In political science , voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot ) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of registered voters , eligible voters , or all voting-age people. According to Stanford University political scientists Adam Bonica and Michael McFaul , there is a consensus among political scientists that "democracies perform better when more people vote."
148-637: Visp ( German: [fɪʃp] ; French : Viège ; Walser : Fischp ) is the capital of the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland . Visp lies in the Rhône valley, at the confluence of the Vispa and the Rhône, 9 km (6 mi) west of Brig-Glis . Visp has an area, as of 2011, of 13.2 square kilometers (5.1 sq mi). Of this area, 17.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 59.7%
296-562: 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 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
444-720: 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
592-607: A complex registration or re-registration process. In the United States, for example, there is no accurate registry of exactly who is eligible to vote, since only about 70–75% of people choose to register themselves. Thus, turnout has to be calculated based on population estimates. Some political scientists have argued that these measures do not properly account for the large number of legal permanent residents (green card holders), undocumented immigrants , disenfranchised felons and persons who are considered 'mentally incompetent' in
740-431: 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,
888-640: A democracy is also an important factor. Elections require considerable involvement by the population, and it takes some time to develop the cultural habit of voting, and the associated understanding of and confidence in the electoral process. This factor may explain the lower turnouts in the newer democracies of Eastern Europe and Latin America. Much of the impetus to vote comes from a sense of civic duty, which takes time and certain social conditions that can take decades to develop: Demographics also have an effect. Older people tend to vote more than youths, so societies where
1036-421: A difference, are more likely to make the effort to vote, and less likely to vote tactically . Compared to countries with plurality electoral systems, voter turnout improves and the population is more involved in the political process in ~70% of cases. The exceptions to the rule can include cases where a plurality system has an unusually high number of competitive districts, for example, before it transitions to
1184-567: A district where one is a recent arrival, including knowing little about the local candidates and issues. It has been argued that democratic consolidation (the stabilization of new democracies) contributes to the decline in voter turnout. A 2017 study challenges this, however. Various measures have been proposed to attempt to increase voter turnout. One of these is to make election days national holidays in order to give potential voters more time and freedom to vote. This has been implemented in multiple democracies of which have higher voter turnouts than
1332-409: A field experiment that exploits the rare opportunity of a tied election for major political office. Informing citizens that the special election to break the tie will be close (meaning a high P term) has little mobilizing effect on voter turnout. Riker and Ordeshook developed the modern understanding of D . They listed five major forms of gratification that people receive for voting: complying with
1480-543: 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
1628-551: A gradual decrease in voter turnout globally when looking at the voting-age population. However, a 2001 article in the American Political Science Review , Michael McDonald and Samuel Popkin argued, that at least in the United States, voter turnout since 1972 has not actually declined when calculated for those eligible to vote, what they term the voting-eligible population. In 1972, noncitizens and ineligible felons (depending on state law) constituted about 2% of
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#17330936442711776-431: A hotel or restaurant, 45 or 1.5% were in the information industry, 168 or 5.5% were the insurance or financial industry, 275 or 9.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 175 or 5.7% were in education and 788 or 25.9% were in health care. In 2000, there were 5,635 workers who commuted into the municipality and 881 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 6.4 workers entering
1924-533: A large number of eligible but unregistered citizens creating inflated turnout figures. For some time, the Gallup Organization has utilized a metric of polls to determine who would vote. These polls would look at "intention to vote, registration status, reported frequency of past voting, awareness of where to vote, interest in politics in general, interest in the particular election, and intensity of candidate preference." Since around 1985, there appears to be
2072-509: A loss of community, which in turn has weakened participation in civic life. At the same time, some forms of participation have increased. People have become far more likely to participate in boycotts , demonstrations , and to donate to political campaigns. Many causes have been proposed for what some see as a decline in voter participation though all offered in this section are heavily disputed. When asked why they do not vote, many people report that they have too little free time. However, over
2220-570: A metre gauge line BVZ Zermatt-Bahn (with services operated by the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn ). The railway and bus stations in Visp and Brig are starting points for many outdoor activities, trips, and tours in the surrounding mountain resorts Zermatt and Saas-Fee , lying at the foot of almost all the highest peaks in the Alps , such as Matterhorn , Monte Rosa , Dom and Weisshorn . EHC Visp
2368-521: A party specifically geared towards the working class will tend to have higher turnouts among that class than in countries where voters have only big tent parties, which try to appeal to all the voters, to choose from. A four-wave panel study conducted during the 2010 Swedish national election campaign, show (1) clear differences in media use between age groups and (2) that both political social media use and attention to political news in traditional media increase political engagement over time. Social media
2516-541: A party's record can increase it. To counter this, programs such as MTV 's " Rock the Vote " and the " Vote or Die " initiatives have been introduced to increase turnouts of those between the ages of 18 and 25. A number of governments and electoral commissions have also launched efforts to boost turnout. For instance, Elections Canada has launched mass media campaigns to encourage voting prior to elections, as have bodies in Taiwan and
2664-639: 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
2812-489: A place, regardless of age , citizenship status or other factors that affect voting eligibility. This has the advantage of being an accessible indicator of how close a place may be to universal suffrage . Voting-age population: everyone above the legal voting age in a country regardless of citizenship status or other factors that might affect voting eligibility. This has the advantage of being easier to measure than 'eligible voters.' Eligible voters: This measures all
2960-610: A polling booth have been mandatory since the 1920s, with the 2016 federal election having turnout figures of 91% for the House of Representatives and 91.9% for the Senate . In Singapore, turnout at the 2020 general election was 95.81%, the highest since 1997 where it was 95.91%. This was an increase from the record low of 93.06% at the 2011 general election . Penalties for failing to vote are not always strictly enforced, and sanctions for non-voters are often mild. For instance, while voting
3108-405: A population (as of December 2020) of 8,060. As of 2008, 19.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 5.8%. It has changed at a rate of 4.5% due to migration and at a rate of 1.1% due to births and deaths. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (5,778 or 88.2%) as their first language, Serbo-Croatian
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#17330936442713256-519: A proportional one. Differing methods of measuring voter turnout can contribute to reported differences between nations. There are difficulties in measuring both the numerator, the number of voters who cast votes, and the denominator, the number of voters eligible to vote. In Sweden, validated individual-level turnout data is available for a subset of general and European Parliament elections, taken from Swedish election registers. From largest to smallest Signed-in: includes people who signed-in at
3404-494: 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
3552-650: 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 the United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ,
3700-551: A single legislature that holds most political power. Malta has a two-party system in which a small swing in votes can significantly alter the executive. Voters' perceptions of fairness also have an important effect on salience, where fears of fraud and corruption can suppress turnout. Minority voters are shown to mobilize when issues pertaining to their group identity become politically salient. Since most votes count in proportional representation systems , there are fewer " wasted votes ", so voters, aware that their vote can make
3848-546: A tent on a campsite. From the 2000 census, 5,390 or 82.3% were Roman Catholic , while 306 or 4.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church . Of the rest of the population, there were 174 members of an Orthodox church (or about 2.66% of the population), there were 3 individuals (or about 0.05% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church , and there were 104 individuals (or about 1.59% of
3996-469: A total of 910 students in the Visp school system. The education system in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten . During that school year, there 7 kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and 140 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school . In Visp there were a total of 28 classes and 513 students in
4144-536: 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
4292-418: A voter fails to participate in an election, they may be denied withdrawal of their salary from the bank for three months. Mark N. Franklin argues that salience, the perceived effect that an individual vote will have on how the country is run, has a significant effect on turnout. He presents Switzerland as an example of a nation with low salience. The nation's administration is highly decentralized, so that
4440-453: 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 is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As
4588-437: 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
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4736-406: Is a decline in turnout in the United States and that it is the product of a change in campaigning strategies as a result of the so-called new media. Before the introduction of television, almost all of a party's resources would be directed towards intensive local campaigning and get out the vote initiatives. In the modern era, these resources have been redirected to expensive media campaigns in which
4884-546: Is a move to a proportional representation system for countries that currently use first-past-the-post in elections. Countries that use proportional representation systems have higher turnouts when compared to those that do not. The reasoning that has been given for this is that voters feel they "are given a more meaningful choice at the ballot box" and that a proportional electoral system leads to greater voter representation. Voter turnout varies considerably between nations. One dataset with voter turnouts by country and election
5032-467: 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
5180-484: 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
5328-628: 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
5476-400: Is forested. Of the rest of the land, 19.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and 3.9% is unproductive land. The proposed merger of the municipalities of Eggerberg , Ausserberg , Bürchen , Baltschieder , Visp and Visperterminen was rejected by the residents. The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per pale Argent and Gules, two Lions rampant reguardant counterchanged. Visp has
5624-549: 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
5772-404: 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
5920-506: Is nominally compulsory in Greece for adults up to 70 years of age, no one has ever been prosecuted for failing to vote, with voter turnout rates reaching as low as 57% in the September 2015 Greek legislative election . In Australia, people who do not vote are subject to a small fine, which is easily waived if one of many acceptable excuses for failing to vote is provided. In Bolivia , however, if
6068-439: Is not always used effectively and may sometimes have a negative impact on the results of the election. Barack Obama utilized Facebook to his benefit during his first run for presidency and truly jumpstarted the use of social media in political campaigns. We recently saw the utilization of social media and perhaps the negative impacts social media has on campaigns in the recent 2020 election. Rosenstone and Hansen contend that there
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6216-462: 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
6364-775: 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
6512-618: 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 ,
6660-610: Is the Election turnout indicator in V-Dem Democracy indices . It tends to be lower in North America, Asia and Latin America than in most of Europe and Oceania. Based on all parliamentary elections between 1945 and 1997, Western Europe averages a 77% turnout, and South and Central America around 54%. The differences between nations tend to be greater than those between classes, ethnic groups, or regions within nations. Confusingly, some of
6808-555: Is the city's main team. They play in the Swiss League and their home arena is the Lonza Arena. Most of their home games are played in front of a sell out crowd of 5,125. Visp features a warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb) according to the Köppen climate classification . Precipitation is lower than in other parts of Switzerland due to its location inside the high mountain ranges of
6956-538: 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
7104-479: 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
7252-428: Is the second most common (192 or 2.9%) and Albanian is the third (139 or 2.1%). There are 107 people who speak French , 111 people who speak Italian and 3 people who speak Romansh . As of 2008, the population was 49.5% male and 50.5% female. The population was made up of 2,671 Swiss men (39.0% of the population) and 713 (10.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 2,808 Swiss women (41.0%) and 650 (9.5%) non-Swiss women. Of
7400-492: 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
7548-424: 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
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#17330936442717696-627: The 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 62.91% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (16.23%), the SVP (14.67%) and the FDP (3.81%). In the federal election, a total of 2,732 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 60.1%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 2,235 votes were cast, of which 239 or about 10.7% were invalid. The voter participation
7844-553: The 2014 , saw a record breaking voters in the 2019 Indonesian general election with more than 158 million people cast their ballots on the same day, and has been called "the world's most complex one-day elections". Wealth and literacy have some effect on turnout, but are not reliable measures. Countries such as Angola and Ethiopia have long had high turnouts, but so have the wealthy states of Europe. The United Nations Human Development Index shows some correlation between higher standards of living and higher turnout. The age of
7992-738: 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
8140-531: 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; 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
8288-600: 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
8436-509: 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 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
8584-530: 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
8732-547: 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,
8880-399: 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 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
9028-820: 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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#17330936442719176-609: 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
9324-735: 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
9472-400: The secondary sector and there were 93 businesses in this sector. 3,901 people were employed in the tertiary sector , with 420 businesses in this sector. There were 3,178 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.4% of the workforce. In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 7,188. The number of jobs in the primary sector
9620-502: 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;
9768-742: 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
9916-510: 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
10064-614: 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,
10212-408: 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
10360-416: 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
10508-410: 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 a second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as
10656-591: 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 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
10804-448: 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 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
10952-760: The Padrón is supervised by a national government agency, the Instituto National de Estatística (INE). La Oficina Electoral del Censo is the bureau, as part of the INE, responsible for compiling the electoral roll. Every Spanish citizen or EU resident, older than 18 years, is automatically included in the voter register. A strong factor affecting voter turnout is whether voting is compulsory, as countries that enforce compulsory voting tend to have far higher voter turnout rates. For example, in Australia , voter registration and attendance at
11100-470: The U.S., which does not make elections days national holidays. Voter registration has been found to be a barrier to democratic participation. Therefore, another measure cited to boost election turnout is to have automatic voter registration, a measure that has been implemented in various democracies around the world. studies have shown that increased voter registration leads to greater turnout at elections. Another proposed measure to increase voter turnout
11248-615: The United Kingdom. Structural differences between democracies, including the complexity of the system and ease of voting are more often used to explain differences in turnout between nations, with United States voters in particular suffering from a complicated maze of federalism and separation of powers that is relatively unique among democracies. The Brennan Center for Justice reported that in 2016 fourteen states passed restrictive voting laws. Examples of these laws are photo ID mandates, narrow times for early voting, and limitations on voter registration. Barbour and Wright also believe that one of
11396-567: The United States, negative campaigning and character attacks are more common than elsewhere, potentially suppressing turnouts. The focus placed on get out the vote efforts and mass-marketing can have important effects on turnout. Partisanship is an important impetus to turnout, with the highly partisan more likely to vote. Turnout tends to be higher in nations where political allegiance is closely linked to class, ethnic, linguistic, or religious loyalties. Countries where multiparty systems have developed also tend to have higher turnouts. Nations with
11544-568: The United States. In the United States and most Latin American nations, voters must go through separate voter registration procedures before they are allowed to vote. This two-step process quite clearly decreases turnout . US states with no, or easier, registration requirements have larger turnouts. A country with a highly efficient registration process is France. At the age of eighteen, all youth are automatically registered . Only new residents and citizens who have moved are responsible for bearing
11692-447: The United States. Voter turnout everywhere would be higher if measured by eligibility and not voting-age population. Even in countries with fewer restrictions on the franchise, voting age population turnout data can still be impacted by large numbers of non-citizen residents and non-resident citizens voting , often under-reporting turnout by as much as 10 percentage points. Professor Michael P. McDonald constructed an estimation of
11840-414: The Visp region. As a result, the municipality had to cover the necessary costs arising from the influx itself, which regularly led to deficits in the municipal budget. Apart from concerns about drinking water, the extreme housing shortage and the consequent soaring rental prices were also prominent issues. In May 2022, a case of social welfare made headlines, where a mother and her child were forced to live in
11988-482: The abilities of democracies to function. For example, regulatory capture tends to afflict low-turnout democracies more, blocking popular democratic reforms like streamlining elections. Institutional factors have the most significant impact on voter turnout. Making voting compulsory has a direct and dramatic effect on turnout while adding barriers, such as a separate registration process or unnecessarily scheduling many elections , suppresses turnout . In addition,
12136-445: The average age is somewhat higher, such as Europe; have higher turnouts than somewhat younger countries such as the United States. Populations that are more mobile and those that have lower marriage rates tend to have lower turnout. In countries that are highly multicultural and multilingual, it can be difficult for national election campaigns to engage all sectors of the population. The nature of elections also varies between nations. In
12284-431: The average time voters wait in line, or requiring companies to give workers some time off on voting day. A 2017 study found that turnout among older voters increases the earlier polling places open, while turnout among younger voters improves the longer polling places stay open. If there are many elections in close succession, voter turnout tends to decrease as the public tires of participating. In low-turnout Switzerland,
12432-405: The average voter is invited to go to the polls an average of seven times a year; the United States has frequent elections, with two votes per year on average (e.g. local government and primaries ). Eliminating off-cycle elections boosts turnout while being popular with voters. Another form of voter fatigue occurs when voters are asked to weigh-in on dozens of contests, as occurs in some parts of
12580-513: The causes is restrictive voting laws but they call this system of laws regulating the electorate. The Constitution gives states the power to make decisions regarding restrictive voting laws. In 2008 the Supreme Court made a crucial decision regarding Indiana's voter ID law in saying that it does not violate the constitution. Since then almost half of the states have passed restrictive voting laws. These laws contribute to Barbour and Wrights idea of
12728-438: The civic and political sphere. This category is not limited to any socioeconomic or demographic groups. Google theorizes that individuals in this category suffer from political apathy , as they are interested in political life but believe that their individual effect would be negligible. These individuals often participate politically on the local level, but shy away from national elections. The chance of any one vote determining
12876-410: The closer democracies are to 'one person, one vote' increases turnout as voters see that their effort has an impact. This can be seen in the higher turnout rates of proportional parliamentary democracies. Other methods of making voting easier to increase turnout include vote-by-mail , absentee polling and improved access to polls, such as increasing the number of possible voting locations, lowering
13024-411: The construction rate of new housing units was 5.4 new units per 1000 residents. As of 2003 the average price to rent an average apartment in Visp was 923.95 Swiss francs (CHF) per month (US$ 740, £420, €590 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one-room apartment was 436.43 CHF (US$ 350, £200, €280), a two-room apartment was about 610.65 CHF (US$ 490, £270, €390), a three-room apartment
13172-532: The costs and inconvenience of updating their registration. Similarly, in Nordic countries , all citizens and residents are included in the official population register, which is simultaneously a tax list, voter registration, and membership in the universal health system. Residents are required by law to report any change of address to the register within a short time after moving. This is also the system in Germany (but without
13320-411: The costs of a legally required air filter. The threat had an impact. Ultimately, Switzerland yielded and paid millions, far exceeding the costs of such a filter. In this context, there was also a report by Swiss television, in which serious allegations against Lonza were raised. Not only was the extensive contamination from the hazardous waste site criticized, but also Lonza's attempt to pass the costs onto
13468-472: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Voter turnout Institutional factors drive the vast majority of differences in turnout rates. For example, simpler parliamentary democracies where voters get shorter ballots, fewer elections, and a multi-party system that makes accountability easier see much higher turnout than
13616-508: 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
13764-448: 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
13912-585: 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
14060-551: The emissions was installed in 2021. In 2021, Lonza announced plans to create 1,200 new jobs in Visp. Lonza rapidly conducted extensive advertising both in Switzerland and internationally to fill these positions as quickly as possible. However, the municipality and the Visp region were unprepared for such an influx. Water, electricity, and accommodation facilities were not equipped to handle the needs of so many newcomers. Despite Lonza generating billions in Visp, they did not pay taxes in
14208-465: The factors that cause internal differences do not seem to apply on a global level. For instance, nations with better-educated populaces do not have higher turnouts. There are two main commonly cited causes of these international differences: culture and institutions. However, there is much debate over the relative impact of the various factors. Indonesia, which before 1998 always had a high percentage of voter (more than 87%) but then dip down to low 70% in
14356-412: The federal government has limited powers. Important decisions are also placed before the population in a referendum . Individual votes for the federal legislature are thus less likely to have a significant effect on the complex web of systems, which probably explains some of the low average turnouts in that more complicated democracy. By contrast Malta , with one of the world's highest voter turnouts, has
14504-506: 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
14652-858: 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 ,
14800-818: 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
14948-634: The high youth turnout of 1972 (the first year 18- to 20-year-olds were eligible to vote in most states) is removed from the trendline. Other forms of political participation have declined, such as voluntary participation in political parties and the attendance of observers at town meetings. Meanwhile, church attendance, membership in professional, fraternal, and student societies, youth groups, and parent-teacher associations has also declined. Some argue that technological developments in society such as "automobilization," suburban living, and "an explosive proliferation of home entertainment devices" have contributed to
15096-450: 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
15244-474: 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
15392-602: 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 ,
15540-402: The last several decades, studies have consistently shown that the amount of leisure time has not decreased, even if the perception of less leisure time results in less participation. While wages and employment decrease voter turnout in gubernatorial elections, they appear to not affect national races. Geographic mobility has increased over the last few decades, bringing barriers to voting in
15688-475: 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
15836-513: The membership in the health system). Spain has also a similar system called "Padrón Municipal de Habitantes", held by municipalities. Persons register themselves in the Padrón as local residents (every resident in Spain must be registered in any municipality). The Padrón is used for providing most local, regional, and national government services. It also serves as the electoral register. In order to avoid duplications and to gather statistics on demography,
15984-438: The municipality for every one leaving. About 3.2% of the workforce coming into Visp are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 11.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 39.5% used a private car. The Lonza chemical factory regularly makes headlines and causes concern, as attempted soil contamination is frequently discovered around Visp. This has, at times, led to gardens being rendered unusable, with
16132-550: The municipality. Visp is home to the Mediathek library. The library has (as of 2008) 12,438 books or other media, and loaned out 36,395 items in the same year. It was open a total of 149 days with average of 12 hours per week during that year. Visp railway station is a junction station , with a modern station building completed in 2007. It is served by two standard gauge lines, Simplon railway and Lötschberg railway line (with services operated by Swiss Federal Railways ), and
16280-525: The municipality. There were 3,191 married individuals, 378 widows or widowers and 251 individuals who are divorced. As of 2000, there were 2,536 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 721 households that consist of only one person and 171 households with five or more people. In 2000, a total of 2,349 apartments (87.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 257 apartments (9.6%) were seasonally occupied and 66 apartments (2.5%) were empty. As of 2009,
16428-420: 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
16576-528: 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
16724-620: The outcome is low. Some studies show that a single vote in a voting scheme such as the Electoral College in the United States has an even lower chance of determining the outcome. Other studies claim that the Electoral College actually increases voting power. Studies using game theory , which takes into account the ability of voters to interact, have also found that the expected turnout for any large election should be zero. The basic formula for determining whether someone will vote, on
16872-412: The outcome of the election. For the numerator, it is often assumed that the number of voters who went to the polls should equal the number of ballots cast, which in turn should equal the number of votes counted, but this is not the case. Not all voters who arrive at the polls necessarily cast ballots. Some may be turned away because they are ineligible, some may be turned away improperly, and some who sign
17020-430: The polls, but did not cast a ballot. Ballots Cast: Total number of ballots cast, regardless of how many were filled-out or accepted. Ballots Accepted: this subtracts spoilt votes but in some places includes blank ballots that were otherwise accepted. Completed Ballots: This metric looks at ballots that were accepted and completed. This is the smallest numerator, but captures only those ballots that will impact
17168-524: The population in the municipality, 2,556 or about 39.0% were born in Visp and lived there in 2000. There were 2,138 or 32.6% who were born in the same canton, while 588 or 9.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,033 or 15.8% were born outside of Switzerland. As of 2000, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15%. As of 2000, there were 2,730 people who were single and never married in
17316-405: The population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish , and 250 (or about 3.82% of the population) who were Muslim . There were 10 individuals who were Buddhist and 3 individuals who were Hindu . 88 (or about 1.34% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist , and 268 individuals (or about 4.09% of the population) did not answer
17464-515: The potential voter is a passive participant. During the same period, negative campaigning has become ubiquitous in the United States and elsewhere and has been shown to impact voter turnout. Attack ads and smear campaigns give voters a negative impression of the entire political process. The evidence for this is mixed: elections involving highly unpopular incumbents generally have high turnout; some studies have found that mudslinging and character attacks reduce turnout, but that substantive attacks on
17612-462: 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
17760-463: The primary school. The secondary school program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. There were 397 lower secondary students who attended school in Visp. All the upper secondary students attended school in another municipality. As of 2000, there were 339 students in Visp who came from another municipality, while 250 residents attended schools outside
17908-425: The question. In Visp about 2,401 or (36.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education , and 715 or (10.9%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule ). Of the 715 who completed tertiary schooling, 64.9% were Swiss men, 18.0% were Swiss women, 11.3% were non-Swiss men and 5.7% were non-Swiss women. During the 2010–2011 school year there were
18056-447: The questionable assumption that people act completely rationally, is where Since P is virtually zero in most elections, PB may be also near zero, and D is thus the most important element in motivating people to vote. For a person to vote, these factors must outweigh C . Experimental political science has found that even when P is likely greater than zero, this term has no effect on voter turnout. Enos and Fowler (2014) conducted
18204-594: The rational nonvoter. This is someone who does not vote because the benefits of them not voting outweighs the cost to vote. These laws add to the "cost" of voting, or reason that make it more difficult and to vote. Google extensively studied the causes behind low voter turnout in the United States, and argues that one of the key reasons behind lack of voter participation is the so-called "interested bystander". According to Google's study, 48.9% of adult Americans can be classified as "interested bystanders", as they are politically informed but are reticent to involve themselves in
18352-437: The region and draws workers from many surrounding towns and even from Italy. This leads to a unique situation where there are more jobs in Visp than the total population (7,700 positions for a population of about 6,700). As of 2010, Visp had an unemployment rate of 2.2%. As of 2008, there were 63 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 21 businesses involved in this sector. 4,288 people were employed in
18500-464: 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
18648-460: The state treasury. This was particularly perplexing because Lonza consistently generated billion-dollar profits. In 2018, it was discovered that a niacin factory at the Lonza site was responsible for around one percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions, as the chemical synthesis route used generated nitrous oxide as a byproduct. Eventually, catalytic scrubbing technology that eliminates most of
18796-523: The sum of votes for the top race on the ballot, because not all jurisdictions report the actual number of people who went to the polls nor the number of undervotes or overvotes. Overvote rates of around 0.3 percent are typical of well-run elections, but in Gadsden County Florida, the overvote rate was 11 percent in November 2000. From largest to smallest Total population: everyone who lives in
18944-417: The systems of the United States, Japan, and Switzerland. Some parts of society are more likely to vote than others. As turnout approaches 90%, significant differences between voters and nonvoters lessen, but in lower turnout elections the differences between voters and nonvoters can be dramatic. More importantly than changes in specific election outcomes, voter turnout has seismic long-term implications on
19092-462: 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
19240-460: The turnout against the ' voting eligible population ' (VEP), instead of the ' voting age population' (VAP). For the American presidential elections of 2004, turnout could then be expressed as 60.32% of voting eligible population, rather than 55.27% of voting age population. In New Zealand, registration is supposed to be universal. This does not eliminate uncertainty in the eligible population because this system has been shown to be unreliable, with
19388-619: 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
19536-749: The type, quantity, and precise locations of the contaminated soil often remaining unclear. Since 1987, it has been known that the Gamsenried landfill has, demonstrably, poisoned groundwater. Throughout the investigations and reassurances from Lonza, accusations against the company and the canton have arisen multiple times, alleging that they were concealing investigation results and not communicating transparently. Switzerland's environmental concerns regarding Lonza became apparent in September 2016. At that time, Lonza threatened environmental authorities that they would consider relocating to China if they were not willing to bear
19684-562: 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
19832-479: 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
19980-496: The voters allowed to vote under current law, which in some places includes people who have not registered or re-registered to vote. This is more difficult to measure as more categories of people are disenfranchised and can include non-resident voters . Registered voters : This measurement captures all who are registered to vote. This has the advantage of being easy to measure and readily accessible, though overlooks those who are unwilling or unable to register due to barriers such as
20128-508: The voting register may not actually cast ballots. Furthermore, voters who do cast ballots may abstain, deliberately voting for nobody, or they may spoil their votes, either accidentally or as an act of protest. In the United Kingdom, the Electoral Commission distinguishes between "valid vote turnout", which excludes spoilt ballots, and "ballot box turnout", which does not. In the United States, it has been common to report turnout as
20276-463: The voting-age population. By 2004, ineligible voters constituted nearly 10%. Ineligible voters are not evenly distributed across the country – 20% of California's voting-age population is ineligible to vote – which confounds comparisons of states. Furthermore, they argue that an examination of the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey shows that turnout is low but not declining among the youth, when
20424-591: The western Alps, which shields it from the precipitation falling both south and north of the Alps. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) 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 ,
20572-531: 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
20720-402: 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
20868-417: Was 34, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 4,110 of which 3,401 or (82.7%) were in manufacturing and 608 (14.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 3,044. In the tertiary sector; 1,002 or 32.9% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 141 or 4.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 181 or 5.9% were in
21016-410: Was 49.3%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 2,731 votes were cast, of which 74 or about 2.7% were invalid. The voter participation was 60.6%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%. The major employer in the town is the chemical company, LONZA AG , which employs about 2,550 people. Visp is the economic centre of
21164-484: Was about 833.36 CHF (US$ 670, £380, €530) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 936.90 CHF (US$ 750, £420, €600). The average apartment price in Visp was 82.8% of the national average of 1116 CHF. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010, was 0.95%. The historical population is given in the following chart: The entire small city of Visp is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites . In
21312-791: 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
21460-400: 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
21608-633: 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
21756-575: 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
21904-554: 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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