<<<Ouest : « greg, in your opinion, what was the main driving force for the "évolution de l'orolatin tardif" towards Old French? ».
Et moi je t'en pose une autre : à ton avis, quel facteur majeur détermine l'évolution de l'orolatin tardif vers l'ancien gascon archaïque ?>>>
Do you have some authentic text documents of late Orolatin and archaic Old Gascon for us to analyse the differences between both languages? I fear these both languages are pure inventions of people who make a lot of assumptions and get bogged down in details so long that at the end they believe they are facts.
Instead of loosing contact to reality by analysting languages born of imagination and wishful thinking, I refer again to Professor Cerquiglini
http://www.langue-fr.net/d/origines/histoire-1.htm
There you find the following explanation of Professor Cerquiglini for the change from Latin to Old French:
« ..... ce gallo-roman subit une pression très efficace (lexicale, phonétique et syntaxique) du superstrat germanique, au nord de la Gaule. Suffisamment forte, cette fois-ci, pour que l'on puisse distinguer deux langues dans ce gallo-roman : la proto-langue d'oïl au nord, la proto-langue d'oc au sud. Les raisons de cette influence décisive tiennent certes à la longue durée du contact ; de 486, arrivée des Francs, à 987 : Hugues Capet est le premier roi franc à ne plus parler que la langue romane ; un interprète lui est nécessaire quand on s'adresse à lui en langue germanique » « À partir du Ve siècle, en Gaule, l'enjeu social des idiomes prend une disposition des plus originales, figure exemplaire de ce qu'est, dans son fond, l' "influence" linguistique. Les envahisseurs adoptes certes la langue des envahis, comme idiome second puis premier, mais, grâce à leur position sociale, ils imposent leur parlure. Ce n'est pas le gallo-roman des Gallo-Romains qui s'imprègne d'éléments germaniques ; c'est le gallo-roman des seigneurs germaniques, donné à entendre et valorisé par eux, qui devient la norme, et chasse l'autre. Les déformations opérées par les Francs acquièrent un prestige social : elles émanent de la classe dirigeante, elles en sont la marque, voire la distinction. De ce bilinguisme socialement orienté procède par suite un gallo-roman nettement transformé par les Francs. Le français, si l'on ose dire, est du francé. » (6)>>>>>
ENGLISH
<<<....this Gallo-Roman underwent a very effective pressure (lexical, phonetic and syntactic) of the Germanic superstratum, in the north of Gaule. Sufficient strong, this time, so that one can distinguish two languages in this Gallo-Roman: the proto-language of oïl in north, the proto-language of oc in the south. The reasons of this decisive influence are certainly due to the long duration of the contact; from 486, arrived of Frank, to 987: Hugues Capet is the first frank king to speak only the Romance language anymore; an interpreter is necessary for him when one addresses to him in Germanic language” “Starting from Ve century, in Gaule, the social factors lead to a linguistic “influence”. The invaders adopt certainly the language of invaded, as second and later first language, but, thanks to their social position, they impose their way of speaking. It is not the gallo-roman of the Gallo-Romans which impregnates Germanic elements; it is the gallo-roman of the Germanic lords, spoken, developed and valorised by them, which becomes the standard, and drives out the other. The deformations operated by the Franks acquire a social prestige: they emanate from the leading class, they are the mark, even the distinction. This socially driven bilingualism proceeds consequently a gallo-novel clearly transformed by the Frank ones. French, if statement is dared, is francé.>>>>
This discribes a scenario that fully explains the Germanic features of the modern French: the prestige of the Germanic rulers led the Gallo-Romans to adopt their version of vernacular Latin. I would add that not only the rulers but also all the Germanic settlers and simple soldiers contributed to the creation of the new contact language. It is arbitray to call this process transformation, deformation, creolization, germanization, influence or even evolution - the facts remain the same...