- Francien
Francien is nineteenth-century linguists' term applied to the particular
langue d'oïl that was spoken in the Île-de-France region (withParis at its center) before the establishment of theFrench language as astandard language . ["Ce terme est une dénomination linguistique du XIXe siècle. En effet, avant on parlait tout simplement de françoys ou de françois (prononcé [frãswè] puis [frãsè] )" (French Wikipedia).]According to one theory of the development of French, Francien was chosen out of all the competing Oïl languages as an
official language (Norman and Picard being the main competitors in the mediaeval period). The theory currently prevailing, however, is that Francien was one of thedialects in thedialect continuum on top of which an administrative language, untrammelled by perceived regionalisms, was imposed as a compromise means of communication and record to replaceLatin .The existence and definition of Francien was 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 minimise the contribution of the various Romance
languages of France . Nowadays, the question of Francien is a controversial topic in discussions oflanguage policy in France .ee also
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Old French
*Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts Notes
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