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Reference.org
Langues d'oïl
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<p>The <i>langues d'oïl</i> are a <a href="/facts/Dialect_continuum/0QAuqxp3">dialect continuum</a> that includes standard <a href="/facts/French_language/qe1DnaQh">French</a> and its closest relatives historically spoken in the northern half of <a href="/facts/France/CxIeIKM3">France</a>, southern <a href="/facts/Belgium/YKuMXP5j">Belgium</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Channel_Islands/JWuJ3Ups">Channel Islands</a>. They belong to the larger category of <a href="/facts/Gallo-Romance_languages/oQ17luN0">Gallo-Romance languages</a>, which also include the historical languages of east-central France and western <a href="/facts/Switzerland/LcGuxeTe">Switzerland</a>, <a href="/facts/Occitania/4gDvAzd0">southern France</a>, portions of <a href="/facts/Northern_Italy/paEuCnnf">northern Italy</a>, the <a href="/facts/Val_d%2527Aran/ug8RFe2V">Val d'Aran</a> in <a href="/facts/Spain/bIyrB8EY">Spain</a>, and under certain acceptations those of <a href="/facts/Catalunya/p2KeGXbf">Catalonia</a>. </p><p>Linguists divide the <a href="/facts/Romance_languages/TMK4KHI3">Romance languages</a> of <a href="/facts/France/CxIeIKM3">France</a>, and especially of <a href="/facts/France_in_the_Middle_Ages/3trzjuzL">Medieval France</a>, into two main geographical subgroups: the <i>langues d'oïl</i> to the North, and the <i><a href="/facts/Occitan_language/w0etTc3w">langues d'oc</a></i> in the Southern half of France. Both groups are named after the word for "yes" in their recent ancestral languages. The most common modern <i>langue d'oïl</i> is standard French, in which the ancestral "oïl" has become <i>oui</i>. </p>