Editing French language (section)

=== Modern French ===
During the 17th century, French replaced [[Latin]] as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ([[lingua franca]]). It retained this role until approximately the middle of the 20th century, when it was [[International English|replaced by English]] as the United States became the dominant global power following the [[Second World War]].<ref name="andaman.org">[http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm The World's 10 Most Influential Languages]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312042140/http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm |date=12 March 2008 }}. ''Top Languages''. Retrieved 11 April 2011.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Battye |first1=Adrian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pya2KY8upAUC&pg=PA2 |title=The French Language Today: A Linguistic Introduction |last2=Hintze |first2=Marie-Anne |last3=Rowlett |first3=Paul |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-203-41796-6 |language=en |access-date=2 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918104351/https://books.google.com/books?id=pya2KY8upAUC&pg=PA2 |archive-date=18 September 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> Stanley Meisler of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' said that the fact that the [[Treaty of Versailles]] was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Meisler |first=Stanley |date=1 March 1986 |title=Seduction Still Works: French – a Language in Decline |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-03-01-mn-13048-story.html |access-date=18 October 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702203738/http://articles.latimes.com/1986-03-01/news/mn-13048_1_french-language/2 |archive-date=2 July 2015}}</ref>

During the [[Grand Siècle]] (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as [[Cardinal Richelieu]] and [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], enjoyed a period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the {{lang|fr|[[Académie française]]|italic=no}} to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France.

Near the beginning of the 19th century, the [[French government]] began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages (''[[patois]]'') spoken in France. This began in 1794 with [[Henri Grégoire]]'s "Report on the necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language".<ref>{{cite web |date=18 November 2003 |title=Rapport Grégoire an II |url=http://www.languefrancaise.net/dossiers/dossiers.php?id_dossier=66 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061123134600/http://www.languefrancaise.net/dossiers/dossiers.php?id_dossier=66 |archive-date=23 November 2006 |access-date=11 June 2007 |website=Languefrancaise.net |language=fr}}</ref> When public education was made [[Compulsory education|compulsory]], only French was taught and the use of any other (''patois'') language was punished. The goals of the [[Education in France|public school system]] were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as [[Occitania]] and [[Brittany]]. Instructions given by a French official to teachers in the [[Departments of France|department]] of [[Finistère]], in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language".<ref name="Labouysse_2007">{{Cite book |last=Labouysse |first=Georges |title=L'Imposture. Mensonges et manipulations de l'Histoire officielle |publisher=Institut d'études occitanes |year=2007 |isbn=978-2-85910-426-9 |location=France}}</ref> The prefect of [[Basses-Pyrénées]] in the [[Northern Basque Country|French Basque Country]] wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the [[Basque language]] with French..."<ref name="Labouysse_2007" /> Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process was known in the Occitan-speaking region as [[Vergonha]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Joubert |first=Aurélie |year=2010 |title=A Comparative Study of the Evolution of Prestige Formations and of Speakers' Attitudes in Occitan and Catalan |url=https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/54504513/FULL_TEXT.PDF |publisher=University of Manchester}}</ref>