137-528: [REDACTED] This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Poncelet Prize" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( April 2011 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) The Poncelet Prize ( French : Prix Poncelet )
274-474: A board of directors , and the CGPM to a shareholders' meeting . The General Conference on Weights and Measures ( Conférence générale des poids et mesures or CGPM) is the principal decision-making body put on place by the convention. It is made up of delegates from member states and [non-voting] observers from associate states and economies. The conference usually meets every four years to receive and discuss
411-744: 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
548-567: A better basis for temperature measurement than did the triple point of water, as it overcame these difficulties. Over the next few years the support for natural constants grew and details were clarified, until in November 2018, the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures voted unanimously in favour of revised definitions of the SI base units . The 2019 revision of the SI came into force on
685-431: 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,
822-555: 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
959-534: A forum within the CIPM to ensure harmonization of measurement standards across many disciplines . In addition, what were originally conceived as standards for the purposes of trade have now been extended to cover a large number of aspects of human activity including medicine, science, engineering and technology. The metre convention was originally drawn up with the main purpose of providing standards of length and mass only. Standards relating to other quantities were under
1096-500: A new meridional measurement. They were eventually reassured when the German-born Swiss delegate Adolphe Hirsch said "no serious scientist would in our day and age contemplate a metre deduced from the size of the earth". When the conference was reconvened in 1875, it was proposed that new prototype metre and kilogram standards be manufactured to reproduce the values of the existing artifacts as closely as possible. Although
1233-705: 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
1370-522: A permanent organizational structure for member governments to act in common accord on all matters relating to units of measurement. The governing organs of the BIPM are: The headquarters or secretariat of the BIPM is at Saint-Cloud , France. It employs around 70 people and hosts BIPM's formal meetings. Initially the scope of the Metre Convention covered only units of mass and length. In 1921, at
1507-494: 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
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#17327758508871644-400: A report from the CIPM and to endorse new developments in the SI on the advice of the CIPM though at the 2011 meeting, it agreed to meet again in 2014 rather than 2015 to discuss the maturity of the new SI proposals . It is also responsible for new appointments to the CIPM and decides on major issues concerning the development and financing of the BIPM. According to the Metre Convention (Art. 4)
1781-587: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and
1918-526: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only
2055-941: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as
2192-419: A thousand years, while others, such as the aune ( ell – used to measure cloth) and the livre ( pound ) varied dramatically from locality to locality. By the time of the revolution, the number of units of measure had grown to the extent that it was almost impossible to keep track of them. In England in 1215, clause 35 of Magna Carta required that the same standards of measurement be applied throughout
2329-547: 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
2466-547: A very high precision. These projects provided tools that enabled alternative means of redefining the kilogram. A report published in 2007 by the Consultative Committee for Thermometry to the CIPM noted that their definition of temperature had proved to be unsatisfactory for temperatures below 20 K and for temperatures above 1300 K. The committee was of the view that the Boltzmann constant provided
2603-437: 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
2740-779: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French
2877-472: 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
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#17327758508873014-489: 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
3151-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including
3288-462: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share
3425-479: Is awarded by the French Academy of Sciences . The prize was established in 1868 by the widow of General Jean-Victor Poncelet for the advancement of the sciences. It was in the amount of 2,000 francs (as of 1868), mostly for the work in applied mathematics . The precise wording of the announcement by the academy varied from year to year and required the work be "in mechanics ", or "for work contributing to
3562-652: 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
3699-503: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
3836-414: Is hampered by one country not recognising the quality controls in place in other countries – often due to standards being different or being incompatible with each other. At the 20th CGPM (1995), it was recognized that although ad-hoc recognition of instrument calibration between cooperating countries had been taking place for a hundred years, a need had arisen for a more comprehensive agreement. Consequently,
3973-404: 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
4110-469: 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
4247-828: 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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4384-419: Is responsible for the running of ten consultative committees (CCs), each of which investigates different aspects of metrology – one CC discusses the measurement of temperature, another the measurement of mass and so on. The CIPM meets annually at Saint-Cloud to discuss annual reports from the various CCs, to submit an annual report to the governments of member states in respect of the administration and finances of
4521-576: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
4658-553: 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
4795-483: 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
4932-492: 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
5069-424: 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
5206-841: Is to catalogue the capabilities of National Measurement Institutes (NMIs) such as NIST in the United States or the National Physical Laboratory in Britain whose calibration procedures have been peer-assessed. The essential points of CIPM-MRA are: Subsequent to launch of the CIPM MRA and in response to a European Community directive on in vitro medical devices, the Joint Committee for Traceability in Laboratory Medicine (JCTLM)
5343-764: 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
5480-462: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as
5617-535: The Carolingian system, introduced by the first Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne (800–814 AD) which in turn were based on ancient Roman measures. Charlemagne brought a consistent system of measures across the entire empire. However, after his death, the empire fragmented and many rulers introduced their own variants of the units of measure. Some of Charlemagne's units of measure, such as the pied du Roi (the king's foot ) remained virtually unchanged for about
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5754-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
5891-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
6028-559: 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,
6165-641: The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), an intergovernmental organization , under the authority of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) and the supervision of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM). These organizations coordinate international metrology and the development of internationally recognized systems of measurement . The Metre Convention established
6302-877: 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
6439-626: 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
6576-944: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
6713-473: The atomic clock it has been possible to define and measure International Atomic Time with sufficient precision that variations in the Earth's rotation can be detected. The International Earth Rotation Service monitors these changes relative to the stars at regular intervals and proposes leap seconds as and when these are needed. Currently there are over 200 atomic clocks in over 50 national laboratories around
6850-484: The 144th anniversary of the convention, 20 May 2019. The BIPM has two classes of adherents – full membership for those states that wish to participate in the activities of the BIPM and associate membership for those countries or economies that only wish to participate in the MRA programme. Associate members have observer status at the CGPM. Since all formal liaison between the convention organizations and national governments
6987-506: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
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#17327758508877124-773: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
7261-440: The BIPM and to advise the CGPM on technical matters as and when necessary. Each member of the CIPM is from a different member state – with France, in recognition of its work in setting up the convention, always having one seat on the CIPM. The Secretariat (or Headquarters) of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures ( Bureau international des poids et mesures or BIPM) is based at Saint-Cloud, France. It has custody of
7398-406: The BIPM through their national metrology institutes (NMIs). As of 13 January 2020 , the CGPM had 62 members and 40 associates. Membership in the CGPM requires payment of substantial fees. Being in arrears with these payments over a span of years has led to expulsion of some former members. Before the French Revolution , which started in 1789, French units of measurement were based on
7535-435: The CIPM was mandated to investigate the setting up of a Mutual Recognition Agreement in respect of instrument calibration. Any such agreement would require the keeping of records that could demonstrate the traceability of calibrations back to the base standards. Such records would be recorded within an ISO 9000 framework. Four years later, in 1999 the text of the CIPM-MRA was agreed at the 21st CGPM. The CIPM-MRA scheme
7672-510: 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
7809-614: 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,
7946-408: 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
8083-411: The English system of measure. From 1668 to 1776 the French standard of length was the Toise of Châtelet which was fixed outside the Grand Châtelet in Paris. In 1735 two geodetic standards were calibrated against the Toise of Châtelet. One of them, the Toise of Peru was used for the French Geodesic Mission to the Equator . In 1766 the Toise of Peru became the official standard of length in France and
8220-580: The French Academy of Sciences 1868 establishments in France Hidden categories: Webarchive template wayback links CS1: long volume value CS1 French-language sources (fr) CS1 maint: untitled periodical Articles needing additional references from April 2011 All articles needing additional references Articles containing French-language text Articles needing more detailed references French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )
8357-416: 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
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#17327758508878494-421: The International Association of Geodesy held its General Conference in Paris and decided the creation of an international geodetic standard for baselines' measurement, calibrated against the metre. The principal tasks facing the delegates at the 1875 conference was the replacement of the existing metre and kilogram artefacts that were held by the French Government and the setting up of an organization to administer
8631-1055: The International Geodetic Association" . Journal of Geodesy . 71 (3): 176–188. Bibcode : 1997JGeod..71..176S . CiteSeerX 10.1.1.492.3967 . doi : 10.1007/s001900050086 . ISSN 1432-1394 . S2CID 119447198 . ^ Académie des sciences (France) Auteur du texte (July 1890). "Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences / publiés... par MM. les secrétaires perpétuels" . Gallica (in French). p. 1025 . Retrieved 17 September 2020 . ^ "Séance du 18 décembre" . Le Moniteur Scientifique du Docteur Quesneville : 154–155. February 1906. ^ "Séance du 20 décembre" . Le Moniteur Scientifique du Docteur Quesneville : 143–144. February 1910. ^ "Séance du 19 décembre" . Le Moniteur Scientifique du Docteur Quesneville : 137–138. February 1911. ^ "Prix décernés année 1911" . Le Moniteur Scientifique du Docteur Quesneville : 143. February 1912. ^ Lockyer, Sir Norman (1 January 1914). "Prize Awards of
8768-474: The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and by the French Government to establish a practical system of units of measure, the CGPM requested the CIPM to prepare recommendations for a single practical system of units of measurement, suitable for adoption by all countries adhering to the Metre Convention. At the same time the CGPM formally adopted a recommendation for the writing and printing of unit symbols and of numbers. The recommendation also catalogued
8905-410: The Italian and German states (the Netherlands had adopted the system in 1817). In 1863, the International Postal Union used grams to express permitted weights of letters. In 1852 the Spanish Government was urged by the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences to approve the creation of a large-scale map of Spain. The following year Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero was appointed to undertake this task. All
9042-974: The Paris Academy of Sciences for 1913" . Nature . 92 (2305): 512–514. Bibcode : 1914Natur..92R.512. . doi : 10.1038/092512b0 . ^ "Séance du 27 décembre" . Le Moniteur Scientifique du Doctuer Quesneville : 65–66. March 1916. ^ À titre posthume; d'après les Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences , vol. 209, p. 918 (1939). ^ Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences: La vie des sciences , 10 (5), Gauthier-Villars: 479, 1993, Le prix est décerné à Marie Farge ... pour sa contribution à l'application de la transformée par ondelettes à l'étude de la turbulence {{ citation }} : CS1 maint: untitled periodical ( link ) . References [ edit ] Nature , different years. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poncelet_Prize&oldid=1253132712 " Categories : Mathematics awards Awards established in 1868 Awards of
9179-428: The President of the French Academy of Sciences is also the President of the General Conference on Weights and Measures. The International Committee for Weights and Measures ( Comité international des poids et mesures or CIPM) is made up of eighteen (originally fourteen) individuals from a member state of high scientific standing, nominated by the CGPM to advise the CGPM on administrative and technical matters. It
9316-441: The Toise of Peru made in 1823) and the creation of an International Metre Commission. In the 1860s, inspections of the prototype metre revealed wear and tear at the measuring faces of the bar and also that the bar was wont to flex slightly when in use. In view of the doubts being cast on the reproducibility of the metre and the kilogram and the threat that a rival standard might be set up, Napoleon III invited scientists from all
9453-540: The ampere be the base unit from which electromechanical standards would be derived. After negotiations with the CIS and IUPAP, two further base units, the degree kelvin and the candela were also proposed as base units. The full system and name "Système international d'unités" were adopted at the 11th CGPM. During the years that followed the definitions of the base units and particularly the mise en pratique to realize these definitions have been refined. The formal definition of International System of Units (SI) along with
9590-695: The application of the wavelet transform to the study of turbulence " (1995) Yves Le Jan See also [ edit ] List of mathematics awards Notes [ edit ] ^ Jeremy Gray, " A History of Prizes in Mathematics Archived 2013-10-20 at the Wayback Machine ", Clay Mathematics Institute and American Mathematical Society , 2006. ^ "Prix" . Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences . Vol. Tomes XCII à CXXI, 3 Janvier 1881 à 30 Décembre 1895. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. 1900. p. 1570. ^ Soler, T. (1997-02-01). "A profile of General Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero: first president of
9727-466: The associated resolutions passed by the CGPM and the CIPM are published by the BIPM on the Internet and in brochure form at regular intervals. The eighth edition of the brochure Le Système international d'unités – The International System of Units was published in 2006. During the 1940s, the United States government recognized the benefits of its suppliers keeping quality control records in respect of manufactured goods that would provide traceability of
9864-456: The basis of the metric system, manufacturing prototypes which, in 1799, were lodged with Archives. The Helvetic Republic adopted the metric system in 1803. In 1805, a Swiss immigrant Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler brought copies of the French metre and kilogram in the United States. In 1830 the Congress decided to create uniform standards for length and weight in the United States. Hassler
10001-645: The case of France, via the French Foreign Minister and in the case of all other members, via the members' ambassador to France. The French government offered the treaty members the Pavillon de Breteuil in Saint-Cloud to house the BIPM. The Pavillon was originally built in 1675 on the estate of the Château de Saint-Cloud which was home to, amongst others, Emperor Napoleon III . The château
10138-511: The control of other bodies – time was measured by astronomers , electrical units by a series of ad-hoc international conferences, and other physical standards and concepts were maintained or defined by international bodies such as International Congress of Applied Chemistry or the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics . In 1901 Giorgi published a proposal for building a coherent set of units based on four base units –
10275-785: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Metre Convention The Metre Convention (French: Convention du Mètre ), also known as the Treaty of the Metre , is an international treaty that was signed in Paris on 20 May 1875 by representatives of 17 nations: Argentina, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Ottoman Empire, United States of America, and Venezuela. The treaty created
10412-519: 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
10549-448: 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
10686-594: 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
10823-516: 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
10960-496: The first meeting of the CGPM in 1889 bar No. 6 and cylinder No. X were chosen by lot as the international prototypes. The remainder were either kept as BIPM working copies or distributed by lot to member states as national prototypes. The prototype metre was retained as the international standard until 1960 when the metre was redefined in terms of the wavelength of the orange-red line of krypton-86 . The current definition of
11097-915: 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 ,
11234-829: 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
11371-418: The initial batch of prototypes had been distributed; in 2012 it had a staff of over 70 people and an annual budget of over €10 million. The director of the BIPM is ex-officio a member of the CIPM and a member of all consultative committees. The original treaty was written in French and the authoritative language of all official documents is French. Communication between the BIPM and member states is, in
11508-660: The intelligent direction he gave to every matter related to his involvement at the International Committee for Weights and Measures . After more than twenty years of scrupulous studies, in 1889, and according to the resolutions of (the Convention of the Metre in) 1875, the new metre standards were distributed to countries in Europe and the Americas perpetuating the acceptance of the metric system ." (1891) Marie Georges Humbert (1892) Benjamin Baker and John Fowler (1893) Gabriel Koenigs (1894) Hermann Laurent , "for
11645-690: The international headquarters were in Paris. Spain notably supported France for this outcome and the first president of the International Committee for Weights and Measures, the Spanish geodesist, Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero received the Grand Officer medal of the Légion d'Honneur for his diplomatic role on this issue and was awarded the Poncelet Prize for his scientific contribution to metrology. Indeed, as Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero
11782-588: The international prototypes. This was agreed in principle by the International Electrotechnical Commission at its congress in Brussels in 1935 subject to the choice of the fourth unit being agreed with, amongst others, the appropriate consultative committee of the CIPM. In 1948, three years after the end of World War II and fifteen years after the 8th CGPM, the 9th CGPM was convened. In response to formal requests made by
11919-454: 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
12056-479: 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
12193-612: 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 ,
12330-479: 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
12467-478: The maintenance of standards around the globe. The conference did not concern itself with other units of measure. The conference had undertones of Franco-German political manoeuvring, particularly since the French had been humiliated by the Prussians during the war a few years previously. Although France lost control of the metric system, they ensured that it passed to international rather than German control and that
12604-516: The mass of the international prototype of the kilogram were detected. At the 21st meeting of the CGPM (1999), national laboratories were urged to investigate ways of breaking the link between the kilogram and a specific artefact. Independently of this drift having been identified, the Avogadro project and development of the Kibble (or watt) balance promised methods of indirectly measuring mass with
12741-692: The mathematical theory of electricity and magnetism." (1874) Jacques Bresse , "for his work in applied mechanics." (1875) Gaston Darboux , "for the ensemble of his mathematical work." (1876) Xavier Kretz (1877) Edmond Laguerre , "for his mathematical works." (1878) Maurice Lévy (1879) Théodore Moutard (1880) Henry Léauté (1881) Charles Auguste Briot (1882) Rudolf Clausius (1883) Georges Henri Halphen (1884) Jules Hoüel (1885) Henri Poincaré (1886) Charles Émile Picard (1887) Paul Émile Appell (1888) Édouard Collignon (1889) Édouard Goursat (1890) Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero , "for his dedication and
12878-492: The metre is "the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/ 299 792 458 of a second". On 16 November 2018, the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) voted unanimously in favour of revised definitions of some SI base units , in particular the kilogram. The new definitions came into force on 20 May 2019, but do not change the metre. The Convention created an international organization with two governing organs to facilitate
13015-630: The metre was defined as a quarter of a 10-millionth of the Earth circumference or 3 pieds (French feet) and 11.296 lignes (lines) of the Toise of the Academy. Talleyrand , an influential leader of the Assembly invited British and American participation in the establishment of a new system, but in the event, the Assembly went it alone and introduced the metre and the kilogram which were to form
13152-447: The metre, kilogram, second and one electrical unit ( ampere , volt or ohm ). In 1921 the convention was extended to permit the promotion of standards relating to any physical quantity which greatly increased the scope of the CIPM's remit and implicitly giving it freedom to exploit Giorgi's proposals. The 8th CGPM (1933) resolved to work with other international bodies to agree to standards for electrical units that could be related back to
13289-420: 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
13426-474: The new standard metre had the same value as the old metre, it had an "X" cross-section designed by Henri Tresca rather than a rectangular cross-section as this reduced the flexing when taking measurements. Moreover, the new bar, rather than being exactly one metre in length was a little longer than one metre and had lines engraved on them that were exactly one metre apart. The London firm Johnson Matthey delivered 30 prototype metres and 40 prototype kilograms. At
13563-429: The now historical international prototype of the kilogram and provides metrology services for Member States and hosts formal meetings. It also has custody of the former international prototype of the metre which was retired in 1960. Over the years the various prototypes of the metre and of the kilogram were returned to the BIPM laboratories for recalibration services. Initially it had a staff of 9, falling to 4 once
13700-589: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;
13837-534: 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
13974-471: 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
14111-529: The process. This process was formalized by the British Government and in 1979 as the quality control standard BS 5750 . In 1987 BS 5750 was adopted by ISO as the basis for ISO 9000 . ISO 9000 is a general purpose quality control standard which works in conjunction industry-specific standards: for example ISO 15195:2003 which gives the specific requirements for reference measurement laboratories in laboratory medicine. International trade
14248-488: The progress of pure or applied mathematics", or simply "in applied mathematics", and sometimes included condition that the work must be "done during the ten years preceding the award." 19th century [ edit ] (1868) Alfred Clebsch (1869) Julius von Mayer (1870) Camille Jordan (1871) Joseph Boussinesq (1872) Amédée Mannheim , "for the general excellence of his geometrical disquisitions." (1873) William Thomson , "for his magnificent works on
14385-561: The realm. The wording of the clause emphasized that "There is to be a single measure ... throughout our realm". Five centuries later, when in 1707 England and Scotland were united into a single kingdom, the Scots agreed to use the same units of measure that were already established in England. During the eighteenth century, in order to facilitate trade, Peter the Great , Czar of Russia adopted
14522-453: The recommended symbols for the most important MKS and CGS units of measure and for the first time the CGPM made recommendations concerning derived units. The CIPM's draft proposal, which was an extensive revision and simplification of the metric unit definitions, symbols and terminology based on the MKS system of units, was put to the 10th CGPM in 1954. In the proposal the CIPM recommended that
14659-471: 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
14796-429: The scientific and technical material had to be created. Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero and Frutos Saavedra Meneses went to Paris to supervise the production by Brunner of a four metres long measuring instrument which they had devised and which they later compared with Borda 's double-toise No. 1, which was the main reference for measuring all geodetic bases in France and whose length was 3.8980732 metres. In 1867 at
14933-536: The second General Conference of the International Association of Geodesy (German: Europäische Gradmessung ) held in Berlin , the question of international standard of length was discussed in order to combine the measurements made in different countries to determine the size and shape of the earth. The conference recommended the adoption of the metric system (replacing Bessel 's toise, a copy of
15070-551: The sixth meeting of the CGPM, convention was amended to its scope to other fields in physics. In 1960, at the eleventh meeting of the CGPM, its system of units was named the International System of Units ( Système international d'unités , abbreviated SI). The Metre Convention provides that only nations can be members of the BIPM. In 1999, the CGPM created in the status of associate, to allow non-member states and economic entities to participate in some activities of
15207-413: The standardization of weights and measures around the world. The first, the CGPM provides a forum for representative of member states, the second, the CIPM is an advisory committee of metrologists of high standing. The Secretariat or Headquarters provides appropriate meeting and laboratory facilities in support of the CGPM and CIPM. The structure may be compared to a corporation , the CIPM is analogous to
15344-466: 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
15481-457: The totality of his researches in mechanics." (1914) Henri Lebesgue (1915) Charles Rabut (1916) Charles de la Vallée-Poussin (1917) Jules Andrade , "for his work in applied mechanics, especially that dealing with chronometry." (1918) Joseph Larmor (1919) Prosper Charbonnier , "for his work on ballistics" (1920) Élie Cartan , "for the whole of his work." (1921) Jacques Charles Émile Jouguet (1922) Jules Drach , "for
15618-679: 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
15755-508: 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
15892-485: 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
16029-547: The war, which resulted in Napoleon III's exile, Germany and Italy, now unified nations, adopted the metric system as their national system of units, but with the prototype copy of the kilogram and metre under the control of the French Third Republic . In 1872 the new republican government reissued the invitations and in 1875 scientists from thirty European and American countries met in Paris. This same year,
16166-827: The whole of his mathematical works." (1895) Gustave Robin (1896) Paul Painlevé , "for all of his mathematical work." (1897) Roger Liouville (1898) Jacques Hadamard (1899) Eugène Cosserat , "for the whole of his contributions to geometry and mechanics." (1900) Léon Lecornu 20th century [ edit ] (1901) Émile Borel (1902) Maurice d'Ocagne (1903) David Hilbert (1904) Désiré André (1905) Charles Lallemand (1857–1938) (1906) Claude Guichard (1907) Charles Renard (posthumously) (1908) Erik Ivar Fredholm , "for his researches on integral equations." (1909) Comte de Sparre, "for his studies relating to gunnery and his works on mechanics." (1910) Charles Riquier (1911) Auguste Rateau (1912) Edmond Maillet (1913) Maurice Leblanc , "for
16303-707: The whole of his mathematical works." (1932) Raoul Bricard , "for his work in geometry." (1934) René Maurice Fréchet , "for the whole of his mathematical works." (1936) Paul Lévy , "for the whole of his mathematical works." (1937) Joseph Bethenod , " for his work on mechanics and electricity." (1938) Szolem Mandelbrojt (1939) Henri Bénard (1942) René Garnier (1945) Alphonse Demoulin (1948) Georges Valiron (1951) Joseph Kampé de Fériet (1954) Georges Darmois (1972) Michel Lazard (1975) Jean Céa (1978) Henri Skoda (1981) Philippe G. Ciarlet (1987) Pierre Ladeveze (1990) Jean-Yves Girard (1993) Marie Farge "for her work on
16440-418: The whole of his work in mathematics." (1923) Auguste Boulanger ( posthumously ), "for the whole of his scientific work." (1924) Ernest Vessiot , "for the whole of his work in mathematics." (1925) Denis Eydoux, "for the whole of his work in hydraulics." (1926) Paul Montel , "for his mathematical work as a whole." (1927) Henri Villat (1929) Alfred-Marie Liénard (1930) Arnaud Denjoy , "for
16577-536: 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
16714-458: The world and the BIPM, in terms of the mandate given to it under the Metre Convention, coordinates the various atomic clocks. After 1960, when the definition of the metre was linked to a particular wavelength of light rather than the international prototype of the metre, the only unit of measure that remained dependent on a particular artefact was the kilogram. Over the years, small drifts which could be as high as 20 × 10 kilograms per annum in
16851-402: 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
16988-484: The world's nations to attend a conference in Paris. In July 1870, two weeks before the conference was due to start, the Franco-Prussian War broke out. Although the delegates did meet (without a German delegation), it was agreed that the conference should be recalled once all the delegates (including the German delegation) were present. The International Metre Commission was established in Paris. Following
17125-455: Was all but destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1) and the Pavillon badly damaged. The Pavillon has been fully restored and, as headquarters of an intergovernmental organization enjoys privileges and immunities. The science of metrology has progressed vastly since 1875. In particular the treaty was amended in 1921 with the result that many other international organizations have
17262-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French
17399-461: Was called to discuss the maintenance of international standards based on the existing French standards rather than using French standards which, at that time, were 70 years old and which, through wear and tear, might not be exactly the same as when they adopted in 1799. Prior to the 1870 conference, French politicians had feared that the world community might reject the existing metre as it was 0.03% (300 μm) shorter than its design length, ordering
17536-681: Was collaborating with the French on the Paris meridian arc (West Europe-Africa Meridian-arc ) remeasurement since 1853, and was president of both the Permanent Committee of the International Metre Commission since 1872 and the Permanent Commission of the International Association of Geodesy since 1874, he was to play a pivotal role in reconciling French and German interests. The conference
17673-588: Was created in 2002 through a Declaration of Cooperation between the International Committee of Weights and Measures (CIPM), the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC), and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). The joint committee provides a forum for the harmonization of standards of the various participants. With the advent of
17810-819: 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
17947-400: 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
18084-652: 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
18221-786: Was mandated to work out the new standards and proposed to adopt the metric system. The United States Congress opted for the British Parliamentary Standard Yard of 1758 and the British Troy Pound of 1824 as length and weight standards. Nevertheless, the primary baseline of the U.S. Survey of the Coast, which was renamed the United States Coast Survey in 1836 and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878,
18358-535: Was measured in 1834 at Fire Island using four two-metre iron bars constructed after Hassler's specification in the United Kingdom and brought back to the United States in 1815. All distances measured by the Survey of the Coast, Coast Survey, and Coast and Geodetic Survey were referred to the metre. Between 1840 and 1870, a number of countries definitively adopted the metric system as their system of measure including France, Spain, many South American republics and many of
18495-525: Was renamed Toise of the Academy (French: Toise de l'Académie ). Profusion of units of measures was a practical problem of importance before the French Revolution and its reform was one of the items on the agenda of National Assembly . In 1799, after the remeasurement of the Paris meridian arc (French: Méridienne de France ) between Dunkirk and Barcelona by Delambre and Mechain ,
18632-594: 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
18769-570: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
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