CaenCaen (kɑ̃,_kɑːn, kɑ̃; Kaem) is a commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000, making Caen the second largest urban area in Normandy and the 19th largest in France. It is also the third largest commune in all of Normandy after Le Havre and Rouen. It is located northwest of Paris, connected to the South of England by the Caen (Ouistreham) to Portsmouth ferry route through the English Channel.
Old FrenchOld French (franceis, françois, romanz; Modern French: ancien français) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the 8th and the 14th century. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligible yet diverse. These dialects came to be collectively known as the langue d'oïl, contrasting with the langue d'oc in the south of France. The mid-14th century witnessed the emergence of Middle French, the language of the French Renaissance in the Île de France region; this dialect was a predecessor to Modern French.
Occitan languageOccitan (pronˈɒksᵻtən,-tæn,-tɑːn; occitan utsiˈta, uksiˈta), also known as lenga d'òc (ˈleŋɡɔ ˈðɔ(k); langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as Provençal, is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys, as well as Val d'Aran in Catalonia; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitània. It is also spoken in Calabria (Southern Italy) in a linguistic enclave of Cosenza area (mostly Guardia Piemontese).
Aix-en-ProvenceAix-en-Provence (UKˌɛks_ɒ̃_prɒˈvɒ̃s, USˌeɪks_ɒ̃_proʊˈvɒ̃s,ˌɛks-), or simply Aix (medieval Occitan: Aics), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the subprefecture of the arrondissement of Aix-en-Provence, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The population of Aix-en-Provence is approximately 145,000. Its inhabitants are called Aixois or, less commonly, Aquisextains.
