Francization

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Francization (also Frenchification or Gallicization) is the process of giving a French character to a word, an organization, or a person. It has often been used in the English speaking world and other cultures to give the appearance of refinement, quality, or breeding.

There are many examples of Francization in history and popular culture:

Crème anglaise replacing the word "custard" on restaurant menus.
Anne Boleyn choosing the French spelling Boleyn over the traditional English Bolin or Bullen.
Mary I of Scotland choosing the spelling Stuart over Stewart for the name of her dynasty.
The common "-escu" final particle in Romanian being traditionally changed to "-esco" in French spellings, and being occasionally adopted by the persons themselves as a French equivalent of their names (see Eugène Ionesco, Irina Ionesco, Marthe Bibesco).

The term can also be applied to the forced adoption of the French language by minority groups, such as the Francisation of the German-speaking inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine after this region was reannexed by France following the First World War.

The same exists for other languages, for example English, in which case objects or persons can be Anglicized.

[edit] Francization of minority language groups

Francization, particularly in Quebec, Canada, is to make a person, commercial enterprise, or a group adopt the French language as a working language. ^[1] Rates of Francisation may be established for any group by comparing the number of people who usually speak French to the total number of people in the minority language group. See Calvin Veltman's "Language Shift in the United States" (1983) for a discussion.