

400-492: A combination of traditional European ones. Today, the majority of White Americans are Protestants , although there are also large groups of Catholics and Jews throughout the population. Many Europeans often Anglicized their names and over time most Europeans adopted English as their primary language and intermarried with other white groups. Non-Hispanic Whites are the largest racial and ethnic group in America , being

500-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,

600-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and

700-693: A minority. Also, because this does not apply to Latino origin (one is either Latino or not, but cannot be both Latino and non-Latino), the offspring of Latinos and non-Latinos are usually counted as Latino. In 2017, the Pew Research Center reported that high intermarriage rates and declining Latin American immigration has led to 11% of US adults with Latino ancestry (5.0 million people) to no longer identify as Latino. First-generation immigrants from Latin America identify themselves as "Latino" at

800-705: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on

900-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in

1000-587: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and

1100-526: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only

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1200-941: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as

1300-480: A senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, only 47 percent of American children are non-Hispanic white. In 2014, the religious majority among Whites were Christians at 70%, more specifically, Protestants at 48%. However, there are also large groups of Catholics and Jews. Furthermore, 34% of White Americans go to religious services weekly, and an additional 32% go to religious services once or twice

1400-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in

1500-492: A very high rate (97%), which slowly falls in each succeeding generation (in the second generation, to 92%; in the third, to 77%; and in the fourth, to 50%). 4. Attrition . Minority populations are younger than non-Latino Whites. The national median age in 2011 was 37.3 years, with non-Latino Whites having the oldest median age (42.3); by contrast, Latinos had the youngest median age (27.6). Non-Latino Blacks (32.9) and non-Latino Asians (35.9) also are younger than whites. In 2013,

1600-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French

1700-779: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French

1800-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English

1900-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given

2000-525: Is also notable. The classification is also typically used to refer to an English -speaking American, in distinction to Spanish speakers . In some parts of the country, the term Anglo-American is used to refer to non-Hispanic white English speakers as distinct from Spanish (and Portuguese or Italian) speakers, although the term is more frequently used to refer to people of perceived British or English descent. The first Europeans who came to present United States or Canada were Norse explorers around

2100-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including

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2200-462: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share

2300-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in

2400-503: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English

2500-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from

2600-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in

2700-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for

2800-576: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,

2900-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure

3000-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in

3100-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially

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3200-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism

3300-479: The 1920s . Many of the newcomers were Catholics of Irish, Italian, and Polish descent which lead to a nativist backlash. Some Americans worried about the growing Catholic population and wanted to maintain the United States as an Anglo Saxon Protestant nation. Over the course of the 19th century, European mass emigration to the United States and high birthrates grew the white population. After

3400-425: The 2020 United States census , there were 128,746 people, 49,735 households, and 33,963 families residing in the parish. According to the 2010 U.S. census , there were 116,979 people, 62,000 households, and 37,500 families residing in the parish. The population density was 142 inhabitants per square mile (55/km). There were 49,000 housing units at an average density of 48 per square mile (19/km). The racial makeup of

3500-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of

3600-462: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as

3700-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of

3800-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains

3900-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,

4000-877: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It

4100-533: The Netherlands , France , as well as Poland , Russia , Lithuania , Norway , Sweden , Finland , the Czech Republic , the countries that were a part of the former Ottoman Empire ( Turkey , Lebanon , and Syria ), Portugal , Serbia , Croatia , Hungary , Ukraine , Armenia , and Iran . Significant migration of Jews of European, North African, and Middle Eastern descent into the United States

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4200-626: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It

4300-622: The Red River . Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier , an ethnic French, 19th-century Louisiana state senator and U.S. representative from Natchitoches Parish . Bossier Parish was spared fighting on its soil during the American Civil War . In July 1861, at the start of the war, the Bossier Parish Police Jury appropriated $ 35,000 for the benefit of Confederate volunteers and their family members left behind, an amount then considered generous. After

4400-1012: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin

4500-418: The majority of America's population at 58.4%. Although the percentage has been declining in the last few decades, from 89.5% in 1950 to 59.3% in 2022. According to generational data from the 2020 census, the racial diversity of each age group is increasing. White non-Hispanics make up 77% of the population over the age of 75, 67% of the population between the ages of 55 and 64, 55% of the population between

4600-443: The 17th century (see History of the United States ). Population growth since the early 19th century to the end of the 20th century is attributed to sustained high birth rates alongside relatively low death rates among settlers and natives alike. Population growth has slowed in the 21st century. There has also been periodic massive immigration from European and West Asian countries, especially Germany , Ireland , Italy , Greece ,

4700-460: The 1960s, 20% in the 1970s, 11% in the 1980s, 14% in the 1990s, and 13% in the 2000s. In 2009, approximately 90% of all immigrants came from non-European countries. The United States does receive a small number of non-Latino White immigrants, mainly from countries such as Canada, Poland, Russia, and the UK. 2. Intermarriage . The United States is seeing an unprecedented increase in intermarriage between

4800-506: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;

4900-465: The 2000 Census, people were allowed to check more than one race in addition to choosing "Latino". There was strong opposition to this from some civil rights activists who feared that this would reduce the size of various racial minorities. The government responded by counting those who are white and of one minority race or ethnicity as minorities for the purposes of civil-rights monitoring and enforcement. Hence one could be 1/8th Black and still be counted as

5000-773: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed

5100-685: The American Revolution, white Americans settled the entire nation west of Appalachian Mountains, ultimately displacing the Natives and populating the entire country by the late 19th century. All immigration to the United States declined markedly between the mid-1920s until the 1960s due to a combination of immigration laws, the Great Depression , and World War II . Waves of Jewish, Syrian, and Lebanese immigration also occurred around this time. Since 1965 white migration to

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5200-703: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French

5300-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,

5400-410: The Census Bureau reported that for the first time, due to the more advanced age profile of the non-Latino White population, non-Latino Whites died at a faster rate than non-Latino White births. In 2011, for the first time in American history , Non-Hispanic Whites accounted for fewer than half of the births in the country, accounting for 49.6% of total births. This increased to 51.5% in 2021, regaining

5500-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of

5600-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained

5700-539: The United States has been relatively minor compared to other racial and ethnic groups. During the 1990s there was a moderate increase from former communist countries of the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union . At the same time birthrates amongst Whites have fallen below replacement level. In 1980, non-Hispanic whites made up about 80 percent of the U.S. population, but that number has declined sharply in recent years. White Americans have developed their own music, art, cuisine, fashion, and political economy largely based on

5800-481: The ages of 35 and 44, and just 50% of the population between the ages of 18 and 24. In actuality, Non-Hispanic whites have still been growing. Between 2000 and 2010, the Non-Hispanic White population grew from 194,552,774 to 196,817,552. This was a growth of 1.2% over the 10-year period, due to population momentum . The population continued to grow to 196,817,552 in 2010 to 197,639,521 in 2022. The reason for falling percentage of non-Latino/Hispanic white Americans in

5900-444: The coastal regions developing a commercial economy. Between one-half and two-thirds of White immigrants to the American colonies between the 1630s and American Revolution had come as indentured servants . The total number of European immigrants to all 13 colonies before 1775 was about 500,000; of these 55,000 were involuntary prisoners. Of the 450,000 or so European arrivals who came voluntarily, an estimated 48% were indentured. By

6000-453: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Non-Hispanic or Latino whites The Non-Hispanic White population was heavily derived from British , as well as French settlement of the Americas, in addition to settlement by other Europeans such as the Germans (see Pennsylvania Dutch ), Swiss , Belgians , Dutch , Austrians , and Swedes that began in

6100-404: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French

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6200-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French

6300-489: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as

6400-406: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of

6500-439: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,

6600-715: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being

6700-401: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French

6800-424: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon

6900-501: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,

7000-450: The last century is due to multiple factors: 1. Non-European Immigration . The United States has the largest number of immigrants in the world, with the vast majority coming from countries where the population is of non-White and/or Latin American origin. Immigration to the United States from European countries has been in a steady decline since World War II averaging 56% of all immigrants in the 1950s and declining to 35% of all immigrants in

7100-428: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what

7200-452: The majority in the process. This is likely due to the birth rate declining among people of color. For example, between 1990 and 2010, the birth rate declined 29% among Blacks, 25 percent among Asians, 21% among Hispanics, but only 5% among White people. If this trend continues the White birth rate will surpass the Black birth rate in a few years. A total of 1,887,656 babies were born in 2021,

7300-815: The mid-20th century. Bossier Parish has since reliably voted for Republican candidates in most contested U.S. presidential elections. Since 1952, George Wallace , the former governor of Alabama who ran in 1968 on the American Independent Party ticket, has been the only non-Republican to carry Bossier Parish. In 2008, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona won in Bossier Parish with 32,713 votes (71.4 percent) over Democrat Barack H. Obama of Illinois , who received 12,703 votes (27.8 percent). In 2012, Mitt Romney polled 34,988 votes (72 percent) in Bossier Parish (2,275 more ballots than McCain drew in 2008). President Obama won 12,956 (26.6) of

7400-485: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by

7500-589: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;

7600-534: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of

7700-594: The parish in 2010 was 70.66% White , 18.52% Black or African American , 0.82% Native American , 2.18% Asian , 0.18% Pacific Islander , 1.00% from other races , and 1.65% from two or more races; 8.15% of the population were Hispanic or Latino American of any race. According to the 2019 American Community Survey , the racial and ethnic makeup of the parish was 65.9% non-Hispanic white , 23.2% African American, 0.7% Native American, 2.2% Asian, 0.9% some other race, 1.7% two or more races, and 6.9% Hispanic or Latino American of any race. In 2020, its racial and ethnic makeup

7800-712: The police jury are: Since the late 20th century, the non-Hispanic white population of the parish has shifted from the Democratic to the Republican Party (as have most conservative whites in Louisiana and other Southern U.S. states). The state was a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party from the period after the turn of the century (when most Blacks were disenfranchised in Louisiana) to

7900-471: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French

8000-471: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in

8100-710: The seat of Caddo Parish . The parish was formed in 1843 from the western portion of Claiborne Parish . Bossier Parish is part of the Shreveport –Bossier City metropolitan statistical area , the largest metropolitan area in North Louisiana . Lake Bistineau and Lake Bistineau State Park are included in parts of Bossier and neighboring Webster and Bienville parishes. Loggy Bayou flows south from Lake Bistineau in southern Bossier Parish, traverses western Bienville Parish, and in Red River Parish joins

8200-411: The time of American Revolution there were about 2.5 million Whites in the colonies. The white population was largely of English, Irish, Scotch-Irish, Scottish, German, Dutch and French Huguenot descent at the time. Between the revolution and the 1820s there was relatively little immigration to the United States. Starting after the 1820s large scale migration to the United States began and lasted until

8300-520: The total in Iberia Parish in the South of the state. Overall, parishes in northwest Louisiana had the highest rates of lynchings. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the parish has a total area of 867 square miles (2,250 km), of which 840 square miles (2,200 km) is land and 27 square miles (70 km) (3.1%) is water. Four miles east of Bossier City is Barksdale Air Force Base . At

8400-466: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In

8500-679: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French

8600-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by

8700-485: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of

8800-741: The various racial and ethnic groups. In 2008, a record 14.6% of all new marriages in the United States were between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from one another. 9% of non-Latino whites who married in 2008 married either a non-White or Latino. Among all newlyweds in 2008, intermarried pairings were primarily white-Latino of any race (41%) as compared to white-Asian (15%), white-black (11%), and other combinations (33%). Other combinations consists of pairings between different minority groups, multi-racial people, and Native Indigenous Americans. The children of such unions would not automatically be classified as white non-Latino. One self-identifies his or her racial and/or ethnic category. 3. Methodology . In

8900-772: The votes in Bossier Parish. The 165th CSS (Combat Service Support) Battalion is headquartered in Bossier City. This unit was deployed to Iraq in 2008. Also located in Bossier City is the 156TH Army Band which deployed as part of the 256th Infantry Brigade in 2010 to Iraq. Bossier Parish School Board operates public schools in the parish. It is in the service areas of Bossier Parish Community College and Northwest Louisiana Technical Community College . 32°41′N 93°36′W  /  32.68°N 93.60°W  / 32.68; -93.60 French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )

9000-433: The war, whites used violence and intimidation to maintain dominance over the newly emancipated freedmen . From the end of Reconstruction into the 20th century, violence increased as conservative white Democrats struggled to maintain power over the state. In this period, Bossier Parish had 26 lynchings of African Americans by whites, part of racial terrorism. This was the fifth-highest total of any parish in Louisiana, tied with

9100-536: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of

9200-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as

9300-465: The year 1000; however, they were ultimately absorbed or killed off, leaving no permanent settlements behind. In the 1500s, Spain founded several settlements in the contiguous United States, like San Agustín . Later, Pilgrims and colonists came in the 1600s along the East Coast , mainly from England, in search of economic opportunities and religious freedom. Over time emigrants from Europe settled

9400-477: Was 61.35% non-Hispanic white, 23.2% African American, 0.45% Native American, 1.82% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 5.15% multiracial, and 7.95% Hispanic or Latino American of any race, reflecting nationwide demographic trends of mass diversification. Bossier Parish is governed by a 12-member elected body: the Bossier Parish Police Jury (which is equivalent to a county commission in other states). Members are elected from single-member districts .The current members of

9500-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French

9600-819: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but

9700-451: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul

9800-708: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates

9900-594: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of

10000-570: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,

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