French language in the United States

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 was being used in the U.S. due to the immigration of French and the former colonization by France regionally.

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

French is the second most spoken language in four U.S. states: Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. In Louisiana, among others, the Cajun variant is spoken, while in the New England states, primarily Canadian French is spoken. Furthermore, there are a significant number of retirees from the Canadian province of Quebec, who have their retirement home in Florida. The city of Miami has also many coming from Haiti residents who also speak French.

In other areas of the USA French is not very widespread.

3.1 History
3.2 Francophone populations

Generally

Place names

Even if American English is clearly dominant language in the U.S. today, so had French, at least in the past, significant impact. Four states have on the French going back name:

Louisiana ( in 1682 and named in honor of King Louis XIV )
Maine ( according to the historical province of Maine in France)
Vermont (Originally Vert Mont, so Green Mountain ')
Illinois ( the French name for the people of the Illiniwek )

Many names of places testify also that French settlers were involved in its creation. Well-known examples are:

Bel Air, California (, Good air ')
Boise, Idaho ( forested, ')
Des Moines, Iowa ( from the monks ')
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (, lakeside ', see Lake Main)
Terre Haute, Indiana (, high land ')
Baton Rouge, Louisiana (, Red Stock ')
Lafayette ( Louisiana) (named after Marie -Joseph Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, and there are a number of cities in the United States that hot either Lafayette or Fayetteville )
New Orleans, Louisiana (named after Duke Philip II Charles of Orleans, who was at the time the town was founded Regent of France)
Detroit, Michigan (, from the Strait ')
St. Louis, Missouri ( named after King Louis IX. Of France, later known as St. Louis canonized )

Language choice

As a traditionally important first foreign language for English speakers French was also in the U.S. until the 1980s into the foreign language that was most commonly used by students learned. Although she continues to play a significant role and is offered to the vast majority of schools, today Spanish is the more important language, probably because of the large number of immigrants from Latin America.

Tourism

Some areas of the U.S. are particularly popular with French-speaking tourists from Quebec and in the typical holiday periods in winter and summer numerously attended by them. Best known are Florida and Old Orchard Beach in Maine.

New England

Between 1840 and 1930 a total of 500,000 immigrant Francophone Canadians of the New England states. Two reasons for this were mainly:

Agriculture Québec was no longer able to feed the rapidly increasing population.
The rapidly developing industry of New England needed manpower.

The French could perform relatively well until the middle of the 20th century. With the diminishing importance of the industry, the beginning of the service age and the original resolution living and social forms was accompanied by an increasing Anglicization. From 1970 to 1990, the number of native speakers of 906,000 to 339,000 decreased. Nevertheless, there are still many places in Maine, where speaks half or even a large majority of the inhabitants French:

Eagle Lake 49.0 % French-speaking
Fort Kent 62.3 % French-speaking
Frenchville 79.6 % French-speaking
Grand Isle 76.0 % French-speaking
Hamlin 56.8% of French-speaking
Madawaska 83.4 % French-speaking
St. Agatha 79.7 % French-speaking
St. Francis 61.0% French-speaking
St. John 59.5% of French-speaking
Van Buren 76.6% of French-speaking

Louisiana

Main article: Louisiana ( colony), Louisiana Purchase

History

The present territory of the State of Louisiana was explored in the 16th century by the Spaniards, without that this would have led to a settlement and integration into the Spanish colonial empire. In 1682 Robert Cavelier de La Salle took, which was advanced from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, the region for France in possession. 1763 Louisiana was transferred to Spain. Between 1755 and 1785 settled about 3,000 to 5,000 French-speaking Acadians who were expelled by the British from Canada to Louisiana.

In the course of slave revolts in Haiti fled 1791-1810 about 10,000 whites and blacks from there to Louisiana. From 1800 to 1803 Louisiana was once a French possession, then the colony of Napoleon to the USA was sold.

Francophone populations

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

The white Creoles, are descendants of the first colonists coming from France. Their number is estimated at 3,000 to 4,000.

The colored Creoles, are descendants of the slaves who came from the 1791-1810 French-speaking Caribbean to Louisiana. Their number is estimated at 40,000.

The Cajuns are descendants of the exiled from Acadia French colonists who mixed some with immigrants of other origins, such as Italians, Germans and Irish. The census of 2000 showed that 194,000 residents of Louisiana Cajun French speaking.

Linguistic situation

The French has long been influenced by the English-speaking environment or even repressed. Since the 1970s, the government recognized the importance of the French language and culture and support this since, for example, by the Agency CODOFIL ( Council for the Development of French in Louisiana). In Louisiana, French, therefore, plays a relatively large role.

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