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29-410: The term has been used in a pejorative sense to describe the attitude of "being overly concerned with making moral judgments or being illiberal in the judgments one makes". In French literature , the moralists ( French : moralistes ) were a tradition of secular writers who described "personal, social and political conduct", typically through maxims . The tradition is associated with the salons of

58-590: A Nobel Prize in Literature : Languages of France Of the languages of France , French is the sole official language according to the second article of the French Constitution . French, a Gallo-Romance language , is spoken by nearly the entire population of France. In addition to French, several regional languages are also spoken to varying degrees, such as Alsatian , a German dialect (specifically Alemannic ; spoken by 1.44% of

87-494: A current and/or historical use, such as Occitan, which was already being written at a time when French was not and its literature has continued to thrive, with a Nobel Prize for Frédéric Mistral in 1904. It is estimated that at the time of the French Revolution in 1789, only half of the population of France could speak French, and as late as 1871 only a quarter spoke French as their native language. The topic of

116-652: A limited extent (i.e. without granting them official status) and the Délégation générale à la langue française has acquired the additional function of observing and studying the languages of France and has had et aux langues de France added to its title. The category of languages of France (in French: langues de France ) is thus administratively recognised even if this does not go so far as to provide any official status. Following his election as president, François Hollande reasserted in 2012 his campaign platform to ratify

145-541: A major creative evolution, and through the political and artistic programs of the Ancien Régime , French literature came to dominate European letters in the 17th century. In the 18th century, French became the literary lingua franca and diplomatic language of western Europe (and, to a certain degree, in America), and French letters have had a profound impact on all European and American literary traditions while at

174-569: A recognised or official status in the respective neighbouring state or territory. French itself is also a cross-border language, being spoken in neighbouring Andorra , Belgium , Italy , Luxembourg , Monaco , and Switzerland . Mother tongues of the French population (2007 AES) According to the 2007 Adult Education survey, part of a project by the European Union and carried in France by

203-509: A series of social reform movements, from antislavery and abolitionism (freedom for the slaves now), to protests against Indian Removal, to antiwar and peace efforts, to women's rights, to temperance work before and after the Civil War." As such, the campaign for women's suffrage , evidenced by the ethos of organisations such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), was highly driven by

232-465: Is also recognised as a language of France (with at least one regional variant in Provence). A large number of immigrant languages are spoken in France, with a handful having a significant number of home speakers. (Figures as of 2000) At the 1999 census, INSEE sampled 380,000 adult people all across Metropolitan France , and asked them questions about their family situation. One of the questions

261-528: Is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in the French language by citizens of other nations such as Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Senegal , Tunisia , Algeria , Morocco , etc. is referred to as Francophone literature . For centuries, French literature has been an object of national pride for French people, and it has been one of

290-587: The Ancien Régime from the 16th through the 18th centuries. The tradition begins with the Essais of Michel de Montaigne (1580), but its heyday was the late 17th century. Although the moralists wrote essays and pen-portraits , their preferred genre was the maxim. These were short abstract statements devoid of context, often containing paradoxes and always designed to shock or surprise. The moralists aimed for objective and impartial observation freed from

319-624: The Insee and based on a sample of 15,350 people, French was the mother tongue of 87.2% of the total population, or roughly 55.81 million people, followed by Arabic (3.6%, 2.3 million), Portuguese (1.5%, 960,000), Spanish (1.2%, 770,000) and Italian (1.0%, 640,000). People who spoke other languages natively made up the remaining 5.2% of the population. The regional languages of Metropolitan France include: There are also several languages spoken in France's overseas areas (see Administrative divisions of France for details): French Sign Language

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348-571: The 11th century, literature written in medieval French was one of the oldest vernacular (non-Latin) literatures in western Europe and it became a key source of literary themes in the Middle Ages across the continent. Although the European prominence of French literature was eclipsed in part by vernacular literature in Italy in the 14th century, literature in France in the 16th century underwent

377-575: The 19th century, the issues of abolition and temperance formed the "twin pillars" of moralism, becoming popular through Christian Churches in the United States, both Protestant and Roman Catholic . Moralism as promoted by some Christian denominations, such as the Quakers , manifested in wide support for abolitionism . The rise of postmillennialism in the 19th century "encouraged a general culture of Protestant moralism and pushed it toward

406-489: The European Charter and ensure a clear legal framework for regional languages (within a programme of administrative decentralisation that would give competencies to the regions in language policy). The regional languages of France are sometimes called patois , but this term (roughly meaning "dialects") is often considered derogatory. Patois is used to refer to essentially oral languages, even though some have

435-741: The European territory of the state while all the others are from overseas areas of the French Republic (in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and South America). Although ratification was blocked by the Constitutional Council as contradicting the Fifth Republic's constitutional provision enshrining French as the language of the Republic, the government continues to recognise regional and minority languages to

464-429: The French Republic is French (art. 2 of the French Constitution ) and the French government is, by law , compelled to communicate primarily in French. The government, furthermore, mandates that commercial advertising be available in French (though it can also use other languages). The French government, however, does not mandate the use of French by private individuals or corporations or in any other media. A revision of

493-663: The French constitution creating official recognition of regional languages was implemented by the Parliament in Congress at Versailles in July 2008. The 1999 Report written for the government by Bernard Cerquiglini identified 75 languages that would qualify for recognition under the government's proposed ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . Of those languages, 24 are indigenous to

522-515: The French have come to have a profound cultural attachment to their literary heritage. Today, French schools emphasize the study of novels, theater and poetry (often learnt by heart). The literary arts are heavily sponsored by the state and literary prizes are major news. The Académie française and the Institut de France are important linguistic and artistic institutions in France, and French television features shows on writers and poets (one of

551-547: The curriculum and funding of public schools are already too strained. The topic also leads to wider controversial questions of autonomy of the régions . Regarding other languages, English, Spanish, Italian and German are the most commonly studied foreign languages in French schools. In April 2001, the Minister of Education, Jack Lang , stated formally that "Depuis plus de deux siècles, les pouvoirs politiques ont combattu les langues régionales", ie for more than two centuries,

580-898: The moralism of that era. In the latter part of 20th century, as well as the 21st century, moralists in the United States turned their attention to championing the movement to criminalize abortion care. Moralists have also focused their efforts in maintaining blue laws , such as those that discourage Sunday shopping , in accordance with first-day Sabbatarian beliefs and the sensibilities of some labourers and trade unions. French literature French Language and Literature French literary history Medieval 16th century • 17th century 18th century • 19th century 20th century • Contemporary Literature by country France • Quebec Postcolonial • Haiti Franco-American Portals France • Literature French literature Wikisource French literature ( French : littérature française ) generally speaking,

609-485: The most influential aspects of the literature of Europe . France ranks first on the list of Nobel Prizes in literature by country. One of the first known examples of French literature is the Song of Roland , the first major work in a series of poems known as, " chansons de geste ". The French language is a Romance language derived from Latin and heavily influenced principally by Celtic and Frankish . Beginning in

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638-463: The most watched shows on French television was Apostrophes , a weekly talk show on literature and the arts). Literature matters deeply to the people of France and plays an important role in their sense of identity. As of 2022, fifteen French authors have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature which is more than novelists, poets and essayists of any other country. In 1964 Jean-Paul Sartre

667-406: The national population); Basque , a language isolate ; Breton , a Celtic language (spoken by 0.61%); Corsican , an Italo-Dalmatian language ; and various other Gallo-Romance languages ( Langues d'oïl 1.25%, Occitan 1.33%). Some of these languages are also spoken in neighbouring countries, such as Belgium , Germany , Switzerland , Italy , Andorra , or Spain . The official language of

696-444: The political powers of the French government had repressed regional languages, and announced that bilingual education would, for the first time, be recognised, and bilingual teachers recruited in French public schools. Some of the languages of France are also cross-border languages (for example, Basque , Catalan , Corsican , Dutch , Franc-Comtois , Franco-Provençal , Norman , Picard , Occitan and others), some of which enjoy

725-472: The preconceptions of their day. Their approach was never systematic. The four principal moralists and their main works are: In tracing the origins of moralism, sociologist Malcolm Waters writes that "Moralism emerged from a clash between the unrestrained character of frontier expansionism, a middle-class, Protestant emphasis on respectability cultivated in small-town America and an egalitarian and anti-intellectual evangelism among splinter Protestant groups." In

754-559: The same time being heavily influenced by these other national traditions. Africa and the far East have brought the French language to non-European cultures that are transforming and adding to the French literary experience today. Under the aristocratic ideals of the Ancien Régime (the "honnête homme"), the nationalist spirit of post-revolutionary France, and the mass educational ideals of the Third Republic and modern France,

783-471: The teaching of regional languages in public primary and secondary schools is controversial. Proponents of the measure state that it would be necessary for the preservation of those languages and to show respect to the local culture. Opponents contend that local languages are often non-standardised (thus making curricula difficult), of dubious practical usefulness (since most are spoken by a small number of people, without any sizable corpus of publications) and that

812-479: Was about the languages that their parents spoke with them before the age of five. This is the first time serious statistics were computed about the proportion of mother tongues in France. The results were published in Enquête familiale, Insee, 1999 . Here is a list of the nine most prominent mother tongues in France based on Enquête familiale . When the people with mother tongue and people with some exposure to

841-541: Was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, but he declined it, stating that "It is not the same thing if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre or if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize winner. A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honorable form." For most of the 20th century, French authors had more Literature Nobel Prizes than those of any other nation. The following French or French language authors have won

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