Romance languages

The Romance languages are a subfamily of the Italic languages, specifically the descendants of the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken by the common people evolving in different areas after the break-up of the Roman Empire. Latin itself is treated as an Italic but not a Romance language. The modern Romance languages differ from Classical Latin in a number of fundamental respects:

• No declensions (except Romanian)\n*Only two grammatical genders, rather than the three of Classical Latin (except Romanian, and several neuter pronouns in Catalan, Italian, Spanish, etc.)\n*Introduction of grammatical articles, based on Latin demonstratives\n*Latin future tense scrapped, and new future and conditional tenses introduced, based on infinitive + present or imperfect tense of habere (to have), fused to form new inflections.\n*Latin synthetic perfect tenses replaced by new compound forms with be or have + past participle (except Portuguese, where the Latin plusquamperfect tense has been retained).

Roughly, from west to east, the Romance variants, or dialects, form a continuum. Portuguese, French, and Romanian are the three extreme deviations, though this does not imply that they are totally distinct. Sardinian is the most isolated and conservative variant. Languedocian Occitan could be tagged as the central "Western Romance by default". There are many local varieties spoken in the Romance-language countries, and there is no clear differentiation between a 'language' and a 'dialect'. Roughly speaking, those varieties that are definitely separate languages include the main national languages (French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and Catalan), plus Occitan (or Provençal), Sardinian, and Rumansh. After that it becomes questionable: is Galician, for example, yet another full language, or is it a variety of Portuguese with strong influence of Spanish? Or rather a language, with Portuguese as a dialect of it (as some argue it is?) Naturally, political and cultural and local pride issues play a role in these debates. Moreover, languages that lacked officialdom, a central standard model, or a literary tradition, such as Occitan, Sardinian or Rumansh, were further dialectalised. And some minor variants which might have developed in distict languages have been reduced to residual areas and restricted usage, like Astur-leonese or Aragonese. Historically, the first split was between Sardinian and the rest. Then of the rest, the next split was between Romanian in the east, and the others in the west. The third major split was between Italian and the Gallo-Iberian group. This latter then split into a Gallic group, which became French, Occitan, and Rumansh, and an Iberian group which became Spanish and Portuguese. Catalan is considered by many specialists as a transition language between the Gallic group and the Iberian group, since it shares characteristics from both groups (just for an example, among many others: 'fear' is 'medo' in Portuguese, 'miedo' in Spanish, but 'por' in Catalan — compare with 'peur' in French). See also Iberian Romance Languages. The most spoken Romance language is Spanish, followed by Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian. Latin and the Romance languages also give rise to numerous constructed languages, both International Auxiliary Languages (well-known examples of which are Interlingua and Latino sine flexione) and languages created for artistic purposes only (such as Brithenig and Wenedyk). The term "Romance" comes from the Romance word romance or romanz, from Latin romanice, the adverbial form of romanicus, in expressions like parabolare romanice ("to speak in Roman").

Listing

Here is a more detailed listing of languages and dialects:

• Iberian Romance languages\n**Portuguese-Galician\n***Portuguese language\n***Galician\n****Eonaviegan (a Galician dialect with some traits of Asturian)\n**Astur-Leonese\n***Asturian (the variant with more vitality)\n***Mirandese (spoken in tiny corner in Portugal — very archaic)\n***Leonese\n**Spanish\n***Judaeo-Spanish or ladino\n**Aragonese\n**Mozarabic variants (extinct by the 15th century)\n**Catalan\n***Western Catalan\n****North-Western Catalan\n*****Ribagorçan (transitional to Aragonese)\n****Valencian\n***Eastern Catalan\n****Central Catalan (includes Barcelona dialect)\n****Northern Catalan (Roussillonese)\n****Balearic\n****Alguerese\n*Occitan or langue d'oc\n**Gascon\n***Aranese\n**Provençal\n*Francoprovençal\n*langues d'oïl\n**French\n**Picard language \n**Walloon language \n**Norman language\n***Jèrriais \n***Dgèrnésiais\n***Anglo-Norman (extinct)\n**Gallo language \n**Franc-Comtois \n**Champenois \n**Poitevin-Saintongeais \n**Bourguignon-Morvandiau \n**Lorrain\n*Rhaetian languages\n**Friulian \n**Ladin \n**Romansh \n*Italian\n**Gallo-Italian languages\n***Piemontese\n***Ligurian \n***Lombard \n***Emilio-Romagnolo\n***Venetian\n**Napoletano-Calabrese\n**Sicilian\n*Sardinian \n**Campidanese\n**Logudorese\n**Gallurese\n**Sassarese (transitional to Corsican)\n*Corsican (closely related to Ligurian dialects)\n*Northern African (extinct by the 15th century)\n*Dalmatian (extinct)\n*Istriot\n*Romanian (also named Moldovan in Moldova)\n**Istro-Romanian \n**Megleno-Romanian\n**Macedo-Romanian

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The classification below is largely based on the analysis provided at ethnologue.com. The ISO-639-2 code roa is applied by the ISO for any Romance language that does not have its own code. The Ethnologue classification (produced by the SIL International) is at one extreme of linguists, who divide into 'splitters' and 'lumpers'. Ethnologue produce a very detailed classification, which is more precise than many other linguists would accept, but it is valuable as a description of varieties. The Southern group\n*Sardinian Four versions recognized; all are included in ISO 639-1 code, sc; ISO 639-2 code, srd)\n**Sardinian, Sassarese - (SIL Code, SDC) \n**Sardinian, Gallurese - (SIL Code, SDN)\n**Sardinian, Logudorese - (SIL Code, SRD)\n**Sardinian, Campidanese - (SIL Code, SRO)\n*Corsican - (SIL Code, COI; ISO 639-1 code, co; ISO 639-2 code, cos) The Italo-Western group
\nThe Western sub-group
\n. .Gallo-Iberian division
\n. . .Ibero-Romance sub-division
\n. . . .West Iberian section\n*Asturo-Leonese\n**Asturian - (SIL Code, AUB; ISO 639-2 code, ast)\n**Miranda do Duoro - (SIL Code, MWL; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n*Castilian\n**Spanish - (SIL Code, SPN; ISO 639-1 code, es; ISO 639-2 code, spa)\n**Spanish, Loreto-Ucayali - (SIL Code, SPQ; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n**Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino) - (SIL Code, SPJ; ISO 639-2 code, lad)\n**Extremaduran - (SIL Code, EXT; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n**Caló - (SIL Code, RMR; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n*Portuguese-Galician\n**Portuguese - (SIL Code, POR; ISO 639-1 code, pt; ISO 639-2 code, por)\n**Galician - (SIL Code, GLN; ISO 639-1 code, gl; ISO 639-2 code, glg)\n**Fala - (SIL Code, FAX; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n. . . .East Iberian section
\n**Catalan-Valencian-Balear - (SIL Code, CLN; ISO 639-1 code, ca; ISO 639-2 code, cat)\n. . . .Oc section
\n*Occitan (langue d'oc) - Six versions recognized; all are included in ISO 639-1 code, oc; ISO 639-2 code, oci) - all are from France\n**Auvergnat - (SIL Code, AUV) \n**Gascon - (SIL Code, GSC)\n**Limousin - (SIL Code, LMS) \n**Languedocien - (SIL Code, LNC) \n**Provençal - (SIL Code, PRV) \n**Shuadit - (SIL Code, SDT) \n. . .Gallo-Romance sub-division
\n. . . .Gallo-Rhaetian section\n*Rhaetian\n**Friulian - (SIL Code, FRL; ISO 639-2 code, fur) \n**Ladin - (SIL Code, LLD; ISO 639-2 code, roa) \n**Romansh - (SIL Code, RHE; ISO 639-1 code, rm; ISO 639-2 code, roh)\n*Langues d'Oïl\n**French (langue d'oïl)\n***Standard French - (SIL Code, FRN; ISO 639-1 code, fr; ISO 639-2(B) code, fre; ISO 639-2(T) code, fra)\n***Cajun French - (SIL Code, FRC; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n***Picard - (SIL Code, PCD; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n***Zarphatic - (SIL Code, ZRP; ISO 639-2 code, roa) - extinct\n**Franco-Provençal - (SIL Code, FRA; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n. . . .Gallo-Italian section\n**Emilio-Romagnolo - (SIL Code, EML; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n**Ligurian - (SIL Code, LIJ; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n**Lombard - (SIL Code, LMO; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n**Piemontese - (SIL Code, PMS; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n**Venetian - (SIL Code, VEC; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n. .Pyrenean-Mozarabic division\n*Pyrenean\n**Aragonese - (SIL Code, AXX; ISO 639-1 code, an;ISO 639-2 code, arg)\n*Mozarabic\n**Mozarabic - (SIL Code, MXI; ISO 639-2 code, roa) - Extinct for common speech\nThe Italo-Dalmatian sub-group\n**Italian - (SIL Code, ITN; ISO 639-1 code, it; ISO 639-2 code, ita)\n**Napoletano-Calabrese - (SIL Code, NPL; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n**Sicilian - (SIL Code, SCN; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n**Judeo-Italian - (SIL Code, ITK; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n**Dalmatian - (SIL Code, DLM; ISO 639-2 code, roa) - extinct in 19th century.\n**Istriot - (SIL Code, IST; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\nThe Eastern group\n**Romanian - (SIL Code, RUM; ISO 639-1 code, ro; ISO 639-2(B) code, rum; ISO 639-2(T) code, ron) - Includes Daco-Romanian.\n:::Also as Moldovan - (ISO 639-1 code, mo; ISO 639-2 code, mol)\n**Istro-Romanian - (SIL Code, RUO; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n**Megleno-Romanian - (SIL Code, RUQ; ISO 639-2 code, roa)\n**Macedo-Romanian - (SIL Code, RUP; ISO 639-2 code, roa) - Includes Aromanian Here are some criteria that distinguish subgroups of the Romance languages: Formation of plurals
\nSome Romance languages form plurals by adding "s" (derived from Latin accusative case), while others form the plural by changing the final vowel - "o"/"e" to "i", or "a" to "e" (derived from Latin nominative case). See La Spezia-Rimini Line for more information.\n* Plural in "s": Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Occitan, French \n* Vowel change: Italian, Romanian. Omission of final Latin vowels
\nSome Romance languages omit the final unstressed vowels from the Latin roots - for example: Latin LUPUS, LUNA become Italian LUPO, LUNA or Spanish LOBO, LUNA but French LOUP, LUNE.\n* Final vowels retained: Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Romanian (southern dialects)\n* Final vowels retained in feminine only: Catalan, Occitan, Romanian (Dacoromanian)\n* Final vowels dropped: French. Word for "more"
\nSome languages use a version of PLUS, others a version of MAGIS.\n* PLUS-derived: French, Italian\n* MAGIS-derived: Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Occitan, Romanian Sedecim vs. Decem-et-sex
\nIn some languages the word for 16 is morphematim "sixteen", like 11-15; in others it is "ten-and-six", like 17-19.\n* Sedecim: Catalan, Occitan, French, Italian, Romanian.\n* Decem-et-sex: Portuguese, Spanish. To have and to hold
\nThe words "habere" and "tenere" are used differently for "to hold", "to have", "to have (done)", and "there is". For instance, in French, je tiens, j'ai, j'ai fait, il y a: these are respectively derived from "tenere", "habere", "habere", "habere". Thus "THHH".\n* TTTT: Portuguese (Brazil).\n* TTTH: Portuguese/Galician.\n* TTHH: Spanish, Catalan.\n* THHH: Occitan, French.\n* THHE: Romanian, Italian (E for "essere" in Italian, "este" in Romanian, 'to be')\nTo have or to be
\nSome languages use "have" as an auxiliary verb to form the perfect forms (e.g. French: passé composé) of all verbs; others use "be" for some verbs, generally those of motion or becoming.\n* "Have" only: Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian.\n* "Have" and "be": Catalan, Occitan, French, Italian. Category:Romance languages\nCategory:Lists of languages \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n