Croissant (linguistic zone)

The Croissant (Occitan: lo Creissent; French: le Croissant) is a linguistic transitional zone between the Langue d'oc (also referred to as Occitan) dialects and the Langue d'oïl dialects, situated in the centre of France where Occitan dialects are spoken (Limousin and Auvergnat) that have transitional traits toward French (Langue d'oïl). The name derives from the contours of the zone that resemble a croissant, or crescent.

The first author to use the term Croissant was the linguist Jules Ronjat (1864-1925) in 1913.

There are two main Croissant dialects:

• Marchois, which is closer to the Limousin dialect, is found in the west, going from Confolentais (Charente) to Montluçon and its surrounds (west of Allier/Gorges du Cher) and passing through the north of Creuse and Guéret.
• The dialects in the eastern two-thirds of the Bourbonnais d'oc dialect region are, as far as they are concerned, Arverno-Bourbonnais dialects belonging to the Auvergnat dialect zone of the Croissant, centered around Chantelle and Vichy, with influences from Francoprovençal.