Editing Tunisia (section)

=== Languages ===
{{main|Languages of Tunisia}}
[[Arabic]] is the [[official language]] of Tunisia. [[Tunisian Arabic]], known as Tounsi,<ref name="sayahi">{{Cite book|title = Diglossia and Language Contact: Language Variation and Change in North Africa|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ygFeAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA227|publisher = Cambridge University Press|date = 2014|isbn = 978-1-139-86707-8|first = Lotfi|last = Sayahi|page=227}}</ref> is the national, vernacular [[varieties of Arabic|variety of Arabic]] used by the public.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Albert J. Borg|author2=Marie Azzopardi-Alexander|title=Maltese|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=igAOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR13|access-date=24 February 2013|year=1997|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-02243-9|page=13|quote=The immediate source for the Arabic vernacular spoken in Malta was Muslim Sicily, but its ultimate origin appears to have been Tunisia. In fact, Maltese displays some areal traits typical of Maghrebine Arabic, although during the past eight hundred years of independent evolution it has drifted apart from Tunisian Arabic.}}</ref> There is also a small minority of speakers of [[Berber language]]s known collectively as Jebbali or Shelha in the country. Actively spoken Berber languages are [[Jerba Berber]] on the island of [[Djerba]] and [[Matmata Berber]] in the city of [[Matmata, Tunisia|Matmata]]. The [[Sened language]] is extinct.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20040707.092709/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526135310/http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20040707.092709/ |archive-date=26 May 2008 |title=An outline of the Shilha (Berber) vernacular of Douiret (Southern Tunisia) |publisher=Australian Digital Theses Program |date=26 May 2008 |access-date=19 January 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iK-gBgAAQBAJ&q=shelha+in+tunisia&pg=PT473|title=The Middle East in the World: An Introduction|last=Volk|first=Lucia|date=2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-50173-2|page=473}}</ref>

[[French language|French]] also plays a major role in Tunisian society, despite having no official status. It is widely used in education (e.g., as the language of instruction in the sciences in secondary school), the press, and business. In 2010, there were 6,639,000 French-speakers in Tunisia, or about 64% of the population.<ref>{{cite web|title=Le dénombrement des francophones|language=fr|trans-title=The count of francophones|url=http://www.francophonie.org/IMG/pdf/1e.pdf|publisher=Organisation internationale de la Francophonie|access-date=8 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012052949/http://www.francophonie.org/IMG/pdf/1e.pdf|archive-date=12 October 2013}}</ref> [[Italian language|Italian]] is understood and spoken by a small part of the [[Tunisian people|Tunisian]] population.<ref>{{cite book|last=McGuinness |first=Justin |title=Footprint Tunisia Handbook: The Travel Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f5r2KD61loIC|access-date=26 January 2013|year=2002|publisher=Globe Pequot Press|isbn=978-1-903471-28-9}}</ref> Shop signs, menus and road signs in Tunisia are generally written in both Arabic and French.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tunisia-tourism.org/tunisian-languages/|title=Tunisian Languages|publisher=Tunisia-tourism.org|access-date=13 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605221847/http://www.tunisia-tourism.org/tunisian-languages/|archive-date=5 June 2013}}</ref>