French language in the United States

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Percentage of French speakers in the total population in different US counties:
  • 6-12%:
    Cameron Parish, LA
    Essex County, VT
    Iberia Parish, LA
    Orleans County, VT
    Terrebonne Parish, LA
    York County, ME
  • 12-18%:
    Acadia Parish, LA
    Androscoggin County, ME
    Assumption Parish, LA
    Avoyelles Parish, LA
    Coös County, NH
    Jefferson Davis Parish, LA
    Lafayette Parish, LA
    Lafourche Parish, LA
    St. Landry Parish, LA
  • > 18%:
    Aroostook County, ME
    Evangeline Parish, LA
    St. Martin Parish, LA
    Vermilion Parish, LA

    • The French language is regionally widespread in the USA due to the immigration of French and the former colonization by France .

    Over 13 million Americans have French ancestors, but only a minority of them speak French as their mother tongue. According to the 2000 census , 1.64 million Americans speak French at home, including the patois and Cajun dialects . Another 453,000 speak a French Creole language .

    French is the second most widely spoken language in four states in the United States: Louisiana , Maine , New Hampshire, and Vermont . In Louisiana, among other things, the variant Cajun is spoken, while in the New England states mainly Canadian French is spoken. There is also a not inconsiderable number of retirees from the Canadian province of Québec who have their retirement home in Florida . The city of Miami also has many Haitian residents who also speak French.

    French is not widely spoken in other parts of the United States.

    General

    Place names

    Even if American English is the clearly dominant language in the United States today, French has had a significant influence, at least in the past. Four states have names that can be traced back to French:

    Many names of places also testify to the fact that French settlers helped found it. Well-known examples are:

    Foreign language choice

    Traditionally the most important first foreign language for English speakers, French was also the foreign language that was most often learned by schoolchildren in the USA until 1968. Although it still plays an important role and is offered in most schools, Spanish is the most important foreign language today .

    tourism

    Some areas of the United States are particularly popular with French-speaking Québec tourists, who frequent them in large numbers during the typical holiday periods in winter and summer. Best known are Florida and Old Orchard Beach in Maine.

    New England

    Between 1840 and 1930, a total of 500,000 Francophone Canadians emigrated to the New England states. There were two main reasons for this:

    • Québec's agriculture was no longer able to feed the rapidly growing population.
    • New England's rapidly evolving industries needed workers.

    French held its own relatively well until the middle of the 20th century. With the decreasing importance of industry, the beginning of the service age and the dissolution of original forms of housing and social services, there was an increasing Anglicisation. From 1970 to 1990 the number of native speakers decreased from 906,000 to 339,000. However, there are still many places in Maine where half or a large majority of residents speak French:

    Louisiana

    The former French colony of Louisiana (green)

    history

    The present-day area of ​​the state of Louisiana was explored by the Spaniards in the 16th century without this having led to a settlement and integration into the Spanish colonial empire. In 1682 Robert Cavelier de La Salle , who had advanced from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico , took possession of the region for France. In 1763 Louisiana passed to Spain. Between 1755 and 1785, some 3,000 to 5,000 French-speaking Acadians who had been expelled from Canada by the British moved to Louisiana.

    In the wake of the slave revolts in Haiti between 1791 and 1810, around 10,000 whites and blacks fled from there to Louisiana. From 1800 to 1803 Louisiana fell again into French possession, then the colony was sold by Napoleon to the USA.

    Francophone population groups

    The francophone population of Louisiana is made up of three groups:

    • the white Creoles are descendants of the first colonists from France. Their number is estimated at 3,000 to 4,000.
    • the black Creoles are descendants of the slaves who came to Louisiana from the French-speaking Caribbean between 1791 and 1810 . Their number is estimated at 40,000.
    • the Cajuns are descendants of the French colonists who were expelled from Acadia and who sometimes mixed with immigrants of other origins, for example Italians, Germans and Irish. The 2000 census found that 194,000 Louisiana residents speak Cajun French .

    Linguistic situation

    In Louisiana, French was influenced or even superseded by the English-speaking environment for a long time. The state has recognized the importance of the French language and culture since the 1970s and has supported it ever since, for example through the agency CODOFIL ( Council for the Development of French in Louisiana ). French therefore plays a relatively large role in Louisiana.

    See also

    literature

    Web links

    swell

    1. ↑ Table 5. Detailed List of Languages ​​Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over by State: 2000 (PDF; 470 kB).
    2. ^ Judith W. Rosenthal, Handbook of Undergraduate Second-Language Education (Mahwah, New Jersey, 2000), 50.