Sutz-Lattrigen is a municipality in the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland . It is home to a number of Neolithic and Bronze Age lake shore archeological sites, including one that is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site .
98-583: The municipality is situated on the shore of Lake Biel . In 2007, the remains of the oldest known building in Switzerland – a pile dwelling dated to 3863 BC – were discovered in the lake near Sutz-Lattrigen. The shoreline was occupied by a Corded ware culture settlement through the Neolithic and into the Bronze Age. In 2011 the remains of the settlement was included in an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sutz village
196-720: 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
294-431: 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,
392-743: A few months on the island. One of the main business in the area is the watch and affiliated microtechnic industries. World famous watch brands have their sites and headquarters in the area, including the Swatch Group and Rolex movements manufacture. The lake's surface is the lowest point of the canton of Neuchâtel. As the lake is located on the border of the French and German language regions, most places have names in both languages, though not all versions are still in use. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )
490-543: 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
588-639: 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
686-494: 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
784-573: 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
882-513: 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
980-897: 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
1078-415: A total of 299 full-time equivalent jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 16, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 150 of which 85 or (56.7%) were in manufacturing, 52 or (34.7%) were in mining and 2 (1.3%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 133. In the tertiary sector; 34 or 25.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or
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#17331054437891176-430: A total of 462 apartments (83.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 76 apartments (13.8%) were seasonally occupied and 14 apartments (2.5%) were empty. As of 2010, the construction rate of new housing units was 1.5 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2012, was 0.9%. In 2011, single family homes made up 69.8% of the total housing in the municipality. The historical population
1274-536: 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
1372-437: 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
1470-745: 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
1568-467: 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
1666-484: 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
1764-430: 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
1862-456: 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
1960-628: 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
2058-604: Is first mentioned in 1228 as Soz . In 1262 or 1263 it was mentioned as Souz . Lattrigen village was first mentioned in 1270 as Lattringun . During the Middle Ages the villages were both part of the lands of the Counts of Neuchâtel - Nidau . In 1398, the two villages and much of the surrounding area were acquired by the city of Bern . A number of local patrician families and monastic houses owned land or rights in Sutz and Lattrigen over
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#17331054437892156-470: Is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship . During the 2011-12 school year, there were a total of 120 students attending classes in Sutz-Lattrigen. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 24 students in
2254-675: Is given in the following chart: The Neolithic / Bronze Age lake-side settlement of Sutz-Lattrigen–Rütte and the Von Rütte-Gut are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance . It is home to the Sutz-Lattrigen–Rütte prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlement that is part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps UNESCO World Heritage Site . The Sutz-Lattrigen–Rütte, named after
2352-495: 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
2450-404: 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
2548-462: 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
2646-775: 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
2744-448: Is one of the three large lakes in the Jura region of Switzerland. It lies on the language boundary between German and French speaking areas. The lake is 15 km long and up to 4.1 km wide. Its surface area is 39.3 km , the maximum depth 74 m. The lake is located at 429 metres above sea level. Lake Biel/Bienne has a catchment area of about 8,305 km . Water remains in
2842-420: Is settled (buildings or roads), 0.09 km (22 acres) or 2.5% is either rivers or lakes and 0.02 km (4.9 acres) or 0.6% is unproductive land. During the same year, housing and buildings made up 11.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.9%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.4% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.6%. All of
2940-562: 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 ,
3038-538: 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
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3136-479: 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
3234-492: 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
3332-424: 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
3430-738: 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
3528-459: 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
3626-539: 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
3724-485: 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
3822-547: 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,
3920-474: The Helvetic Republic district of Seeland. With the 1803 Act of Mediation it became part of the district of Nidau. The village church of Sutz was first mentioned in 1228, though the romanesque walls indicate that it is older. The bell tower was built in 1485, while the choir is from 1510. The Sutz parish included the villages of Tüscherz and Alfermée (both now part of Twann-Tüscherz ) from across
4018-820: 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
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4116-609: 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
4214-951: 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
4312-414: The primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 163 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 12 businesses in this sector. 183 people were employed in the tertiary sector , with 40 businesses in this sector. There were 620 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.7% of the workforce. In 2008 there were
4410-417: The 1950s the population of both villages grew and they expanded into a single continuous settlement. Sutz-Lattrigen has an area of 3.57 km (1.38 sq mi). As of 2012, a total of 1.59 km (0.61 sq mi) or 44.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.14 km (0.44 sq mi) or 31.7% is forested. The rest of the municipality is 0.77 km (0.30 sq mi) or 21.4%
4508-502: 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;
4606-798: 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
4704-682: 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
4802-886: 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,
4900-408: 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
4998-416: 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
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#17331054437895096-404: 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
5194-448: 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
5292-489: 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
5390-406: 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
5488-404: The following century. Gradually, the Abbeys of St. Alban in Basel , Frienisberg , Gottstatt and the Münchenbuchsee Commandery acquired most of the land. However, in 1528, Bern adopted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation and secularized all the Abbeys' lands, bringing Sutz and Lattrigen under direct Bernese control. Following the 1798 French invasion , Sutz-Lattrigen became part of
5586-426: The forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 33.9% is used for growing crops and 5.0% is pasturage, while 5.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 1.9% is in lakes and 0.6% is in rivers and streams. The municipality is located on the right bank of Lake Biel . It consists of the villages of Sutz and Lattrigen. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Nidau,
5684-439: 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 ,
5782-715: 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
5880-409: The lake for an average of 58 days. The rivers Aare and Zihl / Thielle flowing from Lake Neuchâtel, the Twannbach draining water down from the surplombing first Jura mountain range and the Suze draining water down from the Vallon de St. Imier , are the main tributaries. The Aare was redirected into the lake in 1878, in order to prevent the flooding of the nearby area called "Seeland", and drains
5978-411: The lake. The villages remained part of the Sutz parish until 1993, when they formed their own. In the 17th century Bern built a pier and warehouse in Lattrigen, which connected the village to lake trade routes. The villages were connected to the Täuffelen - Biel/Bienne railroad in 1916. The villages of Sutz and Lattrigen shared a school and farm land and gradually grew into a single municipality. In
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#17331054437896076-401: 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
6174-424: 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
6272-501: 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 ,
6370-428: 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
6468-440: The municipality for every one entering. A total of 126 workers (34.5% of the 365 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Sutz-Lattrigen. Of the working population, 23.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 54% used a private car. In 2011 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Sutz-Lattrigen making 150,000 CHF was 12.9%, while an unmarried resident's rate
6566-425: The municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Biel/Bienne. The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules an Anchor Argent between two Mullets Or in chief. Sutz-Lattrigen has a population (as of December 2020) of 1,399. As of 2010, 7.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011)
6664-428: The municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 4.2% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens). The municipality had 4 primary classes and 96 students. Of the primary students, 5.2% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 12.5% have a different mother language than the classroom language. As of 2000, there were a total of 86 students attending any school in
6762-435: The municipality. Of those, 72 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 14 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 111 residents attended schools outside the municipality. Lake Biel Lake Biel or Lake Bienne ( German : Bielersee ; French : Lac de Bienne [lak də bjɛn] ) is a lake in western Switzerland . Together with Lake Morat and Lake Neuchâtel , it
6860-404: The nearby von Rütte estate, was occupied during the final neolithic period and contains the remains of several settlements and artifacts from the rise of the Corded Ware culture . There are only a few Corded Ware culture sites in Europe and all the known settlements are in Switzerland. Additionally, the only western Swiss lakeside bell beaker pottery was found at the site. The first village at
6958-420: 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
7056-574: 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;
7154-528: 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
7252-408: The population has changed at a rate of 0.7%. Migration accounted for 0.1%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.4%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (1,064 or 92.4%) as their first language, French is the second most common (53 or 4.6%) and Spanish is the third (9 or 0.8%). There are 7 people who speak Italian and 1 person who speaks Romansh . As of 2008, the population
7350-516: The population) did not answer the question. In Sutz-Lattrigen about 58.8% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education , and 22.7% have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule ). Of the 165 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 72.1% were Swiss men, 23.0% were Swiss women. The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten , followed by six years of Primary school. This
7448-560: The population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church , and there were 53 individuals (or about 4.60% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish , and 23 (or about 2.00% of the population) who were Islamic . There was 1 person who was Buddhist and 1 individual who belonged to another church. 107 (or about 9.30% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist , and 30 individuals (or about 2.61% of
7546-420: The population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.5%. As of 2000, there were 472 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 569 married individuals, 60 widows or widowers and 50 individuals who are divorced. As of 2010, there were 170 households that consist of only one person and 27 households with five or more people. In 2000,
7644-462: 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
7742-429: The repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 3.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 17 or 12.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 19 or 14.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 7 or 5.3% were in education and 16 or 12.0% were in health care. In 2000, there were 239 workers who commuted into the municipality and 494 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.1 workers leaving
7840-464: 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
7938-459: The site has been dendrochronologically dated to 2763-2746 BC, but very little is known about it. The next settlement of 12 houses, was dated to 2736-2688 BC and 2627 BC. This settlement was destroyed in a fire in 2704 BC and at least 12 new houses were built immediately there after. In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 29.7% of
8036-462: 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
8134-619: 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
8232-508: 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
8330-479: 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
8428-647: The vote. The next three most popular parties were the Social Democratic Party (SP) (18.3%), the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (15.7%) and the Green Party (9.6%). In the federal election, a total of 530 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 53.4%. As of 2011, Sutz-Lattrigen had an unemployment rate of 1.47%. As of 2008, there were a total of 382 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 36 people employed in
8526-509: The water out of the lake down to Büren through a simultaneously man-made channel. The level of all three lakes is being controlled by a dam built across the channel, in Port . The largest settlement along the shores of Lake Biel are the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne and its sister city Nidau , both located on the northern end. The St. Peter's Island attracts tourists. The island is located near Erlach/Cerlier . Jean-Jacques Rousseau once spent
8624-531: 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
8722-402: 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
8820-519: Was 130,295 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF. In 2011 a total of 1.5% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government. From the 2000 census, 749 or 65.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church , while 179 or 15.6% were Roman Catholic . Of the rest of the population, there were 2 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.17% of the population), there were 5 individuals (or about 0.43% of
8918-419: Was 18.9%. For comparison, the average rate for the entire canton in the same year, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide average was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively. In 2009 there were a total of 607 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 243 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 3 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Sutz-Lattrigen
9016-549: Was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 596 Swiss men (44.4% of the population) and 50 (3.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 652 Swiss women (48.5%) and 4 (0.3%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 256 or about 22.2% were born in Sutz-Lattrigen and lived there in 2000. There were 552 or 48.0% who were born in the same canton, while 208 or 18.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 96 or 8.3% were born outside of Switzerland. As of 2011, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.4% of
9114-417: 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
9212-791: 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
9310-447: 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
9408-684: 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
9506-575: 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
9604-554: 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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