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Wallonia (, , , ) is the territory governed by the Walloon Region , one of the three autonomous Regions of federal Belgium . In a more precise sense, the word means the French-speaking part of the Walloon Region. DEMOGRAPHICS AND LANGUAGE Wallonia occupies the southern part of Belgium. It has an area of 16 844 km&2 (55.18% of Belgium) and comprises the following Provinces (see map right): # Walloon Brabant # Hainaut # Liège # Luxembourg # Namur Its major Cities and Town s include Liège , Namur , Charleroi , Mons , La Louviére , Tournai , Verviers , Arlon , Bastogne , Wavre , Dinant , Peruwelz and Eupen .
The variety of French spoken in Wallonia is Belgian French , which differs from the standard French of France to various degrees depending on the speaker. The French language used in the administration and in the media is very similar in Belgium and in France. One notable difference is the use of the words ''septante'' (70) and ''nonante'' (90) in Belgium, as opposed to ''soixante-dix'' and ''quatre-vingt-dix'' in France. In 1990 , Belgium also officially recognised Champenois , Gaumais , Picard , and Walloon as regional languages. All are '' Langues D'oïl '' - closely related, but not identical, to French. Walloon and Picard dialects were the predominant languages of the Walloon people until the beginning of the 20th Century ; French was the language of the upper class. With the development of education in French, these dialects have been in continual decline. There is currently an effort to revive Walloon dialects: some schools offer language courses in Walloon, which is also spoken in some radio programmes, but this effort remains very limited. Some 70,000 people live in the German-speaking Community Of Belgium , which has been presented as the best-protected minority in Europe. Nevertheless, there is a drive in the German-speaking community towards gaining more autonomy from the Walloon Region. The current president of the executive of the German-speaking community, Karl-Heinz Lambertz , wants his community to obtain regional autonomy, thus cutting it completely off from Wallonia. ETYMOLOGY There are theories about the derivation of the name "Wallonia". It may have come from the Gaulish ''vellaunos'' meaning "valorous". Its root '' Vella '' gave the Cymric ''wallon'' as in the famous hero's name Caswallon . It is also one of many (Wallonia was part of the Roman province of Germania Inferior ). In fact, the Frankish Merovingian Dynasty came from Tournai in Wallonia, and the subsequent Carolingian Dynasty had its roots in the region of Liege , at the other end of Wallonia. French language is thought to have originated in Wallonia (and Northern France), as the Latin of the Frankish court. The term ''Walloon''' was also used in the late 18th and the 19th century to refer to French-speakers who migrated to the Netherlands , e.g. 'Walloon parishes' in Dutch province of Dutch-Limburg . To many modern Walloons, Wallonia means "land of the valleys". This could be the real etymology of the word, as the part of Wallonia where Walloon language is traditionally spoken (the provinces of Liege, Namur and Luxembourg) is one of the hilliest region of Europe, and contrasts sharply with the flatness of Flanders . The Walloon Tourism Office supports this etymology, and now indicates "land of the valleys" (''pays des vallées'') on many touristic road signs. CINEMA Walloon films are often characterized by social realism, like those by the ) by Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel (1992) and of extravagant Noël Godin and Jean-Jacques Rousseau . Wallonia does not shelter any Anthology Film Archive Museum. No theater projects pointed cinema (experimental cinema, underground, or simply different, unusual test in the content or the form.) There is however the network of the theater known as "Art and essai" but, in practice, they diffuse only cinema subsidized "general public". REFERENCES SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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