Pratique du français en Afrique noire francophone

Gabriel Manessy : « Pratique du français en Afrique noire francophone » French in Subsaharan Africa is the object of a double « appropriation » : as a linguistic system and as a vernacular means of communication. Because of the important part French plays in the socio-economical and socio-political organization of the francophone African states, it belongs to the actual or potential repertoire of every individual. Its use by multilingual speakers as a means of inter-group communication leads to structural changes influenced by the particular dominant indigenous language. As a result, a process of dialect formation is in progress, and « national Frenches » are developing which show a number of areal common characteristics determined by the modes of conceptualization and enunciation specific to Nergo-African culture.Manessy Gabriel. Pratique du français en Afrique noire francophone. In: Langue française, n°104, 1994. Le français en afrique noire, fait d'appropriation, sous la direction de Carole de Féral et Francis-Marie Gandon. pp. 11-19