I would like to know ,according to you, what is the closest language to french (only when it is spoken)?
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
French language
The closest languages to french (only when it is spoken) are:
erench (only when it is spoken) and
grench (only when it is spoken).
erench (only when it is spoken) and
grench (only when it is spoken).
in my view
1)The Belgian dialect of French, I can't remember its name :-)
2) Occitan
3) catalan
1)The Belgian dialect of French, I can't remember its name :-)
2) Occitan
3) catalan
"1)The Belgian dialect of French, I can't remember its name :-) "
Walloon
Walloon
"I would like to know ,according to you, what is the closest language to french (only when it is spoken)? "
I'm not sure to understand the meaning of the "only when it is spoken".
Spoken by who?? French can be spoken in a lot of different way but it would still french.
French spoken by a Corsican would be very close to Italian, because written french is very similar to Italian and Corsican prononce french with Italian-like sounds and accents.
French spoken by an Alsacian might be not sounding alot like Italian (because Alsacian french has German-like way of accent) but would continue to be linguistically very close to it linguistically speaking.
If you consider also regional languages (but not dialects), Occitan is very probably the closest. A french speaker can easily understand almost everything in occitan without preparation.
I'm not sure to understand the meaning of the "only when it is spoken".
Spoken by who?? French can be spoken in a lot of different way but it would still french.
French spoken by a Corsican would be very close to Italian, because written french is very similar to Italian and Corsican prononce french with Italian-like sounds and accents.
French spoken by an Alsacian might be not sounding alot like Italian (because Alsacian french has German-like way of accent) but would continue to be linguistically very close to it linguistically speaking.
If you consider also regional languages (but not dialects), Occitan is very probably the closest. A french speaker can easily understand almost everything in occitan without preparation.
"because written french is very similar to Italian"
This is simplistic and superficial.
Written Portuguese and Spanish are very similar
Italian and FRench are just similar because they belong to the same group
This is simplistic and superficial.
Written Portuguese and Spanish are very similar
Italian and FRench are just similar because they belong to the same group
"Aren't Normaund and Picard more intelligible with French than Walloon?"
-- Norman, yes. Picard, no!
All oïl languages are closely related to standard French, have been heavily influenced by it and are therefore dialects in the truest meaning of that word.
Closest to French are:
1. Francoprovençal
2. Occitan
3. Catalan
4. Piedmontese
Contrary to popular belief Francoprovençal (sometimes called 'Arpitan', which sounds a litle bit ridiculous) is not a transitional dialect between Oïl (French) and Oc (Occitan). It has (or rather had) an originality of its own, with phonetics obviously related to the North but a rather Southern morphology. It used to be spoken in a large triangle encompassing Northern Auvergne, a part of Southern Burgundy, French Switzerland, Lyons and minor provinces all around (Forez, Bugey, Beaujolais, Lyonnais etc.), Savoy, Dauphiné, Aoste Valley (under Italian administration).
-- Norman, yes. Picard, no!
All oïl languages are closely related to standard French, have been heavily influenced by it and are therefore dialects in the truest meaning of that word.
Closest to French are:
1. Francoprovençal
2. Occitan
3. Catalan
4. Piedmontese
Contrary to popular belief Francoprovençal (sometimes called 'Arpitan', which sounds a litle bit ridiculous) is not a transitional dialect between Oïl (French) and Oc (Occitan). It has (or rather had) an originality of its own, with phonetics obviously related to the North but a rather Southern morphology. It used to be spoken in a large triangle encompassing Northern Auvergne, a part of Southern Burgundy, French Switzerland, Lyons and minor provinces all around (Forez, Bugey, Beaujolais, Lyonnais etc.), Savoy, Dauphiné, Aoste Valley (under Italian administration).
A study done by Italo-American linguist Mario Pei in 1949, which analyzed the evolutionary degree of languages in comparison to their inheritance language (in the case of Romance languages to Latin comparing phonology, inflection, discourse, syntax, vocabulary, and intonation) revealed the following percentages:
Sardinian: 8%;
Italian: 12%;
Spanish: 20%;
Romanian: 23.5%;
Occitan: 25%;
Portuguese: 31%;
French: 44%.
Sardinian: 8%;
Italian: 12%;
Spanish: 20%;
Romanian: 23.5%;
Occitan: 25%;
Portuguese: 31%;
French: 44%.
Occitan and Catalan are more closely related to Spanish than to French.
It's curious but the Catalans say their language is more related to French than to Spanish but the Occitans consider that their language has more to do with Spanish than with French.
I like Arpitan, it's a shame that- in France especially- it's on it's deathbed. Though it's influence can be heard in the modern Rhone accent. I found the Lyonnais a bit easier to understand than Parisians, which is odd because Cajun French is supposedly derived from the Western dialects.
Depending on where you draw the line between dialect and language I could say: 1) Francais Cadien (Cajun French)- obviously with "French" in the name it's hard not to call it a dialect, but I would argue it's every bit as different from Metropolitan French as Scots is from English. 2) any of the Kreyoles 3) if I had to pick a neighboring European language, the Italian dialect spoken around Turin.
Anyway, the long history of centralization in France, including language standardization, lead to the phasing out of non-standard French (with varying degress of success as Occitan is still very much alive, as is Corsican). It has had the effect of disrupting the dialect continuim of Romance languages.
*Now as all countries are more centralized (save Spain with the strong regional nationalism) most intermediary dialects are gone or in the process of going- same of course has occured in Germanic and Slavic languages.
Depending on where you draw the line between dialect and language I could say: 1) Francais Cadien (Cajun French)- obviously with "French" in the name it's hard not to call it a dialect, but I would argue it's every bit as different from Metropolitan French as Scots is from English. 2) any of the Kreyoles 3) if I had to pick a neighboring European language, the Italian dialect spoken around Turin.
Anyway, the long history of centralization in France, including language standardization, lead to the phasing out of non-standard French (with varying degress of success as Occitan is still very much alive, as is Corsican). It has had the effect of disrupting the dialect continuim of Romance languages.
*Now as all countries are more centralized (save Spain with the strong regional nationalism) most intermediary dialects are gone or in the process of going- same of course has occured in Germanic and Slavic languages.
" A study done by Italo-American linguist Mario Pei in 1949, which analyzed the evolutionary degree of languages in comparison to their inheritance language (in the case of Romance languages to Latin comparing phonology, inflection, discourse, syntax, vocabulary, and intonation) revealed the following percentages:
Sardinian: 8%;
Italian: 12%;
Spanish: 20%;
Romanian: 23.5%;
Occitan: 25%;
Portuguese: 31%;
French: 44%. "
These numbers are "tarte à la crème"...
the real idea was:
« L'on peut donner ici les résultats d'une étude menée par M. Pei en 1949, qui a comparé le degré d'évolution de diverses langues par rapport à leur langue-mère ; pour les langues romanes les plus importantes, SI L'ON NE CONSIDÈRE QUE LES VOYELLE TONIQUES, l'on obtient, par rapport au latin, les coefficients d'évolution suivants :
sarde : 8 % ;
italien : 12 % ;
castillan : 20 % ;
roumain : 23,5 % ;
occitan : 25 % ;
portugais : 31 % ;
français : 44 %.
L'on voit ainsi facilement le degré variable de conservatisme des langues romanes, la plus proche du latin phonétiquement (EN NE CONSIDÉRANT QUE LES VOYELLES TONIQUES) étant le sarde, la plus éloignée le français. »
so yes, french has changed a lot considering only the tonic vowels. That is to say one very specific aspect of phonology. It is easy to use these number giving them meanings they don't have.
Sardinian: 8%;
Italian: 12%;
Spanish: 20%;
Romanian: 23.5%;
Occitan: 25%;
Portuguese: 31%;
French: 44%. "
These numbers are "tarte à la crème"...
the real idea was:
« L'on peut donner ici les résultats d'une étude menée par M. Pei en 1949, qui a comparé le degré d'évolution de diverses langues par rapport à leur langue-mère ; pour les langues romanes les plus importantes, SI L'ON NE CONSIDÈRE QUE LES VOYELLE TONIQUES, l'on obtient, par rapport au latin, les coefficients d'évolution suivants :
sarde : 8 % ;
italien : 12 % ;
castillan : 20 % ;
roumain : 23,5 % ;
occitan : 25 % ;
portugais : 31 % ;
français : 44 %.
L'on voit ainsi facilement le degré variable de conservatisme des langues romanes, la plus proche du latin phonétiquement (EN NE CONSIDÉRANT QUE LES VOYELLES TONIQUES) étant le sarde, la plus éloignée le français. »
so yes, french has changed a lot considering only the tonic vowels. That is to say one very specific aspect of phonology. It is easy to use these number giving them meanings they don't have.
Mais est-ce qu'on a oublié les langues créoles? Elles sont plus similaires que la plupart de langues qu'on a mentionnées ici...