INTRODUCTION TO OLD FRENCH Brigitte L M Bauer

INTRODUCTION TO OLD FRENCH Brigitte L. M. Bauer and Jonathan Slocum

Language d’oïl & Langue d’oc ◦ "Old French" refers to a collection of dialects spoken from the 9 th through 13 th centuries. ◦ it is possible to divide them in two groups: ◦ the dialects spoken in the northern parts of France, to which one refers as language d'oïl ◦ those spoken in the Southern parts, referred to as langue d'oc. Oc and oïl were markers of affirmation ('yes') in the respective dialect groups. ◦ La language d'oïl includes the following dialects ◦ the dialects of Picardie (le Picard), Normandy (le Normand), Ile de France (le Francien), Lorraine (le Lorrain), Anjou (l'Angevin), Poitou (le Poitevin), Bourgundy (le Bourguignon), and Berry (le Berrichon). ◦ La langue d'oc includes the dialects of the following regions ◦ Provence (le provenc/al), Auvergne (l'auvergnat), Gascony (le gascon), and Languedoc (le languedocien).

Grammatical Characteristics ◦ Old French represents an intermediate stage between Latin and the modern language ◦ In OF, use of the subject pronoun is infrequent ◦ OF uses the definite article, though not as frequently as modern French ◦ Negation: ne but no pas ◦ Word order is predominately Subject-Verb-Object

End of Old French ◦ By the end of the 13 th century, the dialect of Old French used on the Ile de France predominates. ◦ The language used during the 14 th and 15 th centuries in France is referred to as Middle French and is much closer to modern French.

Source ◦ Old French Online (https: //lrc. la. utexas. edu/eieol/ofrol/00)