Canadian French

Canadian French
Français canadien
Native toCanada (primarily Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, but present throughout the country); smaller numbers in emigrant communities in New England (especially Maine and Vermont), United States
Native speakers
7,300,000 (2011 census)[1]
Early forms
Latin script (French alphabet)
French Braille
Official status
Official language in
Canada
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3
GlottologNone
IETFfr-CA

Canadian French (French: français canadien, pronounced [fʁãsɛ kanadzjɛ̃]) is the French language as it is spoken in Canada. It includes multiple varieties, the most prominent of which is Québécois (Quebec French). Formerly Canadian French referred solely to Quebec French and the closely related varieties of Ontario (Franco-Ontarian) and Western Canada—in contrast with Acadian French, which is spoken by Acadians in New Brunswick (including the Chiac dialect) and some areas of Nova Scotia (including the dialect St. Marys Bay French), Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland & Labrador (where Newfoundland French is also spoken).

In 2011, the total number of native French speakers in Canada was around 7.3 million (22% of the entire population), while another 2 million spoke it as a second language. At the federal level, it has official status alongside English. At the provincial level, French is the sole official language of Quebec as well as one of two official languages of New Brunswick and jointly official (derived from its federal legal status) in Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Government services are offered in French at select localities in Manitoba, Ontario (through the French Language Services Act) and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in the country, depending largely on the proximity to Quebec and/or French Canadian influence on any given region. In New Brunswick, all government services must be available in both official languages.

  1. ^ French (Canada) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2022-05-24). "Glottolog 4.8 - Oil". Glottolog. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on 2023-11-11. Retrieved 2023-11-11.

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