The vast majority of the population however spoke a variety of vernacular languages derived from vulgar Latin, the common spoken language of the western Roman empire. The medieval Italian poet Dante, in his Latin "De vulgari eloquentia", classified the Romance languages into three groups by their respective words for "yes": "Nam alii oc, alii si, alii vero dicunt oil", "For some say "oc", others say "si", others say "oïl"". The "oïl" languagesfrom Latin " ", "that is it"occupied northern France, the "oc" languagesfrom Latin ', "that"southern France, and the "si" languagesfrom Latin ', "thus"the Italian and Iberian peninsulas. Modern linguists typically add a third group within France around Lyon, the "Arpitan" or "Franco-Provençal language", whose modern word for "yes" is "ouè".