Francophone
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A Francophone is a person who speaks French natively or by adoption (i.e., the person uses it in everyday life). As an adjective, it means French-speaking, whether referring to individuals, groups or places. Francophone countries include France, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Haiti and the French West Indies, and several countries in Africa that are former French colonies. Collectively these countries are known as la Francophonie.
In Quebec, the term allophone has a particular use, meaning "has a native language other than English or French". All three words have crossed over into Canadian English, and are politically charged to some extent. In Canadian English, the term is usually reserved for native speakers of French; thus, a person cannot be both and anglophone and a francophone. Under this interpretation, Quebec is the only province with a francophone majority, even though over a million Canadians outside Quebec speak French (mainly in the border regions of Quebec).
See also
- Francophone literature
- language adjective
- Anglophone which means English-speaking.)
- v.f. : anglophone, francophone, hispanophone/spanophone, lusophone