ABSTRACT
La Francophonie is a term coined in the early 1960s to express in a collective fashion the ‘French-speaking’ parts of the world; that is, the countries or peoples making use of French, not necessarily as a mother tongue but at least as a working language for some basic purposes. It implies that therein lies a certain affinity, even identity, which in turn invites the supposition that some formally organised activity is both possible and desirable. This chain of supposition is accepted by some but contested by others, making la Francophonie a subject of some controversy.
