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d find sources african french news newspapers books scholar jstor august 2020 learn how and when to remove this message you can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in french august 2019 click show for important translation instructions view a machine translated version of the french article machine translation like deepl or google translate is a useful starting point for translations but translators must follow the llm translation guideline revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate rather than simply copy pasting machine translated text into the english wikipedia consider adding a topic to this template there are already 1 274 articles in the main category and specifying topic will aid in categorization do not translate text that appears unreliable or low quality if possible verify the text with references provided in the foreign language article you must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation a model attribution edit summary is content in this edit is translated from the existing french wikipedia article at fr français d afrique see its history for attribution you may also add the template translated fr français d afrique to the talk page for more guidance see wikipedia translation african french français africain region africa speakers l1 1 2 million 2021 1 l1 and l2 167 million 2024 2 3 4 language family indo european italic latino faliscan latin romance italo western western romance gallo iberian gallo romance gallo rhaetian arpitan oïl oïl french african french early forms old latin vulgar latin proto romance old french middle french dialects west african french maghreb french djiboutian french indian ocean french eastern african french writing system latin french alphabet french braille official status official language in countries benin burundi cameroon central african republic chad comoros congo côte d ivoire djibouti dr congo equatorial guinea gabon guinea madagascar rwanda senegal seychelles togo dependent entities mayotte réunion language codes iso 639 3 ietf fr 002 countries of africa by percentage of french speakers in 2023 5 6 also including non official de jure status 0 10 francophone 11 20 francophone 21 30 francophone 31 40 francophone 41 50 francophone 50 francophone official status and native speakers as of 2025 countries in which it is an official de jure language areas and regions in which it is spoken as a first language part of a series on the french language langues d oïl dialects creoles francophonie history phonological history oaths of strasbourg ordinance of villers cotterêts anglo norman grammar adverbs articles and determiners pronouns personal verbs conjugation morphology passé composé passé simple orthography alphabet reforms circumflex braille phonology elision liaison aspirated h help ipa french v t e a man from labé guinea speaking pular and west african french african french french français africain is the umbrella grouping of varieties of the french language spoken throughout francophone africa used mainly as a secondary language or lingua franca it is spoken by an estimated 167 million people across 34 countries and territories note 1 some of which are not francophone but merely members or observers of the organisation internationale de la francophonie of these 18 sovereign states recognize it as an official de jure language though it is not the native tongue of the majority 2 according to ethnologue only 1 2 million people spoke it as a first language 1 better source needed african french speakers represent 47 of the francophonie making africa the continent with the most french speakers in the world 3 4 in africa french is often spoken as a second language alongside the indigenous ones but in a small number of urban areas in particular in central africa and in the ports located on the gulf of guinea it has become a first language such as in the region of abidjan côte d ivoire 7 the democratic republic of the congo 8 in the urban areas of douala yaoundé in cameroon in libreville gabon and antananarivo 9 in some countries though not having official de jure status it is a first language among a small social classes of the population such as in algeria tunisia morocco and mauritania where french is a first language among the upper classes along with arabic many people in the upper classes are simultaneous bilinguals in arabic french but only a second language among the general population in each of the francophone african countries french is spoken with local variations in pronunciation and vocabulary list of countries in africa by french proficiency edit french proficiency in african countries according to the organisation internationale de la francophonie oif 10 11 12 a countries total population french speaking population percentage of the population that speaks french year algeria 47 435 000 15 589 000 32 86 2025 benin 14 814 000 4 992 000 33 7 2025 burkina faso 24 075 000 5 499 000 22 84 2025 burundi 14 390 000 1 250 000 8 68 2025 cabo verde 527 000 52 000 10 83 2025 cameroon 29 879 000 12 267 000 41 06 2025 central african republic 5 513 000 1 345 000 24 39 2025 chad 21 004 000 2 693 000 12 82 2025 comoros 883 000 333 000 37 73 2025 congo 6 484 000 3 981 000 61 4 2025 côte d ivoire 32 712 000 11 913 000 36 42 2025 djibouti 1 184 000 592 000 50 2025 dr congo 112 832 000 57 196 000 50 69 2025 egypt 118 366 000 3 573 000 3 02 2025 equatorial guinea 1 938 000 560 000 28 91 2025 gabon 2 593 000 1 719 000 66 3 2025 gambia 2 822 000 564 000 20 00 2025 ghana 35 064 000 645 000 1 84 2025 guinea 15 100 000 4 202 000 27 83 2025 guinea bissau madagascar 32 741 000 8 705 000 26 59 2025 mali 25 199 000 5 028 000 19 95 2025 mauritania 5 315 000 689 000 12 96 2025 mauritius 1 268 000 921 000 72 65 2025 morocco 38 431 000 13 912 000 36 2 2025 niger 27 918 000 3 754 000 13 45 2025 rwanda 14 569 000 748 000 5 14 2025 são tomé and príncipe senegal 18 932 000 5 250 000 27 73 2025 seychelles 133 000 70 000 53 00 2025 togo 9 722 000 3 998 000 41 12 2025 tunisia 12 349 000 6 558 000 53 11 2025 status edit official status edit country notes benin sole official congo democratic republic of sole official congo republic of sole official gabon sole official guinea sole official ivory coast sole official senegal sole official togo sole official burundi co official with kirundi english cameroon co official with english chad co official with arabic central african republic co official with sango comoros co official with comorian arabic djibouti co official with arabic equatorial guinea co official with spanish portuguese madagascar co official with malagasy rwanda co official with kinyarwanda english swahili seychelles co official with english seychellois creole non official but often administrative or cultural edit country official languages usage of french algeria arabic algerian tamazight administrative commercial cultural educational burkina faso mooré dyula fula working language removed as an official language in 2024 mali bambara bobo hassaniya arabic bozo dogon toro so fula kassonke maninke minyanka senufo senara songhay koyraboro senni soninke tamasheq working language commercial educational removed as an official language in 2023 mauritania arabic used in the media business and among educated classes mauritius none de jure de facto official with english used in government administration courts and business morocco arabic moroccan tamazight administrative commercial cultural educational niger hausa administrative commercial educational removed as an official language in 2025 tunisia arabic administrative commercial cultural educational varieties edit there are many different varieties of african french but they can be broadly grouped into five categories 13 the french variety spoken in central africa and west africa including angola with french ancestry or french residents who speak french especially in cabinda spoken altogether by about 97 million people in 2018 as either a first or second language 14 the french variety spoken by berbers and maghrebis in north west africa see maghreb french which has about 33 million first and second language speakers in 2018 14 the french variety spoken in the comoro islands the comoros and mayotte and madagascar which have 5 6 million first and second language speakers in 2018 14 the french variety spoken by creoles in the mascarene islands mauritius and réunion and seychelles which has around 1 75 million first and second language speakers in 2018 14 the french spoken in this region is not to be confused with the french based creole languages which are also spoken in the area the french variety spoken in djibouti in the horn of africa which has about 0 5 million first and second language speakers in 2018 14 all the african french varieties differ from standard french both in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary but the formal african french used in education media and legal documents is based on standard french vocabulary alcohol seller in kara togo with sign in french she uses the phrase soyez les bienvenus be welcome considered an archaic phrase in metropolitan france some terms and words persist in use in africa after falling out of use in france in the colonial period a vernacular form of creole french known as petit nègre little negro was also present in west africa the term has since however become a pejorative term for poorly spoken african french in angola french is spoken in angola especially cabinda particularly in the northern regions while portuguese is the official language french is understood and spoken especially among the kongo people in the north and by angolans with french ancestry it s also one of the foreign languages taught in schools with 90 speak french from neighboring dr congo as a legacy of belgian colonial rule which established as belgium s private colony of francophone africa until its independence on 30 june 1960 code switching or the alternation of languages within a single conversation takes place in both dr congo and senegal the former having four national languages ciluba kikongo lingala and swahili which are in a permanent opposition to french code switching has been studied since colonial times by different institutions of linguistics one of these located in dakar senegal already spoke of the creolization inconsistent of french in 1968 naming the result franlof a mix of french and wolof the language most spoken in senegal which spreads by its use in urban areas and through schools where teachers often speak wolof in the classroom despite official instructions 15 the omnipresence of local languages in francophone african countries along with insufficiencies in education has given birth to a new linguistic concept le petit français 16 le petit français is the result of a superposition of the structure of a local language with a narrowed lexical knowledge of french the specific structures though very different are juxtaposed marking the beginning of the creolization process some african countries such as algeria intermittently attempted to remove the use of french it was removed as an official language in mali burkina faso and niger in 2023 2024 and 2025 respectively 17 18 19 français populaire africain edit in the urban areas of francophone africa another type of french has emerged français populaire africain popular african french or fpa it is used in the entirety of sub saharan africa but especially in cities such as abidjan côte d ivoire cotonou benin dakar senegal lomé togo and ouagadougou burkina faso at its emergence it was marginalized and associated with the ghetto angèle bassolé ouedraogo describes the reaction of the scholars administration and professors do not want to hear that funny sounding and barbarian language that seems to despise articles and distorts the sense of words they see in it a harmful influence to the mastery of good french 20 however fpa has begun to emerge as a second language among the upper class it has also become a symbol of social acceptance citation needed fpa can be seen as a progressive evolution of ivorian french after diffusing out of côte d ivoire it became africanized under the influence of young africans often students and cinema drama and dance citation needed fpa has its own grammatical rules and lexicon for example il ou elle peut me tuer or il ou elle peut me dja can either mean this person annoys me very much literally he or she is annoying me to death or i m dying out of love for him her depending on the circumstances il ou elle commence à me plaire signifies a feeling of exasperation whereupon it actually means he or she starts to appeal to me and friendship can be expressed with c est mon môgô sûr or c est mon bramôgo 20 fpa is mainly composed of metaphors and images taken from african languages for example the upper social class is called les en haut d en haut the above from above or les môgôs puissants the powerful môgôs pronunciation edit pronunciation in the many varieties of african french can be quite varied there are nonetheless some trends among african french speakers for instance r tends to be pronounced as the historic alveolar trill of pre 20th century french instead of the now standard uvular trill or guttural r the voiced velar fricative the sound represented by غ in the arabic word مغرب ma gh rib is another common alternative pronunciation of the letters d t l and l may also vary and intonation may differ from standard french citation needed abidjan french edit you can help expand this section with text translated from the corresponding article in french july 2024 click show for important translation instructions view a machine translated version of the french article machine translation like deepl or google translate is a useful starting point for translations but translators must follow the llm translation guideline revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate rather than simply copy pasting machine translated text into the english wikipedia consider adding a topic to this template there are already 1 274 articles in the main category and specifying topic will aid in categorization do not translate text that appears unreliable or low quality if possible verify the text with references provided in the foreign language article you must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation a model attribution edit summary is content in this edit is translated from the existing french wikipedia article at fr nouchi langue see its history for attribution you may also add the template translated fr nouchi langue to the talk page for more guidance see wikipedia translation according to some estimates french is spoken by 75 to 99 percent of abidjan s population 21...
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