A
language (or
dialect of
French or dialect group, depending on your viewpoint and definitions) spoken in the greater part of the Wallonie or
Wallonia region of
Belgium (except the Ostkantonen, where they speak
German, and the western end of the province of Hainaut, where they speak a distinctly different form of French) as well as neighbouring parts of northern
France,
Luxembourg and even ... ulp ...
Flanders, the
taalgrens (language boundary) being less set in stone that some would like it to be.
"Walon" in itself, "Wallon" in French; the two letter code wa is used for it although this is not an official part of the ISO 639-1 standard; see http://www.ping.be/linux/walon/ for Un*x locale details should you be so inclined. (Were the Flemish nationalists to have their own way the .be domain would be split into .vl and .wa)
Not strictly synonymous with Belgian French, since this more frequently refers to the form spoken in Brussels, where the use of French developed in isolation (by former Dutch speakers) relatively recently, with a particularly spectacular line in stilted bureaucratese.
Just a taster, in case you were wondering:
(lifted from http://www.walon.open.net.ma/rif-txt-medias.htm)
Les paroles endalèt ; les scrîts dmorèt.
C' e-st on spot k' on nos a sèrinè co traze côps, po nos dire di ben waitî a çou k' on scrijheut din ene lete; u, co pire, din on live u on papî po ene gazete u ene rivowe.
L' arivéye di l' Etrernete a vnou, cor on côp, coscheure nos viyès idéyes totes fwaites sol sudjet.
Docôp ki l' Rantoele Daegnrece a cminci a rashonner totes sôres di djins pattavå l' Bole, åtou d' on sudjet u l' ôte, on-z a vitmin lomè çoula des djåspinreyes, paski les djins î vnèt djåspiner, ça vout dire ramter, tchafyî, berdeler, plaider, copiner, ragadler.
Also, of course, the attributive adjective for things in general pertaining to
Wallonia and a person who comes from Wallonia.