The Romance Languages of Europe
The Derivation of Some National European Languages
Romance languages belong to the Indo-European languages family; a romance language is defined as a language which has descended from Latin. It is estimated that there are approximately 920 million native romance language speakers in the world today; the most widely spoken romance languages (all of which are official languages of at least one country) are:
The Ancient Language of Latin in Romance Languages
The term "romance" is a derivation of the Latin Romanicus, (in old French Latin); Latin was the ancient language of Rome and the great Roman Empire which, at one time, included many modern day countries of Europe. Consequently, Latin was spoken by many people in many places and, as Rome fell, many regional languages were formed from the common Latin language.
The Use of Vulgar Latin Not Classical Latin in Romance Languages
Romance languages share common grammar elements of vulgar Latin and not classical Latin; vulgar Latin was spoken and used by Roman soldiers, peasants and traders of the Roman Empire whereas classical Latin was spoken by emperors, rich noblemen and the upper classes of Roman society. In addition, classical Latin was used in literature and written works.
How to Identify a Romance Language
Romance languages have some common characteristics; the structure of the language and vocabulary use is often similar within romance languages. For example, agreement of verb endings, which is not a characteristic of the English language, is similar in construction in romance languages, as is word order. An example of romance language vocabulary similarity of the English pronoun she is:
- she in Latin is illa
- she in French is elle
- she in Italian is ella
- she in Spanish is ella
- she in Portuguese is ela.
Common Romance Languages
The most common romance languages are those which are also national languages of many countries of the world; common romance languages include:
- Spanish – the first language of many worldwide countries and is the first of the romance languages.
- Portuguese – the second romance language, largely due to the size of Brazil, where it is the national language.
- French – is a romance language of international importance; French is the official language of 22 countries and spoken in many other countries too.
- Italian – is spoken mostly in Italy but has spread worldwide through immigration, particularly to the United States.
- Romanian – is spoken in many East European countries and in the United States.
- Catalan – is spoken primarily in parts of Spain and France, Andorra and Sardinia.
In addition to the most common romance languages, there are many other romance languages, often relating to a particular region; regional romance languages are not dialects and are, in fact, a separate language. Examples of regional romance languages include:
- Corsican
- Sardinian
- Venetian
- Occitan
- Franco-Provençal
- Rhaetian
- Aromanian
- Creoles.
The Classification of the Language of Romance
Romance languages are complicated to source and to classify; romance languages are usually sub-divided into West and East Romance Languages and then further sub-divided into various categories before being categorized into the national language of, for example, French, and then the regional romance language of Occitan or Catalan. Further study is needed in order to fully appreciate and understand the use and characteristics of the romance languages of Europe.
References:
Encyclopedia Britannica
Latin Is The Basis of Many Romance Languages
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