“L’on y danse”: why the article “l’ ”?

Question

> Sur le pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse tous en rond.What is *l'* doing here? When is it generally used like this?I'm assuming it's a pronoun, but *y* already refers to *pont*, so it's not quite like *je l'ai vu* — or is it? I've seen it a lot in novels too. I've asked a Frenchman this question but he couldn't tell me out of hand.

Answer 1

Also, "sur le pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse" sounds better to the ears than "sur le pont d'Avignon, on y danse".

The French do sometimes add an "extra" letter to a word in order to make a sentence sound nicer or "smoother".

Answer 2

Gina above answered the question perfectly. I hope that you are satisfied with the answer.

Answer 3

The “l” added to “on” has to do with pronunciation. On y danse is the same as l’on y danse as far as meaning. We just add the l for ease of pronunciation. For example, « ce que l’on veut » instead of « ce qu’on veut ».