Besides it is the official language of the country, French has become, through the 54 years since the independance, the mother tongue of a large part of the population of Ivory Coast. Contrary to what one might think, Ivorian managed to appropriate the language. Actually, in 1985, the government decided that the french name of the country, has to be used in every language (1). Therefore, this blog should be called Côte d'Ivoire! Moreover, a significant example is what one Ivorian friend of mine once told me : "On parle bien mieux français en Côte d'Ivoire qu'en France" We speak far better French in Ivory Coast than in France. So that in fact, this language has not any colonial implication anymore.
More factual : the Dakar summit of the OIF (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie) published an instructive report (2) about the global situation of French. This report teaches us that more than 7.2 million of Ivorian are francophone (in other words : able to read and have a conversation in French). This represents more than a third of the population which is quite huge compared for instance to what is usually considered as an English speakers country : India. As a matter of fact, only 9% (4) of the country population is considered as English speaker.
Figures aside, French has also become a language of culture. First and foremost, almost all the national media are french speaking. Then several artists use french to express their art. Some, such as Magic System, even became famous in french speaking Europe (whether you like it or not). And as it is a way of expressing art and culture, it is an alive and moving language which gave birth to what is called Nouchi (5), a french-based creole. That creole largely contributes to make French become more Ivorian.
Eventually, as Ivory Coast is becoming a leading country of the African Francophonie, French is to be more and more influent in the Ivorian politics. Therefore it can be thought that French is about to become more and more essential in Côte d'Ivoire.
Romain
(1) http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/C%C3%B4te_d%E2%80%99Ivoire
(2) http://www.francophonie.org/IMG/pdf/oif_synthese_francais.pdf
(3) http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20141127-infographie-francophonie-afrique-ocean-indien-2014/
(4) http://www.indiatribune.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=9705:india-worlds-second-largest-english-speaking-country&Itemid=471
(5) http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ais_de_C%C3%B4te_d%27Ivoire
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