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langue d'oc[lANg dOk] Pronunciation Key and langue d'oIl[dOEl´] Pronunciation Key, names of the two principal groups of medieval French dialects. Langue d'oc (literally, "language of yes") was spoken south of a line running, roughly, from Bordeaux to Grenoble, whereas langue d'oIl (literally, "language of yes") was prevalent in central and N France. The two dialect groups were named after their respective words for "yes," oc having been the form of "yes" in the south and oIl (now oui) having been used for "yes" in the north. Langue d'oc developed into Occitan, and included ProvenCcal, a dialect that became the language of the troubadours in the south of France. Of the langue d'oIl dialects, that of the Paris region gradually supplanted all others as the standard idiom and developed into modern French. Both langue d'oIl and langue d'oc dialects persisted, however, in some rural areas as patois, or popular, provincial speech.
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