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Metaphony (Romance Languages)
In the Romance languages, metaphony was an early vowel mutation process that operated in all Romance languages to varying degrees, raising (or sometimes diphthongizing) certain stressed vowels in words with a final or or a directly following . This is conceptually similar to the umlaut process so characteristic of the Germanic languages. Metaphony is most extensive in the Italo-Romance languages, and applies to nearly all languages of Italy. However, it is absent from Tuscan, and hence from Standard Italian. Italo-Romance languages Metaphony in central and southern Italo-Romance (i.e. excluding Tuscan) affects stressed mid-vowels if the following syllable contains or . As a general rule, the high-mids are raised to , and the low-mids are raised to or diphthongized to . Metaphony is not triggered by final . The main occurrences of final are as follows: * The plural of nouns in ''-o'' ( pre-PWR > PWR > Old Spanish ''veínte'' (> modern ''veinte'' ), Old Portuguese ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romance Languages
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language family. The five most widely spoken Romance languages by number of native speakers are Spanish (489 million), Portuguese (283 million), French (77 million), Italian (67 million) and Romanian (24 million), which are all national languages of their respective countries of origin. By most measures, Sardinian and Italian are the least divergent from Latin, while French has changed the most. However, all Romance languages are closer to each other than to classical Latin. There are more than 900 million native speakers of Romance languages found worldwide, mainly in the Americas, Europe, and parts of Africa. The major Romance languages also have many non-native speakers and are in widespread use as linguae francae.M. Paul Lewis,Summary by l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Preterite
The preterite or preterit (; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple past tense. In general, it combines the perfective aspect (event viewed as a single whole; it is not to be confused with the similarly named perfect) with the past tense and may thus also be termed the ''perfective past''. In grammars of particular languages the preterite is sometimes called the ''past historic'', or (particularly in the Greek grammatical tradition) the '' aorist''. When the term "preterite" is used in relation to specific languages, it may not correspond precisely to this definition. In English it can be used to refer to the simple past verb form, which sometimes (but not always) expresses perfective aspect. The case of German is similar: the ''Präteritum'' is the simple (non-compound) past tense, which does not always imp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Language Histories
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of methods, including spoken, sign, and written language. Many languages, including the most widely-spoken ones, have writing systems that enable sounds or signs to be recorded for later reactivation. Human language is highly variable between cultures and across time. Human languages have the properties of productivity and displacement, and rely on social convention and learning. Estimates of the number of human languages in the world vary between and . Precise estimates depend on an arbitrary distinction (dichotomy) established between languages and dialects. Natural languages are spoken, signed, or both; however, any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli – for example, writing, whis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linguistic Morphology
In linguistics, morphology () is the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words in the same language. It analyzes the structure of words and parts of words such as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Morphology also looks at parts of speech, intonation and stress, and the ways context can change a word's pronunciation and meaning. Morphology differs from morphological typology, which is the classification of languages based on their use of words, and lexicology, which is the study of words and how they make up a language's vocabulary. While words, along with clitics, are generally accepted as being the smallest units of syntax, in most languages, if not all, many words can be related to other words by rules that collectively describe the grammar for that language. For example, English speakers recognize that the words ''dog'' and ''dogs'' are closely related, differentiated only by the plurality morpheme "-s", only found bound to noun phr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Assimilation (linguistics)
Assimilation is a sound change in which some phonemes (typically consonants or vowels) change to become more similar to other nearby sounds. A common type of phonological process across languages, assimilation can occur either within a word or between words. It occurs in normal speech but becomes more common in more connected speech, rapid speech. In some cases, assimilation causes the sound spoken to differ from the normal pronunciation in isolation, such as the prefix ''in-'' of English ''input'' pronounced with phonetic [m] rather than [n]. In other cases, the change is accepted as canonical for that word or phrase, especially if it is recognized in standard spelling: ''implant'' pronounced with [m], composed historically of ''in'' + ''plant''. English "handbag" (canonically ) is often pronounced in rapid speech because the and sounds are both bilabial consonants, and their places of articulation are similar. However, the sequence - has different places but similar man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Campidanese
Campidanese Sardinian ( sc, sardu campidanesu, it, sardo campidanese) is one of the two written standards of the Sardinian language, which is often considered one of the most, if not the most conservative of all the Romance languages. The orthography is based on the spoken dialects of central southern Sardinia, identified by certain attributes which are not found, or found to a lesser degree, among the Sardinian dialects centered on the other written form, Logudorese. Its ISO 639-3 code is ''sro''. Traditionally the name ( in Italian) refers to the fertile area located around the towns of Guspini and Villacidro. Campidanese dialects can be found across the entire Province of Cagliari and not just the Province of Medio Campidano area. Campidanese also extends into parts of the Province of Nuoro, notably the Ogliastra area and in the southern half of the Province of Oristano, the capital included. However, it is at this point that the dialects merge into Logudorese. Subvariant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Logudorese
Logudorese Sardinian ( sc, sardu logudoresu, it, sardo logudorese) is one of the two written standards of the Sardinian language, which is often considered one of the most, if not the most conservative of all Romance languages. The orthography is based on the spoken dialects of central northern Sardinia, identified by certain attributes which are not found, or found to a lesser degree, among the Sardinian dialects centered on the other written form, Campidanese. Its ISO 639-3 code is ''src''. Characteristics Latin and before , are not palatalized in Logudorese, in stark contrast with all other Romance languages. Compare Logudorese ' with Italian ' , Spanish ' and French ' . Like the other varieties of Sardinian, most subdialects of Logudorese also underwent lenition in the intervocalic plosives of --, --, and --/ (e.g. Lat. > "fire", > "shore, bank", > "wheel"). Logudorese also turns medial and into and and , respectively (e.g. Lat. > and > "leaf"). Final ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sardinian Language
Sardinian or Sard ( , or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken by the Sardinians on the Western Mediterranean island of Sardinia. Many Romance linguists consider it the language that is closest to Latin among all its genealogical descendants. However, it has also incorporated elements of a Pre-Latin (mostly Paleo-Sardinian language, Paleo-Sardinian and, to a much lesser degree, Punic language, Punic) Stratum (linguistics)#substratum, substratum, as well as a Byzantine Greek, Catalan language, Catalan, Spanish and Italian superstratum. These elements originate in the political history of Sardinia, whose indigenous society experienced for centuries competition and at times conflict with a series of colonizing newcomers: before the Middle Ages, it was for a time a Byzantine empire, Byzantine possession; then, after a significant period of self-rule with the Judicates, it came during the late Middle Ages into the Iberian sphere of influence; and finally, from the earl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romanian Language
Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Moldova, Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communities in the countries surrounding Romania (Romanians in Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Romanians in Hungary, Hungary, Romanians of Serbia, Serbia, and Romanians in Ukraine, Ukraine), and by the large Romanian diaspora. In total, it is spoken by 28–29 million people as an First language, L1+Second language, L2, of whom 23–24 millions are native speakers. In Europe, Romanian is rated as a medium level language, occupying the tenth position among thirty-seven Official language, official languages. Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin which separated from the Italo-Western languages, Western Romance languages in the co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astur-Leonese
Asturleonese ( ast, Asturlleonés; es, Asturleonés; pt, Asturo-leonês; mwl, Asturlhionés) is a Romance language spoken primarily in northwestern Spain, namely in the historical regions and Spain's modern-day autonomous communities of Asturias, northwestern Castile and León and Cantabria, and also in a small neighbouring area of Portugal. The name of the language is largely uncommon among its native speakers, as it forms a dialect continuum of mutually intelligible varieties and therefore it is primarily referred to by various regional glossonyms like ''Leonese'', '' Cantabrian'', ''Asturian'' or '' Mirandese'' (in Portugal). Extremaduran is sometimes included as well. Asturleonese has been classified by UNESCO as an endangered language, as Asturian is being increasingly replaced by Spanish. Phylogenetically, Asturleonese belongs to the West Iberian branch of the Romance languages that gradually developed from Vulgar Latin in the old Kingdom of León. The Asturleonese g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Portuguese
Galician-Portuguese ( gl, galego-portugués or ', pt, galego-português or ), also known as Old Portuguese or as Medieval Galician when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages, in the northwest area of the Iberian Peninsula. Alternatively, it can be considered a historical period of the Galician and Portuguese languages. Galician-Portuguese was first spoken in the area bounded in the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean and by the Douro River in the south, comprising Galicia and northern Portugal, but it was later extended south of the Douro by the ''Reconquista''. It is the common ancestor of modern Portuguese, Galician, Eonavian, and Fala varieties, all of which maintain a very high level of mutual intelligibility. The term "Galician-Portuguese" also designates the subdivision of the modern West Iberian group of Romance languages. Language Origins and history Galician-Portuguese developed in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Spanish
Old Spanish, also known as Old Castilian ( es, castellano antiguo; osp, romance castellano ), or Medieval Spanish ( es, español medieval), was originally a dialect of Vulgar Latin spoken in the former provinces of the Roman Empire that provided the root for the early form of the Spanish language that was spoken on the Iberian Peninsula from the 10th century until roughly the beginning of the 15th century, before a ''consonantal readjustment'' gave rise to the evolution of modern Spanish. The poem ('The Poem of the Cid'), published around 1200, is the best known and most extensive work of literature in Old Spanish. Phonology The phonological system of Old Spanish was quite similar to that of other medieval Romance languages. Sibilants Among the consonants, there were seven sibilants, including three sets of voiceless/voiced pairs: *Voiceless alveolar affricate : represented by before , , , and by before or *Voiced alveolar affricate : represented by *Voiceless apicoa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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