The Francophonie or Francosphere or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880Alexander B. Murphy, "Placing Louisiana in the Francophone World: Opportunities and Challenges" , page 4, published in Atlantic Studies, Volume 5, Issue 3, 2008; Special Issue: New Orleans in the Atlantic World, II, accessed 7 April 2013 and became important as part of the conceptual rethinking of cultures and geography in the late 20th century.

When used to refer to the French-speaking world, the Francophonie encompasses the countries and territories where French is official or serves as an administrative or major secondary language, which spans 50 countries and dependencies across all inhabited continents. It is a de jure official language in 26 countries (the third most number of countries after English and Arabic). The vast majority of these are also member states of the (OIF), a body uniting countries where French is spoken and taught.

While it holds official status in more than two dozen countries, it is the majority's first language in only five states and territories, as the rest of French-speaking nations use it primarily administratively and as a lingua franca among populations whose mother tongues are indigenous or regional languages. This disparity is reflected in the number of speakers: of the 327 million total (the 6th-most in the world), about 74 million are native speakers (the 22nd in the world).Statistics, in 327 millions de francophones dans le monde en 2023 odsef.fss.ulaval.ca (in French) In 2017 it was among the top five most studied languages in the world with about 120 million learners.

Denominations Francophonie, francophonie and francophone space are syntagmatic. This expression is relevant to countries which speak French as their national language, may it be as a mother language or a secondary language.

These expressions are sometimes misunderstood or misused by English speakers. They can be synonymous but most of the time they are complementary. "francophonie", with a small "f", refers to populations and people who speak French for communication or/and in their daily lives. "Francophonie", with a capital "F", can be defined as referring to the governments, governmental and non-governmental organisations or governing officials that share the use of French in their work and exchange. "Francophone space", "Francophone world", "Francosphere" represents not only a linguistic or geographic reality, but also a cultural entity: for example describing any individual who identifies with one of the francophone cultures, may it be Slavic, Latin, Creole, North American or Oceanian for example.L'année francophone internationale, Québec, ACCT, 1994

Origins

The term francophonie was invented by Onésime Reclus in 1880: "We also put aside four large countries, Senegal, Gabon, Cochinchina and Cambodia, whose future from a "Francophone" point of view is still very doubtful, except perhaps for Senegal" (in French « Nous mettons aussi de côté quatre grands pays, le Sénégal, le Gabon, la Cochinchine, le Cambodge dont l’avenir au point de vue « francophone » est encore très douteux sauf peut-être pour le Sénégal »); and then used by geographers.

During the Third Republic, the French language progressively gained importance.

The , a French institution created in 1635 in charge of officially determining and unifying the rules and evolutions of the French language, participated in the promotion and the development of the French language.

Countries

The definition of the Francophone world is distinguished by countries and territories where French is an official language, those where it is the native language of the majority of the population, and those where the language is used as a working language of administration or where the language still has an important cultural impact and prestige without having official status. There are 50 countries and territories which fall into this category, although in some countries the Francosphere is limited to certain regions or states.

Rank Country/territoryFrench-speakingpopulationLa langue française dans le monde, 2022, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), Land area (km2) Land area (sq mi) 1 66,394,000 551,695 213,011 2 48,925,000 2,344,858 905,354 3 14,904,000 2,381,741 919,595 4 13,457,000 446,550 172,410 5 11,491,000 475,650 183,650 6 11,061,000 9,984,670 3,855,100 7 9,325,000 322,462 124,503 8 8,815,000 30,528 11,787 9 7,729,000 587,041 226,658 10 6,321,000 163,610 63,170 11 5,889,000 41,291 15,943 12 5,404,000 274,200 105,900 13 4,906,000 27,750 10,710 14 4,640,000 196,712 75,951 15 4,306,000 114,763 44,310 16 3,777,000 245,857 94,926 17 3,703,000 1,240,192 478,841 18 3,554,000 56,785 21,925 19 3,518,000 342,000 132,000 20 3,363,000 1,267,000 489,200 21 2,540,000 10,452 4,036 22 2,249,000 1,284,000 495,800 23 * Louisiana* New England 2,179,000 9,525,067 3,677,647 24 1,519,000 267,668 103,347 25 1,435,000 622,984 240,535 26 1,074,000 25,680 9,915 27 926,000 2,040 788 28 799,000 2,511 970 29 793,000 26,338 10,169 30 693,000 331,340 127,930 31 656,000 1,030,700 397,960 32 642,000 2,586 998 33 508,000 23,200 8,960 34 463,000 181,035 69,898 35 336,000 1,628 629 36 303,000 1,128 436 37 288,000 18,575 7,172 38 278,000 4,167 1,609 39 237,000 1,861 719 40 204,000 236,800 91,430 41 195,000 84,000 32,433 42 180,000 374 144 43 100,000 12,189 4,706 44 53,000 457 176 45 39,000 2 0.7 46 Saint Martin 33,000 53 20 47 * Puducherry 10,000 483 186 48 9,000 142 55 49 8,000 20 8 50 6,000 230 89Total350,281,00028,223,18510,897,033

See also List of countries and territories where French is an official language

Agence universitaire de la Francophonie Francophone literature Institut Français Alliance française French language in Canada, Lebanon, United States, Minnesota, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia Swiss, Belgian, and African French French-based creole languages Language geography Sprachraum Romandy

Notes

References