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133-449: New Roads (historically French : Poste-de-Pointe-Coupée ) is a city in and the parish seat of Pointe Coupee Parish , Louisiana , United States. The center of population of Louisiana was located in New Roads in 2000. The population was 4,831 at the 2010 census , down from 4,966 in 2000 . In the 2020 census the population was 4,549, while at the beginning year of 2023 the census showed

266-768: A Chemin Neuf , French for "New Road," connecting the Mississippi River with False River , a 22-mile (35 km) long oxbow lake and formerly the main channel of the Mississippi. In 1791, the Mina (an African people) slave uprising , the Mina Conspiracy , started on the estate of Widow Robillard at New Roads. Three years later, there was another area slave revolt near Point Coupee , the Pointe Coupée Conspiracy . In 1803

399-720: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process

532-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,

665-479: A courthouse was built. Between these "strong celestial poles," the Main Street business district developed. After the abandonment of the competing parish port of Waterloo during 1882–84 due to flooding, New Roads became the major commercial port and city of Pointe Coupée Parish. The railroad reached the city in 1898–99, bringing much industrial development. The official name of the community changed frequently during

798-551: A family. The successful mulattos often won the hands of the small number of eligible women on the island. With growing resentment, the working-class whites monopolized assembly participation and caused the free people of color to look to France for legislative assistance. The free people of color won a major political battle on May 15, 1791, when the Constituent Assembly in France voted to give full French citizenship to them, on

931-543: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and

1064-399: A household in the city was $ 24,583, and the median income for a family was $ 31,250. Males had a median income of $ 32,679 versus $ 20,547 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 14,840. About 23.6% of families and 30.3% of the population were below the poverty line , including 40.3% of those under age 18 and 22.7% of those age 65 or over. From 1960 to 1978, the mayor of New Roads

1197-543: A kind of freedom in the mountains, along with remnants of Haiti's original Taino people. A large group of surviving Native Taino's also supported the Haitian Revolution; they were known as "indiens esclaves" which numbered about 5,000. In a 1780 census, there was also a group listed as "indiens sauvages", which Haitian historians believe were the native Arawak and Taino that were known to live in tiny reclusive mountain communities at this point. Jean-Jacques Dessalines ,

1330-410: A low of 25 feet (7.6 m) along Portage Canal in the north, the city lies on a Mississippi River flood-plain but has never flooded to any great extent since 1912. Levee breaks or "crevasses" on the Mississippi River to the north and east overbanked False River and submerged all of New Roads in 1867, 1882 and 1884. The 1882 flood was the most severe, with four feet of water standing in Main Street during

1463-639: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française 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

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1596-625: A population of 4,205 and expects to be under 4,000 by the years end. The city's ZIP code is 70760. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area . Le Poste de Pointe Coupée ("the Pointe Coupée Post" or Cut Point Post) is one of the oldest communities in the Mississippi River Valley established by European colonists. The trading post was founded in the 1720s by settlers from France . It

1729-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in

1862-537: A requirement that a newly freed person demonstrate a means of independent support. Masters might free their slaves for a variety of reasons, but the most common was a family relationship between master and slave. Slaves sometimes gained a measure of freedom by purchasing themselves, when allowed to save some portion of earnings if leased out or selling produce. The master determined if one had to pay market or reduced value. In other cases, relatives who were already free and earning money purchased others. Sometimes masters, or

1995-573: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and

2128-513: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only

2261-897: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as

2394-536: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in

2527-515: A white man and the mother of the mixed-race mistress. Supposedly, the young woman of mixed European and African ancestry would attend dances known as "quadroon balls" to meet white gentlemen willing to provide for her and any children she bears from their union. The relationship would end as soon as the man married properly. According to legend, free girls of color were raised by their mothers to become concubines for white men, as they themselves once were. However, evidence suggests that on account of

2660-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French

2793-745: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French

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2926-467: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English

3059-484: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given

3192-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including

3325-456: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share

3458-628: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in

3591-495: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English

3724-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from

3857-560: Is located at 30°41′47″N 91°26′20″W  /  30.69639°N 91.43889°W  / 30.69639; -91.43889 (30.696305, -91.438980) and has an elevation of 30 feet (9.1 m). According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 4.6 square miles (12 km), all land. Gradually sloping from a high of 36 feet (11 m) above sea level on Main Street immediately adjacent to False River to

3990-687: Is not believed to have been of mixed race. In the United States, many of the African Americans elected as state and local officials during Reconstruction in the South had been free in the South before the Civil War. Other new leaders were educated men of color from the North whose families had long been free and who went to the South to work and help the freedmen. Some were elected to office. Many descendants of

4123-462: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in

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4256-775: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for

4389-562: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,

4522-538: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure

4655-479: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in

4788-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially

4921-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism

5054-459: The gens de couleur , or free people of color, of the Louisiana area celebrate their culture and heritage through a New Orleans–based Louisiana Creole Research Association (LA Créole). The term "Créole" is not synonymous with "free people of color" or gens de couleur libre , but many members of LA Créole have traced their genealogies through those lines. Today, the (often multiracial) descendants of

5187-738: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of

5320-459: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as

5453-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of

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5586-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains

5719-547: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,

5852-551: The French West Indies ( Guadeloupe , Martinique , Saint-Domingue ), and many directly from Africa, as workers for the plantations . Historian Gwendolyn Midlo Hall discovered extensive French and Spanish documentation of the early slave trade , which provided more information than is usually available as to the ethnicity and names of individual slaves , all in the court house at New Roads. Using this and other research, she has produced "The Louisiana Slave Database and

5985-598: The French language , and they tended to scorn the Haitian Creole language used by slaves. Most gens de couleur libres were reared as Roman Catholic , also part of French culture, and many denounced the Vodoun religion brought with slaves from Africa. Under the ancien régime , despite the provisions of equality nominally established in the Code Noir , the gens de couleur were limited in their freedoms. They did not possess

6118-727: The General Archive of the Indies , have managed to locate the position of the Unzaga post, which included, along with it, a parish. Unfortunately after the slave rebellion of 1795 this settlement was left uninhabited. After Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War (also known as the French and Indian War in North America), France ceded this territory to Spain. About 1776, the Spanish built

6251-820: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It

6384-609: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It

6517-951: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin

6650-407: The plantations where they or their ancestors had been slaves, and where they had extended family. Masters often used free blacks as plantation managers or overseers, especially if the master had a family relationship with the mixed-race man. In the early 19th century, societies required apprenticeships for free blacks to ensure they developed a means of support. For instance, in North Carolina, "By

6783-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;

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6916-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . 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. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed

7049-457: The Artibonite valley that could be used by rebels as shelter and storage. There were 3,000 known Native peoples (both "esclaves" and "sauvages") living in Haiti in the years before independence, according to a 1802 colonial census. Dessalines did not forget these people and their sacrifices against Spain and now, France. He named the Haitian army "the Incas", "the Army of the Sun" and eventually "the Indigenous Army" in honor of them. He also renamed

7182-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French

7315-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,

7448-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of

7581-438: The French and Spanish colonists, Africans, and other ethnicities are widely known as Louisiana Creoles . Louisiana's Governor Bobby Jindal signed Act 276 on 14 June 2013, creating the "prestige" license plate, "I'm Creole", honoring Louisiana Creoles' contributions and heritage. The terms Louisiana "Créole" and " Cajun " have sometimes been confused, as members of each group generally had ancestors who were French-speaking; but

7714-412: The French colony on December 20, 1803. Free men of color had been armed members of the militia for decades during both Spanish and French rule of the colony of Louisiana. They volunteered their services and pledged their loyalty to Claiborne and to their newly adopted country. In early 1804, the new U.S. administration in New Orleans under Governor Claiborne was faced with a dilemma previously unknown in

7847-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained

7980-402: The Louisiana Free Database: 1719–1820," which is searchable on line. After several floods, Governor Luis de Unzaga in 1772 moved the European settlement from Pointe Coupee to a new post, the so-called Post Unzaga. Recently, historians Frank Cazorla and J. David Polo, from the Louis de Unzaga Historical Society research team, using satellite remote sensing techniques and comparative plans from

8113-478: The United States and elsewhere. Some took slaves with them. Others, however, remained to play an influential role in Haitian politics . Free people of color were an important part generally in the history of the Caribbean during the period of slavery and afterward. Initially descendants of French men and African and Indian slaves (and later French men and free women of color), and often marrying within their own mixed-race community, some achieved wealth and power. By

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8246-400: The United States made the Louisiana Purchase , and the territory became part of the United States. In-migration of American settlers increased, changing Louisiana culture. In 1822, Catherine Dispau (a free woman of color called "La Fille Gougis" ) made a four or six block subdivision out of her False River plantation. This was located at the terminus of a "new road" linking False River with

8379-440: The United States, the integration of the military by incorporating entire units of established "colored" militia. See, e.g., the February 20, 1804 letter from Secretary of War Henry Dearborn to Claiborne, stating that "it would be prudent not to increase the Corps, but to diminish, if it could be done without giving offense." A decade later during the War of 1812, the militia which consisted of free men of color volunteered to join

8512-433: The United States. They achieved more rights than did free people of color or free blacks in the Thirteen Colonies , including serving in the armed militia. After the United States acquired the Louisiana Territory , Creoles in New Orleans and the region worked to integrate the military en masse . William C. C. Claiborne , appointed by Thomas Jefferson as governor of the Territory of Orleans, formally accepted delivery of

8645-456: The battle's conclusion. There was relatively little manumission of slaves until after the revolution. Throughout the slave societies of the Americas, some slave owners took advantage of the power relationships to use female slaves sexually; sometimes they had extended relationships of concubinage. However, in the Thirteen Colonies, the children of these relationships were not usually emancipated. South Carolina diarist Mary Chesnut wrote in

8778-408: The center of their residential community in New Orleans was the French Quarter . Many were artisans who owned property and their own businesses. They formed a social category distinct from both whites and slaves, and maintained their own society into the period after United States annexation. Some historians suggest that free people of color made New Orleans the cradle of the civil rights movement in

8911-544: The city was 38.99% White , 59.32% African American , 0.22% Native American , 0.79% Asian , 0.16% from other races , and 0.52% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.62% of the population. There were 1,818 households, out of which 33.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.4% were married couples living together, 23.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.6% were non-families. 28.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.7% had someone living alone who

9044-465: The colony , many colonists took African women as concubines or wives. In the colonial period of French and Spanish rule, men tended to marry later after becoming financially established. Later, when more white families had settled or developed here, some young French men or ethnic French Creoles still took mixed-race women as mistresses, often known as placées . Popular stereotypes portray such unions as formal, financial transactions arranged between

9177-422: The colony, known as the petits blancs ("small whites"). Because of the freedmen's relative economic success in the region, sometimes related to blood ties to influential whites people, the petits blancs farmers often resented their social standing and worked to keep them shut out of government. Beyond financial incentives, the free coloreds caused the working-class whites further problems in finding women to start

9310-427: The community's piety by the late 18th century, free women of color usually preferred the legitimacy of marriage with other free men of color. In cases where free women of color did enter extramarital relationships with white men, such unions were overwhelmingly lifelong and exclusive. Many of these white men remained legal bachelors for life. This form of interracial cohabitation was often viewed as no different from

9443-475: The condition of having two free parents. The decree was revoked on September 24, 1791, and replaced by a new, more generous decree on April 4, 1792, that gave full French citizenship to all free people, regardless of the color of their skin and the statuses of their parents. This was followed by a proclamation on February 4, 1794, which abolished slavery in French colonies, granting citizenship rights to all, regardless of color. In their competition for power, both

9576-541: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Free people of color A freed African slave was known as affranchi ( lit.   ' freed ' ). The term was sometimes meant to include the free people of color, but they considered the term pejorative since they had been born free. The term gens de couleur libres ( French: [ʒɑ̃ də kulœʁ libʁ] ("free people of color")

9709-508: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French

9842-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French

9975-464: The economy of slave societies. In most places they worked as artisans and small retail merchants in the towns. In many places, especially in the American South , there were restrictions on people of color owning slaves and agricultural land. But many free blacks lived in the countryside, and some became major slaveholders. In the antebellum years, individual slaves who were freed often stayed on or near

10108-585: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as

10241-407: The enslaved women who were their concubines. Many slave societies allowed masters to free their slaves. As the population of color became larger and the white ruling class felt more threatened by potential instability, they worked through their governments to increase restrictions on manumissions. These usually included taxes, requirements that some socially useful reason be cited for manumission, and

10374-506: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . 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

10507-480: The first ruler of independent Haiti and a leader of the Revolution, talked about people whom he called "Rouges" (reds), or sometimes "Incas" in his letters. When they were spoken about in context of the war, he makes mention of cooperation between Africans and Natives in maroon communities that plotted against colonists on the southern peninsula. He also discusses "Incas among his men" showing him secret burial quarters in

10640-572: The force mustered by Andrew Jackson in preparation for the Battle of New Orleans , when the British began landing troops outside the city in December 1814 in preparation for an invasion of the city. The battle resulted in a decisive American victory, in which black soldiers played a critical role. However, many black troops who had been promised freedom in exchange for service were forcibly returned to slavery after

10773-858: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,

10906-670: The former slaves was essential for the eventual success of the Haitians to expel French influence. The former slaves and the anciens libres still remained segregated in many respects. Their animosity and struggle for power erupted in 1799. The competition between the gens de couleur led by André Rigaud and the black Haitians led by Toussaint Louverture devolved into the War of the Knives . After their loss in that conflict, many wealthy gens de couleur left as refugees to France , Cuba , Puerto Rico ,

11039-510: The free people of color were known as gens de couleur libres , and affranchis . Comparable mixed-race groups became an important part of the populations of the British colony of Jamaica , the Spanish colonies of Santo Domingo , Cuba , Puerto Rico , the Dutch colony of Suriname and the Portuguese colony of Brazil . Free people of color played an important role in the history of New Orleans and

11172-422: The freedmen, who sometimes portrayed themselves to whites as bulwarks against a slave uprising. As property owners, freedmen tended to support distinct lines set between their own class and that of slaves. Also often working as artisans, shopkeepers or landowners, the gens de couleur frequently became quite prosperous, and many prided themselves on their European culture and descent. They were often well-educated in

11305-818: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being

11438-442: The government, would free slaves without payment as a reward for some notable service; a slave who revealed slave conspiracies for uprisings was sometimes rewarded with freedom. Many people who lived as free within the slave societies did not have formal liberty papers. In some cases, these were refugees, who hid in the towns among free people of color and tried to maintain a low profile. In other cases, they were "living as free" with

11571-504: The height of the crisis. During the floods of 1912 and 1927, however, the southern portion of the town, including the main business district, remained dry, as the flood waters to the north and east were held back by the Texas & Pacific Railroad embankment. Mid-city flooding had periodically occurred during hurricanes and other heavy rainfall events due to the overbanking of the Portage Canal,

11704-912: The island "Haiti", its pre-Columbian name. When slavery was ended in the colony in 1793, by action of the French government following the French Revolution, there were approximately 28,000 anciens libres ("free before") in Saint-Domingue. The term was used to distinguish those who were already free, compared to those liberated by the general emancipation of 1793. About 16,000 of these anciens libres were gens de couleur libres . Another 12,000 were affranchis , black former slaves who had either purchased their freedom or had been given it by their masters for various reasons. Regardless of their ethnicity, in Saint-Domingue freedmen had been able to own land. Some acquired plantations and owned large numbers of slaves themselves. The slaves were generally not friendly with

11837-450: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French

11970-474: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon

12103-602: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,

12236-475: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what

12369-497: The late 1830s, then, county courts could apprentice orphans, fatherless or abandoned children, illegitimate children, and free black children whose parents were not employed. However, the number of apprenticeships declined as the number of free blacks increased. In some Southern states after the Nat Turner slave rebellion of 1831, the legislatures passed laws that forbade the teaching of free blacks or slaves to read and write , which

12502-457: The late eighteenth century, most free people of color in Saint-Domingue were native born and part of colored families that had been free for generations. Free people of color were leaders in the French colony of Saint-Domingue , which achieved independence in 1804 as the Republic of Haiti . In Saint-Domingue, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and other French Caribbean colonies before slavery was abolished,

12635-453: The lowest part of the city. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 4,549 people, 1,692 households, and 1,034 families residing in the city. As of the census of 2000, there were 4,966 people, 1,818 households, and 1,243 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,091.8 inhabitants per square mile (421.5/km). There were 2,044 housing units at an average density of 449.4 per square mile (173.5/km). The racial makeup of

12768-580: The mid-19th century that "like the patriarchs of old our men live all in one house with their wives and their concubines, and the mulattos one sees in every family exactly resemble the white children ..." In some places, especially in the French and Spanish Caribbean and South American slave societies, the ethnic European father might acknowledge the relationship and his children. Some were common-law marriages of affection. Slaveholders were more likely to free their mixed-race children of these relationships than they were to free other slaves. They also sometimes freed

12901-400: The modern conception of a common-law marriage . As in Saint-Domingue, the free people of color developed as a separate class between the colonial French and Spanish and the mass of black slaves. They often achieved education, practiced artisan trades, and gained some measure of wealth; they spoke French and practiced Catholicism . Many also developed a syncretic Christianity . At one time

13034-419: The mother and/or children under the system of plaçage , or by arranging for an apprenticeship to a trade for their mixed-race children, which provided them a better opportunity to make a skilled living, or by educating sons in France and easing their way into the military. In St. Domingue by the late colonial period, gens de couleur owned about one-third of the land and about one-quarter of the slaves, mostly in

13167-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the 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

13300-574: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;

13433-425: The older Mississippi River settlement to the north. This is the area now bounded by West Main, New Roads, West Second and St. Mary Streets. The latter was named for St. Mary's Catholic Church, founded in 1823. The community was referred to variously as the "village of St. Mary" or Chemin Neuf. The founding of the church helped the community develop. In 1847, New Roads was named as the seat of Pointe Coupée Parish, and

13566-528: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of

13699-497: The permission of their master, sometimes in return for payment of rent or a share of money they earned by trades. The master never made their freedom official, as in the case of Margaret Morgan , who had been living as a free person in Pennsylvania but was captured in 1837 and sold together with her children under claims that they were still slaves according to the laws of Maryland . Free people of color filled an important niche in

13832-420: The poor whites and free coloreds enlisted the help of slaves. By doing this, the feud helped to disintegrate class discipline and propel the slave population in the colony to seek further inclusion and liberties in society. As the widespread slave rebellion in the north of the island wore on, many free people of color abandoned their earlier distance from the slaves. A growing coalition between the free coloreds and

13965-462: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French

14098-464: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in

14231-500: The same rights as Frenchmen, specifically the right to vote . Most supported slavery on the island, at least up to the time of the French Revolution . But they sought equal rights for free people of color, which became an early central issue of the unfolding Haitian Revolution . The primary adversary of the gens de couleur before and into the Haitian Revolution were the working-class white people such as farmers and tradesmen of

14364-479: The size and effectiveness of the police force, and expand the municipal boundaries. Under her administration, New Roads was elevated from town to city status and the city and parish erected the Scott Civic Center, False River Regional Airport, playgrounds, and sports parks. Scott was succeeded by Sylvester Muckelroy, the first African American to hold the office. In 2010, Robert Myer, also an African American,

14497-441: The slave population. From the view of the white enslaver class in places such as Saint-Domingue or Jamaica, this was a critical function in a society in which the population of slaves on large plantations vastly outnumbered whites. In places where law or social custom permitted it, some free people of color managed to acquire good agricultural land and slaves and become planters themselves. Free blacks owned plantations in almost all

14630-446: The slave societies of the Americas. In the United States, free people of color may have owned the most property in Louisiana, as France and Spain had allowed the territory 's Creole residents more recognition of mixed-race children before its acquisition by the United States. A man who had a relationship with a woman of color often also arranged for a transfer of wealth to her and their children, whether through deed of land and property to

14763-474: The southern area of New France, both when the area was controlled by the French and Spanish, and after its acquisition by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase . When French settlers and traders first arrived in these colonies, the men frequently took Native American women as their concubines or common-law wives (see Marriage 'à la façon du pays' ). When African slaves were imported to

14896-416: The southern part of the island. When the end of slavery came, the distinction between former free coloreds and former slaves persisted in some societies. Because of advantages in the social capital of education and experience, free people of color often became leaders for the newly freed people. In Saint-Domingue, Toussaint Louverture had gained freedom before he became a leader in the slave rebellion, but he

15029-462: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In

15162-673: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French

15295-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by

15428-479: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of

15561-531: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of

15694-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as

15827-433: The years after Louisiana became part of the United States. The first post office was established in 1858 as "False River," but it was discontinued in 1861. When the town was incorporated by the state legislature in 1875, it was named "New Roads." But, in 1878, when the post office reopened, it was named "St. Mary's." In 1879, the city and post office name was changed to New Roads. The old incorporation fell into disuse. The city

15960-449: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.24. In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.4% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 18.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 82.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.0 males. The median income for

16093-746: Was William Haile "Booty" Scott, Sr. During his administration, New Roads and the Pointe Coupee Parish Police Jury acquired property on which to construct facilities. Scott died in office in 1978. Scott's wife, Trina Olinde Scott (1920-2016), was appointed to fill out his term, becoming New Roads' first female mayor. She was thereafter elected to two full terms of her own. A former educator who attended H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College in New Orleans and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge , Trina Scott helped revitalize Main Street, increase

16226-471: Was a requirement for having an apprenticeship. There was fear if blacks could read and write, they might start slave revolts and rebellions. Blacks were not allowed to apprentice as an editor or work in a printing press. Despite the restrictions of some apprenticeships, many free blacks benefited from their time as an apprentice. In Caribbean colonies, governments sometimes hired free people of color as rural police to hunt down runaway slaves and keep order among

16359-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French

16492-468: Was commonly used in France's West Indian colonies prior to the abolition of slavery . It frequently referred to free people of mixed African and European ancestry. In British North America , the term free Negro was often used to cover the same class of people—those who were legally free and visibly of African descent. By the late 18th century prior to the Haitian Revolution , Saint-Domingue

16625-791: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but

16758-501: Was elected mayor. On August 3, 2016, Myer was indicted by a Pointe Coupee Parish grand jury on nine counts of malfeasance in office and abuse of power. From 2011 to 2014, Myer allegedly used a city-issued credit card for personal reasons. He also allegedly permitted the former municipal finance director to use the card in exchange for sexual favors. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )

16891-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul

17024-582: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates

17157-434: Was legally divided into three distinct groups: free whites (who were divided socially between the plantation-class grands blancs and the working-class petits blancs ); freedmen ( affranchis ), and slaves . More than half of the affranchis were gens de couleur libres ; others were considered freed black slaves. In addition, maroons (runaway slaves) were sometimes able to establish independent small communities and

17290-552: Was located upstream from the point crossed by explorers, immediately above but not circled by False River . The name referred to the area along the Mississippi River northeast of what is now New Roads. The post was initially settled by native French , as well as French-speaking Creoles born in the colony . Additional ethnically French settlers migrated down the Mississippi River from Fort de Chartres , Upper Louisiana . The colonists imported numerous African slaves from

17423-530: Was reincorporated in 1892, and received its charter two years later. Several names were proposed, among them "St. Mary" and "Rose Lake." But "New Roads" was finally chosen, although it was often misspelled "New Rhodes." Since its founding, New Roads has been the hub of an agricultural community that cultivated commodity crops of sugar cane, cotton, and pecans, among others. Today, the economy has grown to support large industries such as healthcare and social assistance, construction, and retail facilities. New Roads

17556-575: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of

17689-554: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,

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