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Francophone

Francophone

1 6.2
A person who speaks French as their first language
  • noun
  • /ˈfræŋkəˌfoʊn/
: francófono
  • In Jennings, there was only one self-reporting monolingual Francophone.
  • a unilingual Francophone
  • a monolingual Francophone
  • the Francophone population

Examples

  • The immigrant families in my research self-identified as Francophone and came from mainly African countries.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Forty-six percent (304) of the Cajun population (639) was reported as unilingual Francophone.

    Academic text (2000)
  • I think there exists a plot at the moment against Francophone Africa.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Within six months in 1990, much of Francophone Africa lifted its ban on multiparty politics.

    Academic text (1997)
  • The changing linguistic character of the Francophone population is a little-documented aspect of this transformation.

    Academic text (2000)
  • In either case, separation would be costly in terms of territory and wealth for Francophone Quebec.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Patrick and I cycled south from Maastricht into Francophone Belgium last spring.

    Blog text (11)
  • Although Anglophone magazines and television from Montreal, Ontario, and the United States are available, Francophone media strongly dominate most households.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Prior to Sankara's leadership, Francophone West African states had coexisted peacefully and cooperatively under general French patronage.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Many people in Montreal identify as Francophone because they grew up speaking French.

Surface Forms

Francophone singular
Francophones plural

Morphology

Francophone = phone (transparent) = franco + phone

As a noun, the same productive combination 'franco-' + '-phone' yields 'a French speaker' or 'French-speaking group', which learners can infer from known patterns.

Etymology

Francophone combines Franco- 'French' and -phone 'voice' or 'speaker', like in telephone and megaphone. So a Francophone is literally a 'French speaker' and means a person or group who speaks French.