125-750: The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic ( French : la Constitution de la Cinquième République) , and it replaced the Constitution of the Fourth Republic of 1946 with the exception of the preamble per a 1971 decision of the Constitutional Council . The current Constitution regards the separation of church and state , democracy, social welfare, and indivisibility as core principles of
250-744: 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
375-584: A High Court (a never-as-yet-convened court for trying the Government), a Constitutional Council (an innovation of the Fifth Republic), and an Economic and Social Council. A unique feature of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic is that it establishes a shared law-making power between two branches of government, the legislative branch, where such powers resided in previous constitutions, and
500-475: A broader trend during post-war Europe to establish specialized judiciary tribunals to serve as a bulwark against unconstitutional legislative activities. However, the Council was quite limited in its power under de Gaulle’s presidency and was only decisive when it erroneously upheld a popular referendum to streamline the popular presidential election via the Constitution. Following de Gaulle’s resignation in 1969 ,
625-431: 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,
750-718: A first under the Fifth Republic , marking "a form of strengthening of the Senate". Bicameralism was first introduced in France amid the French Revolution in 1795 ; as in many countries, it assigned the upper chamber with the role of moderating the lower, although for a long time as an ally of the executive . The present selection mode of the Senate dates back to the start of the Third Republic , when it
875-555: 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
1000-636: A higher income, capital and land possession compared to general voters. As an indirectly elected house, the Senate is often criticised by political parties such as La France Insoumise on the left and the National Rally on the right as not being sufficiently popularly representative. Although both La France Insoumise and the National Rally enjoy significant representation in the National Assembly, they are far less represented in
1125-488: A limited legislative competence: article 34 of the Constitution lists domains exclusive to parliamentary legislation, but the remaining domains are left to the executive's regulations. The president also has the crucial powers to call a referendum and to dissolve the National Assembly . While Parliament may make a vote of no confidence on the government, since 1962 a majority in the National Assembly has supported
1250-456: A majority that did not support the president. Such periods as known in France as cohabitation , where a president appoints a prime minister from the new parliamentary majority. During cohabitation, besides powers reserved to the president by the Constitution, all other government powers would be exercised by the prime minister. In 2000, the Constitution was amended by shortening the president's term of office from seven years to five, coinciding with
1375-652: 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
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#17327649213631500-494: 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
1625-683: 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 the United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ,
1750-447: A result of its election relying on what is often summed up as rural mayors, it has had a right-wing majority since 1958, with only a three-year exception in 2011–2014. The President of the Senate is to step in as acting President of France in case of an incapacitation or a vacancy, which last happened in 1974. The officeholder also appoints three members of the Constitutional Council . Since 2014, Gérard Larcher has been President of
1875-537: A secular and democratic country, deriving its sovereignty from the people. Since 2005 it includes the ten articles of the Charter for the Environment . The French Constitution established a semi-presidential system of government, with two competing readings. On one hand, the executive branch has both a president of the republic and a prime minister , which is commonly seen in parliamentary systems with
2000-641: A strong executive. Since the ruling, the Constitutional Council has added the 2004 Charter of the Environment to France’s Constitutional Block, demonstrating France’s newfound tenacity in judicial review. In the Constitution are written the principles of the French Republic: The Constitution, in Article 89, has an amending formula. First, a constitutional bill must be approved by both houses of Parliament. Then,
2125-525: A symbolic president and a prime minister who directs the government. This reading is supported by Articles 5 and 21 of the Constitution, which respectively states that the president is a Guardian of the State and of the Constitution, while the prime minister has the power to decide on Government's actions and policies. On the other hand, the Parliament is very weak for a parliamentary system. Parliament has
2250-528: A third of them were subsequently ratified by Parliament. The loi d'habilitation is a new constitutional feature, not present in earlier constitutions. Power sharing was unique in being part of the constitution in the Fifth Republic, but the practice was not recent. The determination that Parliament has responsibility for the law goes back to article 6 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man of 1789, and
2375-513: A threat to the public order and national security. This led to opposition from the French Senate , whose president appealed to the Constitutional Council. Consequently, in 1971, the Constitutional Council ruled its landmark decision 71-44 DC , better known as the 1971 Freedom of Association Decision. In such, the Council broke precedent by striking down legislation that allegedly violated the right to freedom of association, thereby fostering
2500-547: 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
2625-457: 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 is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As
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#17327649213632750-437: 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
2875-472: 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
3000-489: 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
3125-421: Is compatible with European Union law . The Constitution also sets out methods for its own amendment: a referendum (article 11) or a parliamentary process with presidential consent. The normal procedure of constitutional amendment is that the amendment must be adopted in identical terms by both houses of Parliament and then must be adopted by a simple majority in a referendum or by a three-fifths supermajority of
3250-652: 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
3375-563: 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
3500-404: 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
3625-459: Is limited. As was the case in the Fourth Republic's constitution, new cabinets do not have to receive a vote of confidence. Also, a vote of censure can occur only after 10 per cent of the members sign a petition; if rejected, those members that signed cannot sign another petition until that session of Parliament has ended. If the petition gets the required support, a vote of censure must gain an absolute majority of all members, not just those voting. If
3750-469: 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
3875-828: 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
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4000-639: 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 ,
4125-553: 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
4250-483: 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
4375-492: 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
4500-424: 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
4625-482: The ordonnance has the same status as a réglement (regulation), and can therefor be challenged by the Council of State ; but after ratification, it takes on the same status as a statute ( loi ), and can no longer be challenged. In practice, there have been 23 such lois d'habilitation from 1960 to 1990, with effective periods from one month to three and a half years, resulting in 150 ordonnances . About
4750-764: 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
4875-609: 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
5000-517: 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 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
5125-533: 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
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5250-559: 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,
5375-493: The French Congress , a joint session of both houses of Parliament (article 89). Prior to 1971, though executive, administrative and judicial decisions had to comply with the general principles of law ( jurisprudence derived from law and the practice of law in general), there were no such restrictions on legislation. It was assumed that unelected judges and other appointees should not be able to overrule laws voted for by
5500-518: The Government relies: in case of disagreement, the Assembly can in many cases have the last word, although the Senate keeps a role in some key procedures, such as constitutional amendments . However, following the 2024 snap legislative election and the ensuing political fragmentation in the Assembly, the newly-appointed Barnier government holds a majority in the Senate but not in the Assembly,
5625-823: 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
5750-630: The National Assembly . The left, led by the Socialist Party, gained control of the Senate for the first time since 1958 during the 2011 election , leading to the election of Jean-Pierre Bel at its presidency. This proved a short-lived win, as the right, led by the Union for a Popular Movement , regained the Senate three years later. The Senate has a larger share of citizens (especially of local descent, compared to non-citizens) among its voters compared to other institutions. Also, Senate voters have
5875-626: 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
6000-631: 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 was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by
6125-775: 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
6250-689: 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; 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
6375-427: 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 is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in
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#17327649213636500-420: The 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the 1946 constitutional preamble, which were henceforth part of the legislative domain. and after further reforms in 1996, the legislative domain has more power than was originally thought in 1958. It enables the ratification of international treaties and those associated with the European Union. It is unclear whether the wording, especially the reserves of reciprocity,
6625-455: 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;
6750-474: 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
6875-433: The Assembly and the Senate have politically distinct majorities, the Assembly will in most cases prevail; open conflict between the two houses is uncommon. As per article 24 of the Constitution, the Senate is the representative of the territories and defends the local elected officials. The Senate also serves to monitor the administration's actions by publishing many reports each year on various topics. Until September 2004,
7000-510: 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
7125-614: 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,
7250-405: The Constitution. Although Article 1 of the Third Republic 's Constitutional Act of 25 February 1874 explicitly forbade the Parliament to delegate its responsibility, within five years this was ignored and had occurred several times. In 1939, in the runup to the Second World War, Parliament gave the government the power to enact decrees to protect the country. This practice became entrenched after
7375-401: The Council entertained greater judicial power and discretion upon adjudicating in the consequential political crisis. The staunch Gaullist Georges Pompidou was elected as de Gaulle’s replacement. He faced a political crisis when his Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas pressured the National Assembly into banning the radical Proletarian Left (La gauche prolétarienne) twice, which he deemed
7500-408: 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
7625-411: The French state. Charles de Gaulle was the main driving force in introducing the new constitution and inaugurating the Fifth Republic , while the text was drafted by Michel Debré . Since then, the constitution has been amended twenty-five times, through 2024 . The preamble of the constitution recalls the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from 1789 and establishes France as
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#17327649213637750-416: 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
7875-534: The Government. Charles de Gaulle, the first president of the Fifth Republic, was instrumental in the adoption of the new constitution, as he was called back from retirement and narrowly avoided a coup resulting from the Algerian War . De Gaulle always supported the second interpretation of the constitution, in favor of a powerful president. The first socialist president, François Mitterrand, elected in 1981, also supported this interpretation. Beginning in 1986, elections have from time to time resulted in Parliaments with
8000-410: 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 a second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as
8125-403: The National Assembly. However, 90% of the electors are delegates appointed by councillors. This system introduces a bias in the composition of the Senate favoring rural areas. As a consequence, while the political majority changes frequently in the National Assembly, the Senate has remained politically right, with one brief exception (2011–2014), since the foundation of the Fifth Republic , much to
8250-402: 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 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
8375-448: The Parliament can temporarily delegate a portion of its constitutional law-making power to the government to enable rapid consummation of urgent legislation, by passing an enabling law of legislative delegation called a loi d'habilitation ("enabling law"). According to Article 21, a loi d'habilitation may be issued by Parliament upon request of the government to temporarily delegate Parliament's constitutional law-making power to
8500-404: The Senate had 321 members, each elected to serve for a nine-year term. In that month, the term was reduced to six years, while – to reflect a growth in the country's population – the number of senators was set to increase progressively, to reach 348 by 2011. Senators had been elected in thirds every three years; this was also changed to one half of their number every three years. The president of
8625-457: The Senate is elected by senators from among their members. The current incumbent is Gérard Larcher . The President of the Senate is, under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, first in the line of succession—in case of death, resignation or removal from office (only for health reasons)—to the presidency of the French Republic , becoming Acting President of the Republic until a new election can be held. This happened twice for Alain Poher —once at
8750-400: The Senate. The Senate is housed inside the Luxembourg Palace in the 6th arrondissement of Paris . Like the National Assembly, it is guarded by Republican Guards . In front of the building lies the Senate's garden, the renowned Jardin du Luxembourg , open to the public. France's first experience with an upper house was under the Directory from 1795 to 1799, when the Council of Ancients
8875-404: The Senate. When the Senate and the National Assembly cannot agree on a bill, the administration can decide, after a procedure called commission mixte paritaire , to give the final decision to the National Assembly, whose majority is normally on the government's side, but as regarding the constitutional laws the administration must have the Senate's agreement. This does not happen frequently; usually
9000-475: The bill must either be approved by the Congress , a special joint session of both houses, or submitted to a referendum . In 1962, Charles de Gaulle proposed that the president be elected by direct suffrage. He bypassed the amendment procedure by directly sending a constitutional amendment to referendum (article 11). The Art. 11 procedure was envisioned as a procedure for proposing legislation, including changing
9125-582: The collective principles of the Constitutional Block. Prior to the 1971 Freedom of Association Decision, the Council could only verify laws under the explicit textual stipulation of the 1958 Constitution. Since the 1971 decision, the Constitutional Court obtained an enhanced role in judicial review by having a broader constitutional basis to review alleged legislative breaches, curbing the goal of Gaullists from 1958 of maintaining
9250-415: The control of the Senate; they retained their majority in 2017 . Under the Constitution of France , the Senate has nearly the same powers as the National Assembly . Bills may be submitted by the government ( projets de loi ) or by either house of Parliament ( propositions de loi ). Because both houses may amend the bill, it may take several readings to reach an agreement between the National Assembly and
9375-550: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Senate (France) 48°50′54″N 2°20′14″E / 48.84833°N 2.33722°E / 48.84833; 2.33722 The Senate ( French : Sénat , [sena] ) is the upper house of the French Parliament , with the lower house being the National Assembly ,
9500-519: 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
9625-549: The directly elected French parliament. One of the cornerstones of the Constitution of the French Fifth Republic was the establishment of the Constitutional Council , composing of nine justices, who oversaw the constitutionality of legislation (treaties, statutes, regulations), ensured election and referendum oversight, and arbitrated legislative disputes between the President and National Assembly. This followed
9750-496: The displeasure of the Socialists . This has spurred controversy, especially after the 2008 election in which the Socialist Party, despite controlling all but two of France's regions , a majority of departments , as well as communes representing more than 50% of the population, still failed to achieve a majority in the Senate. The Senate has also been accused of being a "refuge" for politicians that have lost their seats in
9875-448: 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
10000-594: 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
10125-473: The executive branch headed by the president and his appointed prime minister. Parliament has the fundamental responsibility for passing legislation in the Fifth Republic. There are two Houses of Parliament, the National Assembly and the Senate . The Assembly is directly elected, and the more important, and has primary power in passing legislation; the Senate can delay, but ultimately not block it. Traditionally,
10250-516: 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
10375-915: 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 ,
10500-829: 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
10625-416: The government in a specifically defined subject area and for a specific length of time. While in effect, Parliament is blocked from issuing statutes in that area, and the government is permitted to draw up ordonnances that normally would be beyond their remit. The ordonnance comes into effect immediately, but must be ratified by Parliament before the end of the period or it expires. Until ratification,
10750-454: 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
10875-479: 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
11000-612: 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 ,
11125-479: 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
11250-416: The less populated constituencies (one or two seats), they are elected individually, whereas in more populated ones (three seats or more), they are elected on lists. It is common for senators to hold dual mandates , such as in a regional council or departmental council . The Senate enjoys less prominence than the National Assembly, which is elected on direct universal ballot and upon the majority of which
11375-655: The model of the British House of Lords . At first it contained hereditary peers, but following the July Revolution of 1830, it became a body whose members were appointed for life. The Second Republic returned to a unicameral system after 1848, but soon after the establishment of the Second Empire in 1852, a Senate was established as the upper chamber. In the Fourth Republic , the Senate
11500-420: 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
11625-517: The organization of constitutional institutions. The 1962 referendum was approved by 62% of the vote but only 46% of registered voters. The amendment permitted the establishment of a popularly-elected presidency, which would otherwise have been vetoed by the Parliament. The referendum was highly controversial at the time, but the Constitutional Council ruled that it can only review legislative acts for unconstitutionality, not executive acts; since
11750-416: The original version of Article 37, everything that was not reserved to the legislative domain in article was of a regulatory character (i.e., under control of the executive branch), although that clause was removed later. Since 1982, the legislative domain expanded, and since the landmark 1971 decision of the Constitutional Council , additional sources were defined as part of the constitutional block , such as
11875-534: 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
12000-471: 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
12125-443: The president to address Parliament in-session and ended the president's right of collective pardon. (See French constitutional law of 23 July 2008 ). On 4 March 2024, Parliament amended Article 34 in a 780 to 72 vote. This amendment made France, as of passage, the only nation to guarantee the right to an abortion. The amendment describes abortion as a "guaranteed freedom"; while Yugoslavia included similar measures in 1974 guaranteeing
12250-571: The prime minister is the executive branch's liaison with Parliament; Article 49 says they must pledge this role. This is weaker than the constitutions of the Third or Fourth republics, where the government could not be installed until Parliament had received the pledge from the prime minister. The unique aspect in the Fifth Republic is in Article 21 , where the prime minister has the power to make legislation. In another unique feature in Article 38 ,
12375-438: The referendum was proposed by the executive, it was unreviewable. Since a referendum expressed the will of the sovereign people, the Council ruled that the amendment had been adopted. Some scholars had regarded the amendment as a post hoc manifestation of the constituent power, which is the inherent power of the people to bypass an existing constitution to adopt a new constitution. Article 11 was used for constitutional changes for
12500-460: The resignation of Charles de Gaulle and once at the death of Georges Pompidou . The President of the Senate also has the right to designate three of the nine members of the Constitutional Council , serving for nine years. Senators are elected indirectly by approximately 150,000 officials, known as the grands électeurs , including regional councillors, department councillors, mayors, municipal councillors in large communes, as well as members of
12625-471: 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
12750-529: The right to "decide on having children", the French amendment is the first to explicitly guarantee abortion. [REDACTED] French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of
12875-447: The role of the executive branch was only to execute it. In theory, Parliament would specify general laws, and the executive could only make regulations about how to apply the laws to day-to-day situations. In practice, this turned out differently, as Parliament on its own initiative sometimes passed acts delegating to the executive the right to alter or void acts of Parliament, called décrets-lois . This practice slowly found its way into
13000-505: The second and final time in 1969 , but the "No" prevailed, causing Charles de Gaulle to resign from the presidency. On 21 July 2008, Parliament passed constitutional reforms championed by President Nicolas Sarkozy by a margin of two votes. The changes, when finalized, introduced a consecutive two-term limit for the presidency, gave Parliament a veto over some presidential appointments, ended government control over Parliament's committee system, allowed Parliament to set its own agenda, allowed
13125-490: The term of Parliament. The amendment means the presidential election would take place around the parliamentary election, making it more likely to have winners who agree with one another and make cohabitation less likely. The Constitution provides for the election of the president and the Parliament , the selection of the Government, the powers of each and the relations between them. It ensures judicial authority and creates
13250-466: 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
13375-476: The two houses constituting the legislature of France . It is made up of 348 senators ( sénateurs and sénatrices ) elected by part of the country's local councillors in indirect elections . Senators have six-year terms, with half of the seats up for election every three years. They represent France's departments (328), overseas collectivities (8) and citizens abroad (12). Senators' mode of election varies upon their constituency's population size: in
13500-408: The two houses eventually agree on the bill, or the administration decides to withdraw it. This power however gives the National Assembly a prominent role in the law-making process, especially since the administration is necessarily of the same side as the Assembly, for the Assembly can dismiss the administration through a motion of censure. The power to pass a vote of censure, or vote of no confidence,
13625-679: 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
13750-508: 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
13875-485: 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
14000-480: The war, despite the fact that Article 13 of the 1946 Constitution of the newly founded Fourth Republic expressly forbade it. Part of the reason for this, was a lot of squabbling among numerous small political parties in Parliament, who were unable to agree on anything and were ineffective in passing legislation. This became especially problematic in the 1950s, as the crisis in Algeria began to heat up, and Parliament
14125-536: 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
14250-402: 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
14375-503: 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 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
14500-591: The “Constitutional Block.” The Block consisted of the 1958 Constitution, explicit standards ( Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 , the Preamble to the Constitution of the Fourth Republic or 1946 Constitution ), and implicit standards (the fundamental principles of the Republic —indivisibility, secularism, democracy, equal opportunity). Thus, according to the Council, the actions taken violated
14625-819: 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
14750-400: 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
14875-536: 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
15000-470: Was replaced by the Council of the Republic , but its function was largely the same. With the new Constitution of the Fifth Republic which came into force on 4 October 1958, the older name of Senate was restored. In 2011 , the Socialist Party won control of the Senate for the first time since the foundation of the Fifth Republic. In 2014 , the centre-right Gaullists and their allies won back
15125-594: 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
15250-570: 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 ,
15375-683: Was the upper chamber. There were Senates in both the First and Second Empires (the former being known as the Sénat conservateur , the latter as the French Senate), but these were only nominally legislative bodies – technically they were not legislative, but rather advisory bodies on the model of the Roman Senate . With the Restoration in 1814, a new Chamber of Peers was created, on
15500-445: Was turned into what Léon Gambetta famously called a "grand council of the communes of France". Over time, it developed a sense of independence as a "guardian of the institutions" and "guardian of liberties", favoured by the fact that senators are on average older than deputies in the Assembly, joining the Senate in the later part of their career. Debates in the Senate tend to be less tense and generally receive less media coverage. As
15625-465: Was unable to deal with it. Charles de Gaulle, a private citizen at the time, realized that the way out was to have a more powerful executive and a weaker Parliament; when he was finally invited to form a new government in 1958 and write a constitution, his ideas were incorporated into the Constitution of the Fifth Republic , including the legislative power sharing defined in Articles 21 and 38. In
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