Francization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Francization (also Gallicization) is the process of giving a French character to a word, an organization, or a person. It has often been used in the English speaking world and other cultures to give the appearance of refinement, quality, or breeding.
There are many examples of Francization in history and popular culture:
- Crème anglaise replacing the word "custard" on restaurant menus.
- Anne Boleyn choosing the French spelling Boleyn over the traditional English Bolin or Bullen.
- Mary I of Scotland choosing the spelling Stuart over Stewart for the name of her dynasty.
- The common "-escu" final particle in Romanian being traditionally changed to "-esco" in French spellings, and being ocassionally adopted by the persons themselves as a French equivalent of their names (see Eugène Ionesco, Irina Ionesco, Marthe Bibesco).
The same exists for other languages, for example English, in which case objects or persons can be anglicized.
[edit] Francization of Minority Language Groups
Francization, particularly in Quebec, Canada, is to make a person, commercial enterprise, or a group adopt the French language as a working language. [1] Rates of francisation may be established for any groups by comparing the number of people who usually speak French to the total number of people in the minority language group. See Calvin Veltman's "Language Shift in the United States" (1983) for a discussion.
[edit] See also
- Gallicism
- Anglicisation
- Anglicism
- Americanization
- Gaelicization
- Germanization
- Russification
- Sanskritism
- Polonization
- Ukrainization
[edit] References
- ^ [1]. Encarta World English Dictionary, North American Edition URL accessed on December 6, 2006.