Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

A-Z 1011risingfalling vs risingrising diphthongdiphthong, intonationRitwanAlgonquianRomajiJapaneseRomance languagesBranch of Indo-European which developed from Italic, particularly from Latin and itsvarious regional forms in the territories conquered by Rome (Vulgar Latin). A division isgenerally made between East Romance languages (Rumanian, Italian) and WestRomance languages (Gallo-Romance, IberoRomance, and Rhaeto-Romance languages)based on phonological and morphological criteria (e.g. voicing or deletion of intervocalicvoiceless stops in West Romance and the loss of final [s] in East Romance: Span. sabéisvs Ital. sapete ‘you (pl.) know,’ Span. las casas vs Ital. le case ‘the houses’). Included inGallo-Romance are French, Occitan, and FrancoProvençal, while Spanish, Portuguese,Galician, and Catalan belong to Ibero-Romance. Some of the main factors contributingto the individual development of each territory include substratum and superstratuminfluences, the date of Romanization, and the extent of relations with Rome. Thelanguage which has changed the most from Latin is French, which underwent a thoroughtypological transformation (heavy loss of inflectional morphology due to the loss of finalsyllables and their replacement by elements such as personal pronouns, articles,prepositions, auxiliaries). In contrast, the southern Romance languages such as Spanishand Italian, as well as Rumanian, are much closer to Latin. Sardinian has a particularlyconservative phonological inventory, and does not fit easily into the East/Westdistinction.ReferencesAgard, F.B. 1984. A course in Romance linguistics, 2 vols. Washington, DC.Elcock, W.D. 1975. The Romance languages, 2nd edn. London.