Swiss French

infobox Language
name=Swiss French
nativename=Français de Suisse
familycolor=Indo-European
pronunciation=
speakers=1.5 million
states= Switzerland, northeast France, northern Italy
rank=
fam1=Indo-European
fam2=Italic
fam3=Romance
fam4=Italo-Western
fam5=Western
fam6=Gallo-Iberian
fam7=Gallo-Romance
fam8=Gallo-Rhaetian
fam9=Oïl
fam10=French
nation=flag|Switzerland (as "French")
agency=
iso1=
iso2=
iso3=fre

Swiss French ( _fr. français de Suisse) is the name used for the variety of French spoken in the French-speaking area of Switzerland known as Romandy. Swiss French is not to be confused with Franco-Provençal/Arpitan or Romansh, two other Romance languages spoken in areas not far from Romandy.

The differences between Swiss French and Parisian French are minor and mostly lexical: a Swiss French speaker would have no trouble understanding a French speaker, while a French speaker would encounter only a few unfamiliar words while listening to a Swiss French speaker. Swiss French differs from the French of France to a far lesser extent than Swiss German differs from standard German. This was not always the case; however, most of the dialects spoken in the Romandy died out and are thus no longer spoken or used.

There is not a single standardized Swiss French language: different cantons (or even different towns in some cases) will use different vocabulary, often derived from the local regional language or from German, since Switzerland is predominantly German speaking.

Differences between Swiss French and standard French

Many differences between Swiss French and French are due to the different administrative and political systems between Switzerland and France. Some of its distinctive lexical features are shared with Belgian French, such as:

* The use of the word _fr. "septante" for seventy and _fr. "nonante" for ninety, and in some places _fr. "huitante" for eighty as opposed to _fr. "soixante-dix" (literally 'sixty-ten'), _fr. "quatre-vingts" (literally 'fourtwenties'), and _fr. "quatre-vingt-dix" (literally 'four twenty and ten') of the "vigesimal" French counting system.
* The words _fr. "déjeuner" (breakfast) and _fr. "dîner" (lunch) are used with the same meaning as in Belgian French and Quebec French, in opposition with the French usage with meanings of "lunch" and "dinner", which are purportedly due to Louis XIV's habit of rising at noonFact|date=July 2007; "see Belgian French vocabulary".

Other examples which are not shared with Belgian French:
* The word _fr. "huitante" is sometimes used for eighty instead of _fr. "quatre-vingts" (literally 'four twenties'), especially in the cantons of Vaud, Valais and Fribourg; the term _fr. "octante" (from the Latin _la. "octaginta") is now considered defunct.
* The word canton has a different meaning in each country.
* In France, a post office box is called a _fr. "boîte postale (BP)", whereas in Switzerland, it is called a " _fr. case postale (CP)".
* Use of _fr. "bon après-midi" for 'good after-noon'.

References