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The Gallo-Romance branch of the
Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...
includes in the narrowest sense the
Langues d'oïl The ''langues d'oïl'' (; ) 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. These belong to the larger ...
and
Franco-Provençal Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a language within Gallo-Romance originally spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland and northwestern Italy. Franco-Provençal has several distinct dialects and is separ ...
. However, other definitions are far broader, variously encompassing the Occitano-Romance, Gallo-Italic, and Rhaeto-Romance languages. Old Gallo-Romance was one of the two languages in which the
Oaths of Strasbourg The Oaths of Strasbourg were a military pact made on 14 February 842 by Charles the Bald and Louis the German against their older brother Lothair I, the designated heir of Louis the Pious, the successor of Charlemagne. One year later the T ...
were written in 842 AD.


Classification

The Gallo-Romance group includes: * The Oïl languages. These include
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, Orleanais,
Gallo Gallo may refer to: *Related to Gaul: **Gallo-Roman culture **Gallo language, a regional language of France **Gallo-Romance, a branch of Romance languages **Gallo-Italic or Gallo-Italian language, a branch spoken in Northern Italy of the Romance ...
, Angevin, Tourangeau,
Saintongeais Saintongeais (''saintonjhais'') is a dialect of Poitevin-Santongeais spoken halfway down the western coast of France in the former provinces of Saintonge, Aunis and Angoumois, all of which have been incorporated into the current departments ...
, Poitevin, Bourguignon, Picard, Walloon,
Lorrain Lorrain may refer to: * Claude Lorrain (1600–82), a 17th-century French artist of the baroque style * Lorrain language, a Romance dialect spoken in Lorraine region in France and Gaume region in Belgium See also * Lorain (disambiguation) Lorai ...
and Norman. *
Franco-Provençal Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a language within Gallo-Romance originally spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland and northwestern Italy. Franco-Provençal has several distinct dialects and is separ ...
, of east-central France, western Switzerland, and
Aosta Valley , Valdostan or Valdotainian it, Valdostano (man) it, Valdostana (woman)french: Valdôtain (man)french: Valdôtaine (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = Official languages , population_blank1 = Italian French ...
region of northwestern Italy. Formerly thought of as a dialect of either Oïl or Occitan, it is linguistically a language on its own, or rather a separate group of languages, as many of its dialects have little mutual comprehensibility. It shares features of both
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and Occitan. Other language families often included in Gallo-Romance: * Occitano-Romance, including languages and dialects such as
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
, Occitan, Provençal, Gascon-Aranese and Aragonese. * Rhaeto-Romance, including Romansh of
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
,
Ladin Ladin may refer to: *Ladin language, a language in northern Italy, often classified as a Rhaeto-Romance language *Ladin people, the inhabitants of the Dolomite Alps region of northern Italy See also *Laden (disambiguation) *Ladino (disambiguati ...
of the
Dolomites The Dolomites ( it, Dolomiti ; Ladin: ''Dolomites''; german: Dolomiten ; vec, Dołomiti : fur, Dolomitis), also known as the Dolomite Mountains, Dolomite Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form pa ...
area, and Friulian of Friuli. Rhaeto-Romance can be classified as Gallo-Romance, or as a separate branch within the Western Romance languages. Rhaeto-Romance is a diverse group, with the Italian varieties influenced by
Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...
and Italian and Romansh by Franco-Provençal. * Gallo-Italic, including Piedmontese, Ligurian, Western and Eastern Lombard, Emilian, Romagnol, Gallo-Italic of Sicily and Gallo-Italic of Basilicata.
Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...
is also part of the Gallo-Italic branch according both to Ethnologue and Glottolog. Gallo-Italic can be classified as Gallo-Romance or as a separate branch of the Western Romance languages. Ligurian (and Venetian if considered) retain the final -o, being the exceptions in Gallo-Romance. * In addition to these languages, there are several French-based creole languages, such as
Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; ht, kreyòl ayisyen, links=no, ; french: créole haïtien, links=no, ), commonly referred to as simply ''Creole'', or ''Kreyòl'' in the Creole language, is a French-based creole language spoken by 10–12million people wor ...
. In the view of some linguists (
Pierre Bec Pierre Bec (; oc, Pèire Bèc; 11 December 1921 – 30 June 2014) was a French Occitan-language poet and linguist. Born in Paris, he spent his childhood in Comminges, where he learnt Occitan. He was deported to Germany between 1943 and 1945. A ...
,
Andreas Schorta Andreas ( el, Ἀνδρέας) is a name usually given to males in Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Armenia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Finland, Flanders, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. The ...
,
Heinrich Schmid Heinrich Schmid (6 April 1921 – 23 February 1999) was a Swiss linguist and "father" of the Rhaeto-Romance Dachsprachen ("umbrella languages") Rumantsch Grischun and Ladin Dolomitan. Heinrich Schmid lived his entire life in the same house in Z ...
, Geoffrey Hull) Rhaeto-Romance and Gallo-Italic form a single linguistic unity named "Rhaeto-Cisalpine" or "Padanian", which includes also the
Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...
and
Istriot The Istriot language () is a Romance language of the Italo-Dalmatian branch spoken by about 400 people in the southwestern part of the Istrian peninsula in Croatia, particularly in Rovinj and Vodnjan. It should not be confused with the Istri ...
languages, whose Italianate features are deemed to be superficial and secondary in nature.The most developed formulation of this theory is to be found in the research of Geoffrey Hull, "La lingua padanese: Corollario dell’unità dei dialetti reto-cisalpini". ''Etnie: Scienze politica e cultura dei popoli minoritari'', 13 (1987), pp. 50-53; 14 (1988), pp. 66-70, and ''The Linguistic Unity of Northern Italy and Rhaetia: Historical Grammar of the Padanian Language'', 2 vols. Sydney: Beta Crucis, 2017..


Traditional geographical extension

How far the Gallo-Romance languages spread varies a great deal depending on which languages are included in the group. Those included in its narrowest definition (i.e. the Langues d'oïl and Arpitan) were historically spoken in the northern half of
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, parts of
Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
,
Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
, part of Lorraine, the
Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—al ...
region of
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
, the
Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
, parts of Switzerland, and northern Italy. Today, a single Gallo-Romance language (French) dominates much of this geographic region (including the formerly non-Romance areas of France) and has also spread overseas. At its broadest, the area also encompasses southern France,
Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...
, the
Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wi ...
and the
Balearic islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...
in eastern
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
,
Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...
and much of northern
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
.


General characteristics

The Gallo-Romance languages are generally considered the most innovative (least conservative) among the Romance languages. Northern France (the medieval area of the langue d'oïl, from which modern French developed) was the epicentre. Characteristic Gallo-Romance features generally developed earliest and appear in their most extreme manifestation in the langue d'oïl, gradually spreading out from there along riverways and roads. The earliest vernacular Romance writing occurred in Northern France, as the development of vernacular writing in a given area was forced by the almost total inability of Romance speakers to understand Classical Latin, still the vehicle of writing and culture. Gallo-Romance languages are usually characterised by the loss of all unstressed final vowels other than (most significantly, final and were lost). However, when the loss of a final vowel would result in an impossible final cluster (e.g. ), an epenthetic vowel appears in place of the lost vowel, usually . Generally, the same changes also occurred in final syllables closed by a consonant. Furthermore, loss of in a final syllable was early enough in Primitive Old French that the Classical Latin third singular was often preserved: ''venit'' "he comes" > (Romance vowel changes) > (diphthongization) > (lenition) > (Gallo-Romance final vowel loss) > (final devoicing). Elsewhere, final vowel loss occurred later or unprotected was lost earlier (perhaps under Italian influence). Other than southern Occitano-Romance, the Gallo-Romance languages are quite innovative, with French and some of the Gallo-Italian languages rivaling each other for the most extreme phonological changes compared with more conservative languages. For example, French ''sain, saint, sein, ceint, seing'' meaning "healthy, holy, breast, (he) girds, signature" (Latin ''sānum'', ''sanctum'', ''sinum'', ''cingit'', ''signum'') are all pronounced . In other ways, however, the Gallo-Romance languages are conservative. The older stages of many of the languages are famous for preserving a two-case system consisting of nominative and oblique, fully marked on nouns, adjectives and determiners, inherited almost directly from the Latin nominative and accusative cases and preserving a number of different declensional classes and irregular forms. In the opposite of the normal pattern, the languages closest to the oïl epicentre preserve the case system the best, and languages at the periphery (near languages that had long before lost the case system except on pronouns) lost it early. For example, the case system was preserved in
Old Occitan Old Occitan ( oc, occitan ancian, label= Modern Occitan, ca, occità antic), also called Old Provençal, was the earliest form of the Occitano-Romance languages, as attested in writings dating from the eighth through the fourteenth centuries. Ol ...
until around the 13th century but had already been lost in Old Catalan, despite the fact that there were very few other differences between the two. The Occitan group is known for an innovatory ending on many subjunctive and preterite verbs and an unusual development of (Latin intervocalic -d-), which, in many varieties, merges with (from intervocalic palatalised -c- and -ty-). The following tables show two examples of the extensive phonological changes that French has undergone. (Compare modern Italian ''saputo'', ''vita'' even more conservative than the reconstructed Western Romance forms.) These are the notable characteristics of the Gallo-Romance languages: * Early loss of all final vowels other than is the defining characteristic, as noted above. * Further reductions of final vowels in langue d'oïl and many
Gallo-Italic languages The Gallo-Italic, Gallo-Italian, Gallo-Cisalpine or simply Cisalpine languages constitute the majority of the Romance languages of northern Italy. They are Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian, Ligurian, and Romagnol. Although most publications def ...
, with the feminine and epenthetic vowel merging into , which is often subsequently dropped. * Early, heavy reduction of unstressed vowels in the interior of a word (another defining characteristic). That and final vowel reduction are most of the extreme phonemic differences between the Northern and the Central Italian dialects, which otherwise share a great deal of vocabulary and syntax. * Loss of final vowels phonemicised the long vowels that had been automatic concomitants of stressed open syllables. The phonemic long vowels are maintained directly in many Northern Italian dialects. Elsewhere, phonemic length was lost, but many of the long vowels had been diphthongised, resulting in a maintenance of the original distinction. The langue d'oïl branch was again at the forefront of innovation, with no less than five of the seven long vowels diphthongising (only high vowels were spared). * Front rounded vowels are present in all branches except Catalan. usually fronts to (typically along with a shift of to ), and mid-front rounded vowels often develop from long or . * Extreme lenition (repeated lenition) occurs in many languages, especially in langue d'oïl and many Gallo-Italian languages. Examples from French: ''ˈvītam'' > ''vie'' "life"; *''saˈpūtum'' > ''su'' "known"; similarly ''vu'' "seen" < *''vidūtum'', ''pu'' "been able" < *''potūtum'', ''eu'' "had" < *''habūtum''. Examples from Lombard: *"căsa" > "cà" "home, house" * Most of langue d'oïl (except Norman and Picard dialects), Swiss Rhaeto-Romance languages and many northern dialects of Occitan have a secondary palatalization of and before , producing different results from the primary Romance palatalisation: ''centum'' "hundred" > ''cent'' , ''cantum'' "song" > ''chant'' . * Other than Occitano-Romance languages, most Gallo-Romance languages are subject-obligatory (whereas all the rest of the Romance languages are
pro-drop A pro-drop language (from "pronoun-dropping") is a language where certain classes of pronouns may be omitted when they can be pragmatically or grammatically inferable. The precise conditions vary from language to language, and can be quite i ...
languages). This is a late development triggered by progressive phonetic erosion: Old French was still a null-subject language until the loss of secondary final consonants in Middle French caused spoken verb forms (e.g. ''aime''/''aimes''/''aiment''; ''viens''/''vient'') to coincide. Gallo-Italian languages have a number of features in common with the other Italian languages: * Loss of final , which triggers raising of the preceding vowel (more properly, the " debuccalises" to , which is monophthongised into a higher vowel): > , > , hence Standard Italian plural ''cani'' < ''canes'', subjunctive ''tu canti'' < ''tū cantēs'', indicative ''tu cante'' < ''tū cantās'' (now ''tu canti'' in Standard Italian, borrowed from the subjunctive); ''amiche'' "female friends" < ''amīcās''. The palatalisation in the masculine ''amici'' , compared with the lack of palatalisation in ''amiche'' , shows that feminine ''-e'' cannot come from Latin ''-ae'', which became by the first century AD, and would certainly have triggered palatalisation. * Use of nominative ''-i'' for masculine plurals instead of accusative ''-os''.


References


Further reading

* Buckley, Eugene (2009).
Phonetics and phonology in Gallo-Romance palatalisation
. In: ''Transactions of the Philological Society'', 107, pp. 31-65. * Jensen, Frede. ''Old French and Comparative Gallo-Romance Syntax''. Berlin, New York: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 2012
990 Year 990 ( CMXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Al-Mansur, ''de facto'' ruler of Al-Andalus, conquers the Castle of Montemor-o-Velho (mode ...
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110938166 * Klingebiel, Kathryn. "A Century of Research in Franco-Provençal and Poitevin: Eastern Vs. Western Gallo-Romance". In: ''Historiographia Linguistica'', Volume 12, Issue 3, Jan 1985, pp. 389-407. . DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.12.3.05kli * Oliviéri, Michèle, and Patrick Sauzet. "Southern Gallo-Romance (Occitan)". In: ''The Oxford Guide to the Romance Languages''. Edited by Adam Ledgeway, and Martin Maiden. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Oxford Scholarship Online, 2016. . doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199677108.003.0019. * Smith, John Charles. "French and northern Gallo-Romance". In: ''The Oxford Guide to the Romance Languages''. Edited by Adam Ledgeway, and Martin Maiden. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Oxford Scholarship Online, 2016. . doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199677108.003.0018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallo-Romance Languages