Francien (), also anglicized as Francian (), is a 19th-century term in

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

that was applied to the French dialect that was spoken during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

in the regions of

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

(with

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

at its centre),

Orléanais The Duchy of Orléanais () is a former province of France, which was created during the Renaissance by merging four former counties and towns. However after the French Revolution, the province was dissolved in 1791 and succeeded by five ''départ ...

, as well as

Touraine Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vien ...

Berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...

, and

Bourbonnais The Bourbonnais (; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Borbonés'') was a Provinces of France, historic province in the centre of France that corresponds to the modern ''département in France, département'' of Allier, along with part of the ''dépar ...

before the establishment of the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

as a

standard language A standard language (or standard variety, standard dialect, standardized dialect or simply standard) is any language variety that has undergone substantial codification in its grammar, lexicon, writing system, or other features and that stands ...

.Lodge, R. Anthony : 2004. ''A Sociolinguistic History of Parisian French''. Cambridge University Press. 290 pages
Page 63
Abalain, Hervé : 2007. Le français et les langues historiques de la France. Éditions Jean-paul Gisserot, p. 154, « l’orléanais, le tourangeau �� le berrichon, le bourbonnais, le parler d’Île-de-France sont des variations d’une même langue devenue le français standard »
Abalain 2007, p. 154
. According to one theory of the development of French, Francien was chosen out of all the competing ''oïl'' languages as an

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

(

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

and

Picard Picard may refer to: Places * Picard, Quebec, Canada * Picard, California, United States * Picard (crater), a lunar impact crater in Mare Crisium People and fictional characters * Picard (name), a list of people and fictional characters with th ...

being the main competitors in the medieval period). The theory currently prevailing, however, is that Francien was one of the

dialects A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...

in the

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...

on top of which an administrative language, untrammeled by perceived regionalisms, was imposed as a compromise means of communication and record to replace

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. The existence and definition of Francien were put forward in the 19th century, partly to support the idea of the French language as enjoying a direct and pure lineage from Latin and to minimize the contributions of the various

Romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...

languages of France French is the sole official language in France according to the second article of the French Constitution. French, a Gallo-Romance language, is spoken by nearly the entire population of France. In addition to French, several regional langua ...

. Nowadays, the question of Francien is a controversial topic in discussions of

language policy in France France has one official language, the French language. The French government does not regulate the choice of language in publications by individuals, but the use of French is required by law in commercial and workplace communications. In additio ...

Notes

Oïl languages Obsolete scientific theories Spurious languages 19th-century neologisms {{Romance-lang-stub

See also

Notes