Oil Languages - Varieties

Varieties

Five zones of Oïl dialects have been proposed:

• Frankish zone (zone francique)

Picard, Walloon, Lorrain, Norman (north of the ligne Joret, incl. Anglo-Norman and Dgèrnésiais, Jèrriais of the Channel Islands), eastern Champenois

• Francien zone (zone francienne): French proper

varieties of the Île-de-France: Orléanais, Tourangeau (Tourain), western Champenois, Berrichon, Bourbonnais

• Burgundian zone (zone burgonde)

Bourguignon, Franc-Comtois

• Armorican zone (zone armoricaine)

Gallo language (incl. Angevin) and Norman (south of the ligne Joret)

• Poitevin-Saintongeais zone (zone poitevine and zone saintongeaise, after the former provinces of Poitou and Saintonge)

Poitevin, Saintongeais

For the history of phonology, orthography, syntax and morphology: see History of the French language and the relevant individual Oïl language articles.

Each of the Oïl languages has developed in its own way from the common ancestor, and division of the development into periods varies according to the individual histories. Modern linguistics uses the following terms:

• Old French, Old Norman etc. for the 9th–13th centuries.

And then for French:

• Middle French for the period 14th–15th centuries.
• 16th century : français renaissance (Renaissance French).
• 17th to 18th century: français classique (Classical French).