Ibero-Romance

— If we assume that a division between 'Gallo-Romance' and 'Ibero-Romance' is valid, it is evident that French belongs to the former, Spanish and Portuguese to the latter. But how is Catalan to be treated, a language which exhibits features of both these groups? Is it essentially a Gallo-Romance or an Ibero-Romance language? The debate about this thorny question has occupied comparative Romance linguists for decades (see [..]). Badia i Margarit found a convincing solution to this long-standing problem with his frequently quoted formula that Catalan is a 'bridge language' between the Iberian Peninsula and France ([..]).

— Although the classification of Occitan as Gallo-Romance and Catalan as Ibero-Romance is common, some scholars criticize the justification for this decision as superficial. … On this basis, "Occitano-Romance" has been proposed as a sub-language family in its own right, distinct from Gallo- and Ibero-Romance, or, in some cases, as a sub-grouping within Gallo-Romance.