Romance language

Romance languages are a group of related languages all derived from Vulgar Latin within the historical timespan of the late Roman Empire. They form a branch of the Italic languages within the Indo-European language family.

Origin

The Romance languages developed from the spoken Latin language, from the 6th to 9th centuries AD, a period known as the Late Latin era. The changes from Latin to the Romance languages were gradual and the result of a long process of language evolution.

Classification

The Romance languages are classified into several groups: the Ibero-Romance languages, which include Spanish and Portuguese; the Gallo-Romance languages, which include French and Occitan; the Italo-Dalmatian languages, which include Italian and Dalmatian; the Eastern Romance languages, which include Romanian; and the Sardinian language, which is often considered its own group.

Characteristics

The Romance languages share several characteristics not found in Classical Latin. These include the loss of noun declension, the development of auxiliary verbs, and the adoption of the verb–subject–object word order.

Distribution and speakers

Romance languages are spoken by approximately 800 million people worldwide, primarily in Europe, the Americas, and parts of Africa.

See also

• Latin
• Vulgar Latin
• Italic languages
• Indo-European languages

Romance language Resources
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