French Language in the Belgian Francophonie Space
Although it is most often mentioned in everyday communication only as the official language of France, it is necessary to know that French is one of the world’s largest languages and the official language in 32 countries around the world. This paper aims to point out the presence and importance of French as a polycentric language regarding Belgium. We will present the status of the French language in Belgium and the linguistic and cultural background of the country. We will draw attention to the concept of Francophonie, its meaning, and its role. We will explain why French is considered a polycentric language and analyze how it spreads as such through Belgian Francophonie. In the corpus of some words of Belgian origin from the electronic edition of LEXICOLOGOS, we will show how the vocabulary varies to the same terms used in France.