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Speakers. French is spoken by about 77 million people as a native language, and by more than 50 million as a second language. Like other Romance languages,
Importance. French Literature has probably been the most influential one in Europe. The language became increasingly important at an international level from the 17th c. onwards. It was only in the 20th c. that it was eventually superseded by English as a lingua franca. In reaction to the pervasive influence of English, laws have been enacted to the end of the 20th c. to promote the use of French expressions in advertising. Notwithstanding, French is one of six official languages of the United Nations and one of the four major languages in scientific publications.
History. French is descended from vulgar Latin. Records of written French date back to the 9th c. The language started to be standardized in the 17th c.
Features. The evolution of the language from its ancestor (vulgar Latin) shows the traits common to all Romance languages. In particular, it lost noun declension but kept a rich verb system.
Because of great changes in pronunciation, probably due to the influence of invading Germanic tribes (e.g. the Franks), French spelling no more reflects the sounds of words accurately, so much so that the Latin origin of words is no longer recognizable in speech. Unlike in other Romance languages, in French stress is not distinctive.
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