A newly released study shows, for the first time in French history, that the second most widely spoken language in the country is dialectal Arabic, with an estimated population of between three and four million speakers. The resulting population ratio in favour of people mainly of North African origin is fraught with consequences.
France has had the distinction of having enshrined French as its official language in its constitution since 1992. Alongside French, there are some 72 regional languages and so-called ‘non-territorial’ languages. These include dialectal Arabic, which, according to Le Figaro, is ahead of the Creole languages spoken in the French overseas territories, Berber, Alsatian, Occitan, and Breton. French, regional languages, and non-territorial languages make up together what are known as the ‘languages of France.’
Today, dialectal Arabic is spoken by more people than all the other regional languages combined. However, its linguistic contours are blurred and difficult to define, as it is the result of a variety of influences, depending in particular on its origins, mainly the various countries of North Africa that were formerly French possessions—Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. In France, there is also dialectal Arabic of Lebanese, Egyptian, or Syrian origin, but this is in a minority. Depending on their country of origin, speakers of this dialectal Arabic do not necessarily understand each other, as there are so many variants. There can be as many differences between a speaker from the Arabian Peninsula and a Moroccan speaker as there are between Portuguese and Romanian, both of which are Romance languages, explains linguist Jean Sellier.
These figures were published on the occasion of the inauguration of the Cité internationale de la langue française (International French Language Centre), a project of Emmanuel Macron, in the town of Villers-Cotterêts—a symbolic place, since it was there that an ordinance of François I in the 16th century established the official status of French in the administrative acts of the kingdom of France.
The linguistic data corroborate other indicators that prove the growing proportion of foreigners, and more specifically, of the population of North African origin, in the overall French population.
The worrying phenomenon is that this proportion is also true in other areas, particularly in the proportion of the population of North African origin among delinquents or in prison.
In the recent case of the murder of young Thomas in Crépol, Drôme, the first information to emerge about the profile of the killers testifies to their North African origin: “They are French, but not one of them has a French-sounding name,” according to the testimony of a minister published in Le Figaro, who added: “You’ll see what this will do to the country. This affair is legitimately traumatising our compatriots.” Some of the murderers, caught near Toulouse while on the run, were heading for North Africa. Of the nine arrested, seven have reached the age of majority, giving the press permission to divulge their first names. However, none of them have been released to date, no doubt for fear of stirring up discontent among the so-called native French population about immigration. This is the line defended by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne: “Using this tragedy to play on fears is a lack of dignity and respect for the victims,” she declared.
At the rally in memory of Thomas, several observers noted the total absence of ‘diversity’ among the participants: a ‘white march’ (marche blanche), in every sense of the word.
At a time when riots have erupted in Dublin following the attack on five people, including three children, by an Algerian migrant, there are converging signs of growing public exasperation with uncontrolled immigration, resulting in serious violence, of which Europeans are the first victims.
