African French

African French (French: français africain) is the generic name of the varieties of French spoken by an estimated 120 million (2010) people in Africa spread across 24 francophone countries. This includes those who speak French as a first or second language in these 31 francophone African countries (dark blue on the map), but it does not include French speakers living in non-francophone African countries. Africa is thus the continent with the most French speakers in the world. French arrived in Africa as a colonial language. These African French speakers are now an important part of the Francophonie.

In Africa, French is often spoken alongside indigenous languages, but in some areas it has become a first language, such as in the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast or Libreville, Gabon. In some countries it is a first language among some classes of the population, such as in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria where French is a first language among the upper classes (many people in the upper classes are simultaneous bilinguals in Arabic/French), but only a second language among the general population.

In each of the francophone African countries French is spoken with local specificities in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary.

There are many different varieties of African French, but they can be broadly grouped into four categories:

All the African French varieties differ from standard French both in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary, but the formal African French used in education, media, and legal documents is based on standard French vocabulary.

In the colonial period, a vernacular form of creole French known as Petit nègre was also present in West Africa. The term has since, however, become a pejorative term for poorly spoken African French.

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