Langues d'oïl
The langues d'oïl (/dɔɪ(l)/ doy(l), US also /dɔːˈiːl/ daw-EEL, French: [lɑ̃ɡ dɔjl]) are a dialect continuum that includes standard French and its closest autochthonous relatives historically spoken in the northern half of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands. They belong to the larger category of Gallo-Romance languages, which also include the historical languages of east-central France and western Switzerland, southern France, portions of northern Italy, the Val d'Aran in Spain, and under certain acceptations those of Catalonia.
| Oïl | |
|---|---|
| Langues d'oïl, French | |
| Geographic distribution | Northern and central France, southern Belgium, Switzerland |
| Linguistic classification | Indo-European
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Early forms | |
| Subdivisions |
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| Glottolog | oila1234 cent2283 (Central Oil) |
The different varieties of the langue d'oïl + the Croissant according to the Speaking Atlas of Minority Languages (CNRS, 2020). | |
Linguists divide the Romance languages of France, and especially of Medieval France, into two main geographical subgroups: the langues d'oïl to the North, and the langues d'oc in the Southern half of France. Both groups are named after the word for "yes" in them or their recent ancestral languages. The most common modern langue d'oïl is standard French, in which the ancestral "oïl" has become "oui".