Romance languages

The Romance languages, also called Romanic languages or New Latin languages, are a subset of the Italic languages, specifically the descendants of the Latin dialects spoken by the common people in what is known as Latin Europe (Italian/Portuguese/Spanish/Catalan Europa latina, French Europe latine, Romanian Europa latină) as Vulgar Latin later evolved in different areas after the break-up of the Roman Empire.

Distinguishing features

Evolution compared to Latin

According to the results of the study of M. Pei in 1949, which compares the evolution degree of the languages with respect of their inheritance language (in the case of Romance languages the Latin language), here are the evolution degrees:

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• Sardinian: 8 %;
• Italian: 12 %;
• Spanish: 20 %;
• Romanian: 23,5 %;
• Occitan: 25 %;
• Portuguese: 31 %;
• French: 44 %.

Formation of plurals

Some Romance languages form plurals by adding /s/ (derived from the plural of the Latin accusative case), while others form the plural by changing the final vowel (by influence of the Latin nominative ending /i/). See La Spezia-Rimini Line for more information.

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• Plural in /s/: Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Occitan, French, Sardinian.
• Vowel change: Italian, Romanian.

Omission of final Latin vowels

Some Romance languages have lost the final unstressed vowels from the Latin roots. For example: Latin lupus, luna become Italian lupo, luna but French loup /lu/), lune (/lyn/).

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• Final vowels retained: Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Romanian (Southern dialects and old Romanian).
• Final vowels retained in feminine gender only: Catalan, Occitan, Romanian (Daco-Romanian).
• Final vowels dropped: French.

Romance languages dropping the final vowel have one less syllable: the usual "penultimate syllable" accent is on the last syllable in these languages.

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Words for "more"

Some Romance languages use a version of Latin plus, others a version of magis.

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• Plus-derived: French plus /ply/, Italian più /pju/, dialectal Catalan pus /pus/ (this word is exclusively used on negative statements in Mallorcan Catalan)
• Magis-derived: Portuguese (mais), Spanish (más), Catalan (més), Occitan (mai), Romanian (mai)

The number 16

In some languages the word for the number 16 is irregular after the fashion of English "sixteen", as are all the Romance numerals from 11 to 15. In other Romance languages, 16 is literally "ten and six", like the numbers from 17 to 19.

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• "Sixteen": Catalan, Occitan, French, Italian, Romanian.
• "Ten and six": Portuguese, Spanish.

To have and to hold

The verbs derived from Latin habere and tenere are used differently for the concepts of "to hold", "to have", "to have" (auxiliary for complex tenses), and existence statements ("there is").

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For instance, in French, je tiens, j'ai, j'ai fait, il y a: these are respectively derived from tenere, habere, habere and habere. If we use T for tenere and H for habere, in these four meanings, we can encode the difference as follows:

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• TTTH: Portuguese/Galician.
• TTHH: Spanish, Catalan.
• THHH: Occitan, French.

There is also essere in Italian and este in Romanian, used for "to be":

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• THHE: Romanian, Italian

To have or to be

Some languages use their equivalent of "have" as an auxiliary verb to form the perfect forms (e. g. French passé composé) of all verbs; others use "be" for some verbs and "have" for others.

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• "Have" only: Catalan, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian.
• "Have" and "be": Occitan, French, Italian.

In the latter, the verbs which use "be" as an auxiliary are unaccusative verbs, that is, intransitive verbs that show motion not directly initiated by the subject or changes of state, such as "fall", "come", "become". All other verbs (intransitive unergative verbs and all transitive verbs) use "have". For example, in French, J'ai vu "I have seen" vs. Je suis tombé "I am fallen" ("I have fallen").

Related Topics:
Unaccusative verb - Unergative verb

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Pidgins and creoles

The global spread of colonial Romance languages has given rise to numerous creoles and pidgins. Some of the lesser-spoken languages have also had influences on varieties spoken far from their traditional regions.

Related Topics:
Colonial - Creole - Pidgin

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• List creoles and pidgins, grouped by source-language.
• French Creoles
• Haitian Creole is a national language of Haiti
• Antillean Creole spoken primarily in Dominica and St. Lucia.
• Kreyol Lwiziyen Louisiana creole
• Mauritian Creole is the lingua franca in Mauritius
• Seychellois Creole Also known as Seselwa, Seychellois Creole is an official language, along with English and French, as well as the lingua franca of the Seychelles.
• Lanc-Patuá Spoken in Brazil, mostly in Amapá state. It has been influenced by Portuguese. It was developed by immigrants from neighboring French Guiana and French territories of the Caribbean Sea.
• Portuguese Creoles
• Angolar Spoken in coastal areas of São Tomé Island, São Tomé and Príncipe.
• Annobonnese Spoken in the island of Annobón, Equatorial Guinea.
• Crioulo do Barlavento (Criol) Spoken in Barlavento islands of Cape Verde.
• Crioulo de São Vicente Spoken in São Vicente Island, Cape Verde. It could not be a, de facto, Creole.
• Crioulo do Sotavento (Kriolu) Spoken in Sotavento islands of Cape Verde.
• Daman Indo-Portuguese Spoken in Daman, India. Decreolization process occurred.
• Diu Indo-Portuguese Spoken in Diu, India. Almost extinct.
• Forro Spoken in São Tomé Island, São Tomé and Príncipe.
• Kristang Spoken in Malaysia.
• Kristi Spoken in the village of Korlay, India.
• Lunguyê Spoken in Príncipe Island, São Tomé and Príncipe. Almost extinct.
• Macanese Spoken in Macau and Hong Kong. Decreolization process occurred.
• Papiamento Spoken in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. Spanish influenced.
• Saramaccan Portuguese/English Creole. Spoken in Surinam.
• Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese Spoken in Coastal cities of Sri Lanka.
• Upper Guinea Creole (Kriol) lingua franca of Guinea-Bissau, also spoken in Casamance, Senegal.
• Spanish Creoles
• Chavacano -Spoken in Zamboanga and Cavite , Philippines.
• Palenquero
• Papiamento (Not Spanish based, but Iberian)
• Yanito

Constructed languages

Latin and the Romance languages also give rise to numerous constructed languages, both international auxiliary languages (well-known examples of which are Esperanto, Interlingua, Latino sine flexione, and Lingua Franca Nova) and languages created for artistic purposes only (such as Brithenig and Wenedyk).

Related Topics:
Constructed languages - International auxiliary language - Esperanto - Interlingua - Latino sine flexione - Lingua Franca Nova - Brithenig - Wenedyk

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