French

Also known as: French, Français, Francais

French (français) is a Romance language of the Gallo-Romance branch with ~80M L1 and ~270M total speakers (the larger figure includes substantial L2 communities, especially across Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and the Maghreb). It is co-official in 29 countries (France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada Quebec/New Brunswick, Luxembourg, Monaco, plus 23 African states), and is one of six UN working languages and a working language of the EU and the IOC. French descends from the Vulgar Latin of Roman Gaul, evolved through Old French (842 Strasbourg Oaths — the earliest French text) and Middle French to Modern French codified by Vaugelas (1647), the Académie française (founded 1635 under Richelieu), and successive Académie dictionaries. Distinctive features: nasal vowels (in/un/an/on), conservative orthography preserving etymological silent letters (homme < L. homo, temps < L. tempus), liaison and elision, and stress-timed prosody. The 1990 Rectifications orthographiques and ongoing inclusive-writing debates reflect institutional regulation. Literary tradition spans the Chanson de Roland (~1100), Montaigne, Racine, Voltaire, Hugo, Proust, Camus (Nobel 1957), Sartre (refused 1964), and Le Clézio (Nobel 2008).