New England French in the context of "Saint John River (Bay of Fundy)"

A French creole, or French-based creole language, is a creole for which French is the lexifier. Most often this lexifier is not modern French but rather a 17th- or 18th-century koiné of French from Paris, the French Atlantic harbors, and the nascent French colonies. This article also contains information on French pidgin languages, contact languages that lack native speakers.

These contact languages are not to be confused with creolized varieties of French outside of Europe that date to colonial times, such as Acadian, Louisiana, New England or Quebec French.

Louisiana French (Louisiana French: français louisianais; Louisiana Creole: françé Lalwizyàn) includes the dialects and varieties of the French language spoken traditionally by French Louisianians in colonial Lower Louisiana. As of today Louisiana French is primarily used in the state of Louisiana, specifically in its southern parishes.

Over the centuries, the language has incorporated some words of African, Spanish, Native American and English origin, sometimes giving it linguistic features found only in Louisiana. Louisiana French differs to varying extents from French dialects spoken in other regions, but Louisiana French is mutually intelligible with other dialects and is most closely related to those of Missouri, New England, Canada and northwestern France.

The French language is spoken as a minority language in the United States. Roughly 1.18 million Americans over the age of five reported speaking the language at home in the federal 2020 American Community Survey, making French the seventh most spoken language in the country after English, Spanish (the most spoken Romance language, and French is second), Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Arabic.Several varieties of French evolved in what is now the United States:

• Acadian French, spoken in Northern Maine by descendants of colonists in Acadia
• Louisiana French, spoken in Louisiana by descendants of colonists in French Louisiana
• New England French, spoken in New England by descendants of 19th and 20th-century Canadian migrants
• Missouri French, spoken in Missouri by descendants of French settlers in the Illinois Country
• Muskrat French, spoken in Michigan by descendants of habitants, voyageurs and coureurs des bois in the Pays d'en Haut
• Métis French, spoken in North Dakota by Métis people

More recently, French has also been carried to various parts of the country via immigration from Francophone countries and regions. Today, French is the second most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and Vermont. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Louisiana, Connecticut and Rhode Island.