French Flemish
French Flemish (French Flemish: Fransch vlaemsch, Standard Dutch: Frans-Vlaams, French: flamand français) is a West Flemish dialect spoken in the north of contemporary France.
| French Flemish | |
|---|---|
| Duinkerksch, Dunkerquois | |
| Frans-Vlams | |
| Native to | France |
| Region | Nord-Pas-de-Calais: Dunkirk, Bourbourg, Calais, Saint-Omer and Bailleul |
Native speakers | (20,000 full speakers or 50,000 with varying proficiency – 60,000) cited 1999) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | fran1265 Frans-Westhoek Vlaams |
| Linguasphere | 52-ACB-agd |
| This article is a part of a series on |
| Dutch |
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| Low Saxon dialects |
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| West Low Franconian dialects |
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| East Low Franconian dialects |
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Place names attest to Flemish having been spoken since the 8th century in the part of Flanders that was ceded to France at the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees, and which hence became known as French Flanders. Its dialect subgroup, called French Flemish, meanwhile, became a minority dialect that survives mainly in Dunkirk (Duinkerke in Dutch, Duunkerke in West Flemish, "dune church"), Bourbourg (Broekburg in Dutch), Calais (Kales), Saint-Omer (Sint-Omaars), with its Flemish ethnic enclave of Haut-Pont (Haute-Ponte), and Bailleul (Belle).
French Flemish has about 20,000 daily users, and twice that number of occasional speakers. The dialect's status appears to be moribund, but there has been an active movement to retain French Flemish in the region.