Swiss French ( or ) is the variety of French spoken in the French-speaking area of Switzerland known as Romandy. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, the others being German, Italian, and Romansch. In 2020 around 2 million people, or 22.8% of the population, in Switzerland spoke French as their primary language, and 28% of the population used French most often at work.
The French spoken in Switzerland is very similar to that of France or Belgium. The differences between the French of Switzerland and of France are most noticeably lexical, influenced by local substrate languages. While substantial phonological differences exist, as the French of Switzerland preserves many distinctions lost elsewhere, the phonetic qualities are often quite close, such as with the existence of long vowels or the distinction between /ɛ̃/ and /œ̃/. This contrasts with the differences between Standard German and Swiss German, which are largely mutually unintelligible.
Swiss French is characterized by some terms adopted from Arpitan, which was formerly spoken widely across the alpine communities of Romandy, but has far fewer speakers today. In addition, some expressions have been borrowed from both Swiss and Standard German. Although a standard form of French is taught in schools and used in the government, the media and business, there is no uniform vernacular form of French among the different cantons of Switzerland. For example, some German terms in regions bordering German-speaking communities are completely unused in the area around Geneva, a city by France's border with Switzerland.
Phonology
+ Oral Front Central Back Close / / / Close-mid / / Open-mid / Open +Nasal Front Back Mid Open
The nasal vowels are pronounced like in France. → , → , → . Conversely, the nasal vowels and are kept separate in much Swiss French speech, where much speech in France has merged them. For example, (stalk) and (brown) are still pronounced differently, like in Quebec and Belgium, unlike in Paris. As in Belgium, the distinction between the vowels and is maintained in Switzerland, but they have merged in France. For example, (put) and (master) are still pronounced differently, unlike in France. The distinction between mid vowels and has also been maintained in final open syllables, as well as that between and . For example, (skin) and (jar) are still pronounced differently, unlike in France and Quebec. For that reason, (entered; past participle of the verb ) and (third-person singular of in the imperfect indicative) are differentiated, just like in Standard French. There is a stronger distinction between long and short vowels in Switzerland: Long vowels are allowed in open syllables, even at the end of a word: , , , , and . As a result, almost all feminine adjectives are still phonetically distinct from their masculine counterparts, unlike in France and Quebec. Speakers also differentiate masculine from feminine adjectives phonetically, including in final closed syllables, although the spelling only partially bears out this occurrence, e.g. is pronounced , whilst the feminine is pronounced . Other minimal pairs are similarly differentiated, like and (third-person singular in the present indicative of , to lead). The marginal phoneme is usually pronounced , meaning (paws) and (pasta) are differentiated. Similar to the process described above, the circumflex also affects vowel length when used above a vowel, meaning is pronounced , as , as , as and .
Examples of words that differ between Switzerland and France
Swiss French Metropolitan French English Notes action promotion special offer Germanism, from "Aktion" ("promotional campaign"). adieu salut hello/goodbye In French, "adieu" means "farewell" and is generally never used except in cases where the people concerned will not meet again. In Switzerland it is used as an informal general form of greeting when people meet or leave each other. attique dernier étage top floor (attic) bancomat Distributeur automatique de billets ATM Germanism(?), from Bankomat (Bankautomat) bobet crétin (noun) or bête/stupide (adjective) idiot (noun) or stupid (adjective) boguet mobylette moped bonnard sympa or bien nice Informal term. bonne-main pourboire tip (gratuity) Literally "good-hand". borne hydrante bouche d'incendie fire hydrant bourbine suisse-allemand Swiss-German This word is considered pejorative. carnotzet cave à vin/cellier/fumoir Wine cellar This expression can sometimes be found in France, in places close to Switzerland. chenis désordre mess chiquelette chewing-gum chewing-gum collège (Genève, Valais, Fribourg) or gymnase (Vaud) lycée high school crousille tirelire piggy bank cornet sac en plastique plastic bag In France, "cornet" would typically designate an ice cream cone. cutips coton-tige cotton bud/swab Antonomasia from the brand Q-tips which phonetically becomes "cutips" when pronounced in French. cycle (Genève, Fribourg, Valais) collège middle school déjeuner petit-déjeuner breakfast Meal names have shifted in the French of France, where déjeuner is now the name for lunch, and dîner now refers to dinner. Swiss French (like those of Belgium and Québec) has retained the older meanings. dîner déjeuner lunch Meal names have shifted in the French of France, where déjeuner is now the name for lunch, and dîner now refers to dinner. Swiss French (like those of Belgium and Québec) has retained the older meanings. duvet couette comforter / duvet "Duvet" comes from the fact that comforters used to be filled with down feather (duvet). "Duvet" in France means sleeping bag, for similar reasons. s'encoubler se prendre les pieds dans quelque chose/trébucher to trip over s'énuquer se briser la nuque to break one's own neck étude d'avocats cabinet d'avocats law firm fœhn sèche-cheveux hairdryer Germanism, from der Föhn (the hairdryer); both names ultimately derive from the Foehn wind. fonds terrain or champs field fourre dossier/housse folder In French, "fourrer" means "to stuff". Frouze / frouze Français / français people from France / French This word is considered pejorative. Used also in Belgium. galetas grenier attic Also used in Alpine regions of France, down to Dauphiné. giratoire rond-point, giratoire roundabout Comes from "carrefour à sens giratoire" which would translate to "circular crossroads". gouille flaque puddle huitante quatre-vingts eighty In Swiss French, as opposed to the French of France, the words for seventy, eighty and ninety are similar in construction to the ones used for thirty up to sixty. Huitante is only heard in Vaud, Valais and Fribourg. linge serviette towel Swiss French still uses the generic uncountable word “le linge” to define “laundry”, but the countable word “un/le/les linge-s” (which has no meaning in the French of France) means “une/la/les serviette-s”. Furthermore, the use of “serviette” is exclusively for “napkin” in Swiss French, whereas in regular French it could mean both “towel” or “napkin”. lolette tétine pacifier/teat maman de jour assistante maternelle day care assistant mascogner tricher aux examens cheat during exams maturité baccalauréat high-school final examination From German "Maturitätsexamen", "Matura". mutr mère mother Comes from the German word for "Mother", "Mutter". natel (téléphone) portable mobile phone nom de bleu ! nom de dieu ! in the name of god!/god dammit! nonante quatre-vingt-dix ninety In Swiss French, as opposed to the French of France, the words for seventy, eighty and ninety are similar in construction to the ones used for thirty up to sixty. panosse serpillière floorcloth or mop papier ménage papier essuie-tout paper towel pive pomme de pin conifer cone poutzer nettoyer to clean Comes from the German verb "putzen" which means "to clean". Procès verbal d'examen (PV) bulletin de note report card réclame publicité advertisement "Réclame" is an older disused word for advertising in French. régie agence immobilière real estate agency roye pluie rain royer pleuvoir to rain sans autre sans plus attendre without delay santé à tes/vos souhaits bless you (when someone sneezes) In France, santé, in particular by itself, as an exclamation (Santé !), is always interpreted as a drinking toast (À votre/ta santé !, meaning "[here's] to your health"). septante soixante-dix seventy In Swiss French, as opposed to the French of France, words for seventy, eighty and ninety are similar in construction to the ones used for thirty up to sixty. service je t'en/vous en prie you're welcome From "à votre service" meaning "at your service". services couverts cutlery signofile/indicateur clignotant indicator/turn signal (motor vehicle) souper dîner dinner Meal names have shifted in the French of France, where souper has been replaced by dîner (which historically referred to lunch). Swiss French (like those of Belgium and Québec) has retained the older meanings. tablard étagère shelf uni (short for université) fac (short word for faculté) university votation scrutin voting vatr père father Comes from the German word for "Father", "Vater".
See also Demographics of Switzerland Linguistic geography of Switzerland Swiss Standard German Swiss German Swiss Italian
Notes and references
External links French (Swiss) DoReCo corpus compiled by Mathieu Avanzi, Marie-José Béguelin, Gilles Corminboeuf, Federica Diémoz and Laure Anne Johnsen. Audio recordings of narrative texts with transcriptions time-aligned at the phone level, translations, and time-aligned morphological annotations.