"I am Francophone"

A native French speaker said that to me, and at first I thought it must be a translations app. I figured out she was telling me she was French speaking. I had never heard that term before! Hmm, I learned something new today! Francophone! I like it.

 

Francisco Francophone?

 

He he! That French girl stumped me there for a minute! I have never heard that word used in a English phrase before. Like I said, I learn something new everyday!



bonne journée

 

It's a very common term in Canada, where, of course, French is a co-equal national language.

 

As Stanislav says, it's common here. I've seen a similarly-constructed word, Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking). Possibly, that word is the invention of one individual. The only time I've seen it was a few years ago, when our much-loved multilingual Carpathian preacher, the late "Uncle Janko" enquired if anybody had info on Lusophone distance ed. I had to show off, (don't I always?) so I posted a couple of Brazilian sources.

Don't think I've seen the word since.

 

There are also Hispanophone and Russophone, which are self-explanatory. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Russophone *** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_distribution_of_Russian_speakers *** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanophone

Yes - it seems Sinophone (Chinese-speaking) is legit, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinophone

Quick, Batman! Get on the Francophone and call Justin Trudeau! :smile:

J.

 

So, Abner - next time you speak to that French lady, you can tell her you're bilingual, too - Anglophone and Hispanophone. :smile:

J.

 

Will do! :smile:

 

The lady is from Quebec.

 

So a Francophone, a Russophone and a Sinophone walked into a bar... :smile:

J.

 

In New York it's Spanglishophone.

 

New York? OK - so a Francophone, a Lusophone and a Spanglishophone walk into a bodega... https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/bodegas-of-new-york-city-photographer-david-katzenstein/

J.

 

So do I. I'm just guessing, here. I think it serves to break up unintended diphthongs which might slightly alter pronunciation; the 'h' is possibly a way to show that the proximate vowels are independent and separate. (They could have also done that with a hyphen, I suppose.) I certainly notice this in Mexican native-originated words which have been absorbed into Spanish, like Teotihuacán or Chihuahua - Hey, those would have a triphthong without the H's. Chihuahua would even be a five-thong without h's, if there were such a thing! Imagine - Chiuaua - A 'thong for almost every day of the week! :smile:

J.

 

A pentaphthong? Sounds vaguely Vietnamese -- or maybe Cambodian, but it would be Greek in origin... if it existed.

J.

 

What ever happened with Bill's apostrophe. I remember a big brouhaha years ago about a huge sign for (IIRC) Bill's Drugs, in Canada, in which they were ordered to remove the apostrophe since it would not be used in French.

(Was Telly Savalas a Tellyphone?)

 

Flip Wilson a Flip-phone?

 

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-phone

And for our Canadian friends: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/allophone#French

allophone (plural allophones)

(phonology) Any of two or more alternative pronunciations for a phoneme.
(Canada) A person whose mother tongue is neither English nor French.
(Canada) A person whose mother tongue is one other than that spoken by the majority.