French

French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin 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) has largely supplanted.

History

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.

Phonology

The phonology of French is characterized by its use of nasal vowels, a moderate number of vowel sounds, and an unusually high number of consonant clusters.

Grammar

French grammar, like that of the other Romance languages, has been greatly simplified from that of Latin. Nouns are not inflected for case. Formerly, they were marked for number by the ending -s or -es, but the ending, though retained in spelling, has generally been lost in speech.

Vocabulary

The majority of French words derive from Vulgar Latin or were constructed from Latin or Greek roots. There are often pairs of words, one form being popular (noun) and the other one savant (adjective), both originating from Latin.

Geographic distribution

As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa and Asia.

See also

• French phonology
• French grammar
• French vocabulary
• French language in the United States
• French language in Canada

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