This list of regional languages of France is drawn up mainly on the basis of report/ratio of April 1999 of professor Bernard Cerquiglini, prepared in process of a possible ratification of the European Charte of the regional or minority languages: it contains the regional languages of the metropolitan France and of DOM-TOM. The dialects of French are not regarded as regional languages.

N.B: the term Dialecte is not opposed to that a Langue, it indicates one of the varieties of a given language. So certain linguists attach only little importance to this distinction (Henriette Walter affirms that “ it there has no hierarchy of value to establish between language, dialect and patois ”), all refuse is to use the " term; Patois " , that is to say to associate with it the pejorative aspect which it acquired in French.

Languages of Metropolis

Germanic languages and speeches

Resulting from High-German

Attached to means-German

With the Francique ripuaire, present in Germany, in Belgium and with the Netherlands, these speeches, less long-lived from now on in Lorraine Thiois E than in the Saar or the Rhineland-Palatinat, constitute the continnum Means-francique.

Attached to higher German
  • Germanic (Alsatian)
    • low Germanic Alsatian (major part of the Alsace, traditionally subdivided by l'" populaire" spirit; between bas-rhinois and haut-rhinois and by the linguists between low-Germanic (S) of North and the South)
    • Sundgauvien, makes of it continuum going gradually from low-Germanic to high-Germanic Alsatian - (3/4 of the Sundgau, South haut-rhinois]), near to the Schwyzerdütsch bâlois.
(around Wissembourg and Lauterbourg, extreme-North bas-rhinois).

Mixed language at Germanic base
The community Yéniche of Alsace uses like those of Germany (Bade-Wurtemberg, Bavaria, the Rhineland-Palatinat, Rhineland-of-North-Westphalia), of Austria and Suisse of an integral idiom at a Germanic base an important external thesaurus borrowed as well from the Hebrew , as with the Sociolecte Rotwelsch or with the languages rroms (mainly the Sinti). Celtic influences, Yiddish Western, Romance or Slavic impregnate also this language with codes.
Also called Basket makers , these catholic is seminomad and is several thousands to have a command of a famous language " secrète" , a Cryptolecte, where certain simple words ( Dad, people, house, good …) differ completely from their Alsatian equivalents.

Resulting from Low-German

  • Flemish Westerner (attached to the subset Bas-francique) Western Flemish is spoken in France in a territory ranging between the Lily (river) and the North Sea, i.e. between Bailleul and Dunkirk. One qualifies also this small area of Westhoek or Flanders Maritime. From the administrative point of view, the Flanders flamandophone corresponds to the Arrondissement of Dunkirk.

Brittonic Celtic branch

Breton

See also: Breton, Dialects of Breton the

Between 200.000 and 300.000 speakers. It is current to distinguish four different dialectal colors (cf carte - to open the bond " language bretonne-):

However, of many linguists regard this approach as simplistic and prefer speech of a linguistic Continuum.

A more serious approach cuts out the language in 2 zones.

The KLT (cornouaillais west, cornouaillais Brittany center, léonais and tégorois), traditionally spoken in Finistere and the west about the Coasts about Armor. And Vannetais, (vannetais west, vannetais is and guérandais) traditionally spoken in the west about Morbihan and the western extrème about the Loire Atlantique.

Languages and speeches neo-Latin (Romance)

Gallo-Romance family

Francoprovençal/Arpitan

See also: Francoprovençal

Foot-note: The denomination " Francoprovençal " is, because of its old conventionality, majority among the linguists; however, many militants and/or of practitioners considering this dépréciatif term (or confusionnist), prefer to him the name of Arpitan .

Language of oil

See also: Language of oil

Cf chart

Family occitano-Catalan woman

See also: gallo-Romance Languages

Still called occitano-Romance .

Catalan

The Catalan is spoken in France in the department about the the Eastern Pyrenees except for Fenouillèdes where the occitan is practiced. This diffusion area corresponds to old the province of Roussillon attached to France in 1659 following the Traité of the Pyrenees and before possession of the Couronne of Aragon within the Royaume of Spain. This zone is also called Northern Catalogne in certain catalanophones mediums. Whereas in Spain the practice of the Catalan was maintained on a rather important level it knew in France a progressive retreat as from 1700, date on which Louis XIV prohibits his use in public space of it.

A study going back to 1997 reports that 55% of the population of the zone catalanophone include/understand the Catalan, 34% knows the speech and 39% to read it. The proportion of speakers increases according to another investigation of 1993 in the villages, reaching 70% of the population but remains of 40% in the departmental capital, Perpignan.

Occitan

The Occitan or Langue of oc is composed of the following dialects:

The Catalan and the occitan are considered by certain schools as part of a branch Ibéro-novel E also including/understanding the Spanish , the Asturien, the Aragonese, the Portuguese, the fala and the Galician and not of a transitional occitano-Catalan with the Gallo-novel.

Gallo-italic family

See also: Languages romanes#Groupe italo-novel

The idioms gallo-italics, transitional between the italo-novel and the gallo-novel are mainly in septentrional Italy. In France are attached to it the Royasque, alpine Ligurien, sometimes called alpine Génois or Zeneise.

In fact, in the the Alpes-Maritimes 5 communes of the high valley of the Roya : Breil-on-Roya, Fontan, Saorge, Aspires to It and Tende presents for the linguists Pierre Bec and Jean-Philippe Dalbera of the speeches to the features mainly Ligurians though remaining intermediate with the occitan. They are known as alpine Ligurian and attest an interior alternative near to the génois (or coastal Ligurian) of the 16th century. From their situations, they communicate directly with the low Italian valley of Roya like with Vintimille, its principal metropolis (whose Ligurian Intémélien is known as).

The linguistic border is relatively tight with the villages occitans maralpins (soalpine speeches called or gavots maritime) bordering in the west on Moulinet, Sospel, Castillon and Castellar. On the other hand, 2 following cities: Chin and Roquebrune-Cape Martin has a speech mainly Vivaro-alpine type maritime with light a " coloration" ligurienne by the presence of some words Ligurians.

In addition, there were isolates figoun : Monaco (13-14th, Malizia Grimaldi seizes the castle of Monaco) and those disappeared from Biot, Vallauris, Mons and Escragnoles (17th). had with repopulations Ligurians, these villages being devastated by the wars of religion and the peste.

  • maximalist linguists:
For Werner Forner, Roya is ligurienne and it of in the same way for the south of the country mentonnais which would have become occitan later as the voisine.
communes That is disputed by others estimating that the south of the country mentonnais is occitan and that it is the same for the Royasque with hybrid features.
to note that influences Piémontais are is perceptible in the speech of Tende in addition rather similar to the precedents.

Indo-Iranian family

language indicates

  • Rromani
Present in France in the same areas since centuries, the Rromani remains within a largely sedentarized population from now on. However this language Indo-Iranian (generally attached to the group indicates) and spoken in its various forms by several tens of thousands of speakers, mainly remains regarded as " idiom non-territorialisé".

Basque

The Basque or will euskara is the only language (or according to certain linguists, together of languages) not Indo-European presents traditionally on the metropolitan territory, the Basque is an isolate constituting a family in oneself (cf chart).

In France, one finds the following forms:

  • Low-Navarrese
  • Labourdin
  • Souletin
  • Basque unified (batua will euskara)
The unified Basque is used as a basis for the written language of today and is the form taught in the schools (in particular in Ikastola).

Languages of Corsica

Italo-Romance family

Corsica

See also: Corsican Language

(cf chart)

  • to speak traditional supranacciu (or cismontanu), in North, of greater proximity with the Tuscan dialects S.
  • to speak traditional suttanacciu (or oltramontanu), in the South, also, though in a more distant way, attached to the Tuscan family.
It should be noted that the suttanacciu is prolonged, because of successive migrations (XVIe - XVIIIe centuries), in Sardinia through the Gallurais, speech close to its southernmost alternative known as " sartenaise". Which is spoken almost with identical on the islands about Maddalena.
In the North-West of Sardinia, the dialect Sassarais, also known as " corso-sarde" being, for its part, considered transitional between gallurais and the Sarde logoudorais (central).

Gallo-italic family

Bonifacian

  • the speech of Bonifacio remains as for him close to the génois.

See also: Ligure

Calvais

See also: Calvais

  • Like the Bonifacio Southerner, Calvi, quoted of the coastal North-East, uses traditionally of a ligure dialect. This is mainly due to its old quality of garrison town génoise.

Hellenic family

Alternatively with Corsican, the popular Greek present at Cargèse since 1676 remains included/understood by a minority of the septuagénaires of Hellenic ascent. Transmitting itself only in a very residual way to young people who often assert a multiple identity, there remains however like liturgical language or through some expressions used as marker of local particularism.
the Dhimotikí (Greek modern contemporary) is not naturally heard.

Languages of Overseas

Caribbean Creoles and réunionnais

Creoles at French lexical base

    • Créole inhabitant of Martinique
    • Créole inhabitant of Guadeloupe
    • Créole Guianese
    • Créole réunionnais

Creoles bushinenge of Guyana (at Anglo-Portuguese lexical base)

English saint-martinois

It is about a Creole at English lexical base of which the use is largely majority on the zones of French administration and Dutchwoman. With the writing the English, as in the Dutchwoman part is used preferentially. The French guard a strong administrative importance in this small territory attached a long time to the Guadeloupe where the Spanish creolized, the Dutch and the Papiamento are also current.

Become in February 2007, following the example St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, community of overseas, Saint Martin's day has, because of the opposition of the Parliament considering English local ( patois ) obviously foreign language , by no means agreed at the request of it municipal council establish it in " language régionale" .

Amerindian languages

    • the spoken languages by the Wayãmpi and the Tekos are of membership Tupi-guarani

    • the kali' Na and the spoken language the Wayana are of membership Arawak
    • the spoken languages by the Palikur and the Lokono are of membership Karib

Language of the Hmong-Mien group

Languages kanak

See also: Languages kanak

Polynesian languages of French Polynesia

Polynesian languages of Wallis and Futuna

Languages of Mayotte

History of the regional languages of France

See also: History of the regional languages of France

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