110-888: The Labour Party ( French : Parti Travailliste , PTr ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Mauritius . It is one of four main Mauritian political parties, along with the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) , the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) and the Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD) . The party is led by Navin Ramgoolam . It tends to be more popular amongst Indo-Mauritians , especially in more rural areas. Founded in 1936,
220-744: 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
330-494: A Gagging Order. She revealed that Navin Ramgoolam is the father of her daughter Xara Keiron Chandra who was born in 2009. Navin Ramgoolam's illegitimate love child was mentioned during public gatherings, for example by Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth on 19 August 2017 at the village of Circonstance in St Pierre. The former Minister of Financial Services ( Roshi Bhadain ) revealed that in 2010 Navin Ramgoolam had contracted
440-583: A breakaway from the PMSD led by Xavier-Luc Duval , the son of Sir Gaëtan Duval. The MSM/MMM alliance won 54 of the 60 directly elected mainland seats. Ramgoolam, who had retained his own seat, became Leader of the Opposition. His Alliance Social won the general elections against the MSM/MMM outgoing government. He was again appointed as prime minister with a majority of 38 out of 60 seats. His alliance also won
550-475: A breath specimen. When Navin Ramgoolam was subjected to a blood test the result was positive. As a result he was summoned for driving with excess alcohol in his blood, and was fined at Malborough Street Magistrate Court where he eventually pleaded guilty. In March 1997 local residents of Albion village complained to the police about a noisy party held at a Labour Party political activist's bungalow. Several young women and even an under-age girl had been invited to
660-666: A bus driver amassed substantial wealth and influence after becoming an activist of the Parti Travailliste and received preferential treatment in large government contracts, especially in the tourism sector and airport facilities. Investigations showed that a number of offshore companies and bank accounts had been set up in order to channel funds out of Mauritius. Investigators in Mauritius attempted to deport her back to Mauritius. Nandanee Soornack attempted to silence newspapers Le Mauricien and La Sentinelle by applying for
770-431: 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,
880-701: A constitutional agreement was made in Parliament following conferences in Lancaster and London . The coalition government, including the Labour Party, and the IFB and CAM sealed the pact for Independence. The Labour Party, led by Ramgoolam, along with Veerasamy Ringadoo , Satcam Boolell and Harold Walter, in coalition with the CAM led by Abdool Razack Mohamed and the IFB led by Sookdeo Bissoondoyal , pushed
990-555: 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
1100-450: A loan of Rs 40 millions from Bramer Bank to purchase a bungalow at Roches Noires. Bramer Bank was then part of Dawood Rawat's British American Insurance (BAI) group of companies. Instructions were given by BAI's management to its subsidiary Bramer Bank that BAI will fully guarantee Navin Ramgoolam's Rs 40 millions loan, given that Dawood Rawat was Ramgoolam's close friend and major sponsor of his political campaigns. The Rs 40 millions came from
1210-535: A motion in the Legislative Council to provide for an independent country to be declared on 12 March 1968. The Labour Party joined forces with PMSD of Gaetan Duval in 1969 to form a coalition government. In December 1976, Labour won only 28 seats out of 70, as opposed to 34 for the Bérenger's MMM Boodhoo's PSM , but remained in power by forming another alliance with the PMSD. In 1982, however,
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#17327758100501320-732: A new alliance with the MMM, proposing a constitutional amendment to upgrade the Presidency to a less ceremonial role. Ramgoolam and Bérenger, the MMM leader, claimed that the election was a referendum on the proposal, which they called the Second Republic. If the alliance won more than 45 of the 60 directly elected mainland seats, the Constitution would be amended; Ramgoolam would run for the Presidency and Bérenger would succeed him as Prime Minister. Ramgoolam and Berenger were opposed by
1430-585: A new five-year term. On the 2024 general elections, the Alliance of Change led by the Labour Party won with a clear score of 60-0. 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
1540-545: A pension fund called Super Cash Back Gold which was administered by BAI. By 2015 BAI had collapsed, contributors to pension fund Super Cash Back Gold lost their pension funds, and as part of a bail-out Bramer Bank was replaced by the National Commercial Bank. However to this date Navin Ramgoolam has not repaid any of the Rs 40 millions that he had borrowed. A seizure order for the repossession of his unpaid debt
1650-705: 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
1760-565: A possible return by Jugnauth to parliamentary politics, where Ramgoolam viewed him as a potential threat. Jugnauth's condition for accepting the offer was an alliance between the Labour Party and the MSM. At Ramgoolam's insistence, the Alliance de L'Avenir also included the PMSD, into which the PMXD, and its leader, Xavier-Luc Duval, had merged; seven of the sixty parliamentary candidates would come from
1870-494: 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
1980-683: 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 ,
2090-547: 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
2200-457: 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
2310-437: 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
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#17327758100502420-592: Is a prominent figure in the political history of Mauritius, having served multiple terms as the Prime Minister of the country. He is also the leader of the Labour Party . Following former Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth 's resignation, Ramgoolam was sworn in as Prime Minister at the State House of Mauritius in the presence of President , Prithvirajsing Roopun . Ramgoolam was Prime Minister for
2530-472: 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
2640-489: 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
2750-652: 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
2860-563: 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
2970-404: 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
3080-469: 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
3190-828: 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
3300-639: 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 ,
3410-553: 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
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3520-483: 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
3630-492: 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
3740-424: 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
3850-693: Is what prompted Navin Ramgoolam to sell the bungalow. Ramgoolam has received several accolades and honours. In 1998 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Dr Honoris Causa by the University of Mauritius , Dr Honoris Causa from Aligarh Muslim University , India and Dr Honoris Causa by the Jawaharlal Nehru University , India in October 2005. Other awards he attained are
3960-764: 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
4070-765: The British Labour Party : to protect workers' rights and freedoms and support a higher wage rate with paid leave. The movement was encouraged by 55 conferences held by the party leaders throughout the country. Among other goals were resolutions to obtain suffrage for working class representation in the Legislative Council, establish a Department of Labour, prohibit capitalist exploitation of sugar plantations and implement socialist values among Mauritian government agencies. The party founders were Maurice Curé , Jean Prosper, Mamode Assenjee, Hassenjee Jeetoo, Barthelemy Ohsan, Samuel Barbe, Emmanuel Anquetil , Godefroy Moutia and Pandit Sahadeo. Cure served as President of
4180-609: 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
4290-517: 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
4400-533: 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
4510-559: 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,
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4620-877: 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
4730-950: The LRCP&;SI from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland . On 8 July 1979 Ramgoolam married Veena Brizmohun, a Mauritian who grew up in England and was studying social sciences at the University of London. The wedding ceremony, held at Cinema BDC in Quatre Bornes, was attended by Governor General Dayendranath Burrenchobay , opposition leader Anerood Jugnauth , and others. The newly-wed couple returned to London where Veena planned to complete her studies, and her husband wanted to specialise in cardiology. Ramgoolam's early life
4840-479: The Macarena Private Party by the activist and they had to dance and undress to the tunes of Los Del Rio's song "Macarena". One woman escaped from the bungalow where former Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam and his close associates former MP Iqbal Mallam-Hassam, Air Mauritius executive Nash Mallam-Hassam, and optician Farouk Hossen were also partying and drinking heavily. A few days later Ajay Daby ,
4950-420: 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
5060-406: 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
5170-436: 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
5280-497: 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
5390-427: 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
5500-455: 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;
5610-474: 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
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#17327758100505720-510: 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
5830-614: 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,
5940-408: 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
6050-415: The Foreign Colonial Office (FCO). He was a student at University College London (UCL). British Police noticed Navin Ramgoolam driving dangerously as he committed a number of offences such as driving through a red traffic light, and performing an illegal u-turn where it was prohibited. Although he was not entitled to Diplomatic Immunity Navin Ramgoolam attempted to claim such protection after refusing to provide
6160-416: 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
6270-451: The Grand Officier de la Legion d'Honneur from France in March 2006, the Honorary Freeman of Rodrigues from Rodrigues Regional Assembly in March 2007, The Wilberforce Medal from Wilberforce Lecture Trust, Hull, United Kingdom in June 2007, The Rajiv Gandhi Award from Mumbai Regional Congress Committee , India in August 2007, The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award from Government of the Republic of India in January 2008 as well as Grand Commander of
6380-410: 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
6490-462: The Labour Party and again presented himself as the party's leader at the November 2019 elections. Before the elections he made a coalition with the Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate and Mouvement Jean-Claude Barbier which became known as Alliance Nationale . Instead of choosing Constituency No.5 Triolet, this time Ramgoolam stood as candidate in Constituency No.10 Montagne Blanche and Grand River South East . He revealed that his change of constituency
6600-448: The Labour Party is the oldest major political party in the Republic and has remained in power from 1948 to 1982, from 1995 to 2000 and from 2005 to 2014. From 1983 to 1990, it was part of a coalition government as a minority partner. As a member of the Labour Party- MMM alliance, it elected four members of parliament in the general election of 2014 . The Mauritius Labour Party was founded in 1936. Its founding principles mirrored those of
6710-400: The MMM and 4 from the Labour Party. Ramgoolam lost his seat for the first time in his political career. On 12 December 2014, he resigned as Prime Minister of Mauritius. He was so disgruntled about the loss of his seat in 2014 that, 3 years later, at a Divali Show event in 2017 he called voters of Constituency No.5 Triolet "stupid" and that they were better voters during the days when illiteracy
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#17327758100506820-479: The MMM won outright, and Ramgoolam even lost his parliamentary seat. Anerood Jugnauth of the MSM became Prime Minister . From 1983 through 1995, the Labour Party attracted little electoral support; and in 1984, Satcam Boolell , who had replaced Ramgoolam as party leader, agreed to an electoral alliance with the Militant Socialist Movement , which had broken away from the MMM. In 1995 Labour returned to power with MMM's support. Navin Ramgoolam , who had taken over
6930-411: The MSM-led Alliance Lepep, which also included the PMSD, which had been Ramgoolam's coalition partner, and a new party called Muvman Liberater , formed by a significant portion of ex-members of the MMM who were opposed to the idea of giving Ramgoolam more powers. The Alliance Lepep, which opposed the proposal for the Second Republic, won 47 seats out of 60. The Labour-MMM alliance won only 13 seats, 9 from
7040-402: 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
7150-427: The Opposition and Ramgoolam formed a one-party government. Jugnauth and Bérenger formed a new alliance to contest the 2000 elections . Part of the agreement was to allow Jugnauth to serve for the first three years of the five-year term, then resign to assume the Presidency and allow Bérenger to complete his unexpired term. Ramgoolam, for his part, formed an alliance with the Mauritian Party of Xavier-Luc Duval (PMXD),
7260-437: The Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (GCSK) from the Government of the Republic of Mauritius in March 2008. In Paris, Ramgoolam received the Prix Louise Michel, awarded generally each year to a high personality in recognition of his or her outstanding contribution in the political field. He was made Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by the Padmashree Dr D. Y. Patil University, Mumbai, India in February 2009, Fellow of
7370-435: The PMSD). The Alliance de L'Avenir won 41 of the 60 directly elected seats. Ramgoolam remained Prime Minister and Pravind Jugnauth, son of Sir Anerood Jugnauth, became his Deputy. Following the involvement of some members of the MSM in the Medpoint Scandal, however, Ramgoolam dismissed the MSM from the government. The general elections originally scheduled for 2015 were brought forward to December 2014. The Labour Party made
7480-428: The Party until he was forced to resign in 1941, at which point Anquetil took over. Anquetil died in December 1946, and Guy Rozemont served as leader until his death in 1956 at age 41. The arrival of Seewoosagur Ramgoolam in 1958 marked an important step. He was in favor of an independent Mauritius within the Commonwealth of Nations . Following the victory of the Independence Party in the general election of 1967 ,
7590-531: The board's approval. Although she benefitted from a government monthly salary of Rs 100,000, minister Xavier-Luc Duval discovered that there was no evidence of any events that she had organised, and there was no justification for her multiple trips with Navin Ramgoolam overseas. Soon after the proclamation of the December 2014 general elections in Mauritius Nandanee Soornack (born Nandanee Oogarah), girlfriend and close associate of Navin Ramgoolam, fled to Italy with 12 suitcases. The former shop assistant and wife of
7700-414: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Navin Ramgoolam Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam (born 14 July 1947) is a Mauritian politician and doctor serving as prime minister of Mauritius for the third time following the 2024 general election , after the landslide victory of his coalition Alliance du Changement . He
7810-404: 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
7920-448: 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
8030-594: 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
8140-516: 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
8250-505: The first time from December 1995 until September 2000 and then became Leader of the Opposition again from October 2000 to 4 July 2005. On 5 July 2005, he became Prime Minister for a second term after his coalition, Alliance Sociale, won the general elections. He was re-elected Prime Minister in 2005, serving until 2014. Navin Ramgoolam was born on 14 July 1947 to Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (SSR) and Sushil Ramjoorawon in Port Louis . SSR
8360-915: 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 ,
8470-829: 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
8580-465: The government. The 2014 general elections saw the victory of a MSM-PMSD-ML coalition (known as "L'alliance Lepep"). Labour Party lost and voters rejected government plans to expand presidential powers. In the November 2019 elections , Mauritius’ ruling Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) won more than half of the seats and Labour Party lost again, securing incumbent Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth
8690-519: 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
8800-479: 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
8910-612: 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 ,
9020-479: 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
9130-462: The lawyer who later represented the young women, brandished a black underwear at a public meeting, claiming that it belonged to a well known politician and that it had been recovered on Albion beach. Los Del Rio's song "Macarena" was subjected to a ban by the state's radio station MBC following Navin Ramgoolam's orders. Within three months the Labour-MMM coalition collapsed. The political scandal
9240-467: The leader of the Labour Party, subsequently contesting the 1991 general election as its candidate. The Labour Party and the MMM went on to forge an alliance to contest the 1995 elections . The alliance won all 60 directly elected seats from the mainland (with Labour taking 35 seats and the MMM 25). Ramgoolam became Prime Minister with Bérenger as his Deputy. The coalition soon fractured and Ramgoolam dismissed Bérenger in 1997. Bérenger then became Leader of
9350-553: The leadership of the Labour Party with the aim of forming a political alliance to challenge Anerood Jugnauth in the upcoming general elections. During this period, Ramgoolam worked as a doctor at Dr A.G. Jeetoo Hospital in Mauritius from 1985 to 1987. In 1987, he moved to the United Kingdom to pursue legal studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, part of the University of London. After completing his LLB degree in 1990, he returned to Mauritius and became
9460-443: The local/municipal elections in 2006 where the MSM/MMM was severely defeated. These consecutive defeats and internal instability caused the break-up of the MSM/MMM coalition. As the MSM had more seats than the MMM and Pravind Jugnauth was not elected, Nando Bodha was appointed as Leader of the Opposition. With the 2010 elections approaching, Ramgoolam decided in 2008 to support Jugnauth for re-election as President, to forestall
9570-420: 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
9680-534: 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
9790-680: The party formed the majority of L'Alliance de L'Avenir, which regrouped the Mauritius Labour Party, the MSM and the PMSD. The Alliance de L'Avenir won the 2010 general election with forty-one seats against eighteen seats for the MMM-led L'Alliance du Coeur, with one seat taken by the FSM. However, on 6 August 2011 the Alliance broke down, leaving only the Mauritius Labour Party, the PMSD and the Republican Movement (MR) in
9900-557: The party leadership in 1991, became Prime Minister of Mauritius for the first time. It lost the subsequent legislative election in 2000 , however: its coalition with the Mauritian Party of Xavier-Luc Duval secured only 36.6% of the popular vote and eight of seventy seats. Labour returned to power in the 2005 elections as part of the Alliance Sociale , which won 42 of the 70 seats. In the general election of 2010 ,
10010-471: 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
10120-471: 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
10230-466: 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
10340-754: 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
10450-508: 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
10560-485: 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
10670-599: 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
10780-402: 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
10890-503: 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
11000-518: Was also known as Albion Gate and Affaire Macarena by the local press. In March 2015 Chief Whip Mahen Jhugroo raised a question in the National Assembly about Navin Ramgoolam's young travel companion Jessica Weber for whom the position of VIP Facilitation Organizer had been specifically created within the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) since 2013. Jessica Weber was recruited by Serge Petit, CEO of Airports of Mauritius Ltd (AML) without
11110-819: 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
11220-463: 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
11330-652: 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
11440-521: Was marked by significant personal and professional transitions. In December 1985, following the death of his father, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam , the first Prime Minister of Mauritius, Ramgoolam was on the verge of emigrating to Canada; however, he was persuaded by Sir Satcam Boolell , then leader of the Labour Party, and Paul Bérenger , leader of the Mauritian Militant Movement, to return to Mauritius. They encouraged him to assume
11550-491: Was rampant in Mauritius, given that they were easier to manipulate. Ramgoolam compared his 2014 electoral wipe out to that of his father Seewoosagur Ramgoolam at the 1982 Mauritian general election . He also revealed that there was too much infighting amongst the political agents within the Labour Party. Although he was not elected at the 2014 elections in Constituency No.5 Triolet, Ramgoolam retained leadership of
11660-617: Was scheduled on 10 November 2024, where the Labour Party together with the MMM , Nouveau Démocrate and Rezistans ek Alternativ formed the " Alliance du changement ", to oppose the " Alliance Lepep " which composed of the MSM, Muvman Liberater and the PMSD. The Alliance du changement won the general election with a 60–0 in its favour. Navin Ramgoolam was arrested in the UK on 24 May 1978 in Wardour Street, Soho, London according to records of
11770-594: 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
11880-677: Was the 6th Governor General of Mauritius, as well as the first chief minister and Prime Minister of Mauritius. In the 1800s, his ancestors migrated to Mauritius from Harigaon in the Bhojpur district , Bihar . Immigration records indicate that they belonged to the Kurmi or the Koeri caste. Ramgoolam attended the Royal College Curepipe from 1960 to 1966 and then studied medicine in Ireland between 1968 and 1975, where he obtained
11990-570: 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 ,
12100-624: Was the result of a consultation that he had with a Christian priest who believed that Constituency No.10 would bring him more luck as his grand parents lived there, and that Constituency No.5 Triolet brought him bad luck as his father Seewoosagur was cremated there. However, once again Ramgoolam was not elected to the National Assembly. He legally contested the results and made the Electoral Commissioner (Irfan Raman) his main target of legal action. The general election
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