The Construction and Evolution of the Romance Languages
The Emergence of Romance Languages
The emergence of the Romance languages was a slow and progressive process. In the 3rd century BC, the Romans arrived in the Iberian Peninsula, bringing with them the Latin language. This led to the Romanization of the region.
There were two distinct forms of Latin: Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin. Classical Latin was used by the upper classes, in written language, and in preaching. Vulgar Latin, on the other hand, was the language of the common people and was primarily spoken. It is from Vulgar Latin that the Romance languages, including Catalan, originated.
Pre-Roman Languages and Influences
Before the arrival of the Romans, several languages were spoken in the Iberian Peninsula, including Iberian, Basque, Celtic, and Greek. These are known as pre-Roman languages. All of them disappeared except for Basque, although they influenced the development of Latin. This influence is called substrate.
As Latin spread, it evolved into different dialects, each further removed from the original form. This made it difficult for those who had not studied the language to understand. In the 5th century, the Roman Empire fell with the invasion of Germanic peoples (Franks and Visigoths). These people did not impose their language but adopted the language of the conquered territories. However, Germanic languages left their mark on Latin. This influence is called superstrate.
In the 8th century, the Arabs arrived, and their language coexisted with the Romance languages until the 17th century. As a result, much of the vocabulary in Romance languages is of Arabic origin. This influence is called adstrate.
The Rise of Catalan
Around the 10th and 11th centuries, popular Latin words began to appear in texts. In the 12th century, Latin texts were translated into Romance languages, such as the Forum Iudicum. At the end of this century, the first literary text written in Romance (Catalan), the Homilies of Organyà, appeared.
From the 13th century onwards, Romance languages became more widely used in prestigious areas:
- Literary: Ramon Llull, Saint Vincent Ferrer in the 13th century, and Ausiàs March in the 15th century.
- Legal and administrative: Legal documents such as the Furs of Valencia, or the “Usatges” of Barcelona.
- Scientific and technical: Books on astronomy, medicine, etc.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, European kingdoms were established. People began to develop a sense of national identity, and Romance languages were used to designate places of origin and nations. Different names emerged to designate the language: plain talk, Romance, Catalanesque, Catalan language, and from the 15th century, the names Valencian language and Valencian appeared, but only within that territory.
The Royal Chancellery was created, which established a standard language model that was elegant and correct. This model was used in scientific, administrative, and literary texts. Writers followed this language model.
The Decline of Valencian
From the 16th century onwards, a process of linguistic minority began, meaning a decline in the use of the language in prestigious areas. Several historical factors influenced this process:
- The use of Spanish in the royal court and upper social classes.
- The disappearance of the Royal Chancellery.
- The use of Spanish in the preaching of the church.
- Migratory movements.
- The War of Succession (1707).
This minority process, which began in the 16th century, resulted in:
- Exclusion of Valencian from prestigious areas of use.
- Increased dialectal differences due to the lack of a standard model.
- Decrease in the number of speakers and the territorial extension of the language.
- Interference from Spanish, with Castilianisms penetrating everyday speech.
Steps Toward Recovery
: When you arrive at s. Century, there is the Renaissance, revival movement of national identity and demands of the social use of language.It retrieves the literature culta.Per to return to the language use and formal worship, had a common standard for the entire territory, and therefore had to recover the standard. The rule was to be faithful to the tradition, barbarisms delete, incorporate words from different dialects, to enrich the language with neologismes.A first century XX occurs language regulation, which was commissioned by the Pompeu Fabra Catalan Studies Institute. This endowed the language of spelling rules, syntactic and lexical. Published Catalan Grammar and Dictionary of Language General. In Valencia, this standardization was to adapt and accept spelling rules CASTELLON (1932). Carlos Salvador M Sanchis Guarner and Enric Valor, were some of the intellectuals who signed these normes.En 2001, founded the Valencian Academy of Language, which aims to set the standard language and enhance their social use social .* Sociolinguistics is the science that aims to study the language from a social perspective. Looks at the relationship between language and society that makes servir.La linguistic diversification implies the existence of ethnic diversity, ie different peoples speaking different languages. However, this unit VILLAGE / language has been altered throughout history due to the creation of state structures, rather artificial, which rarely coincide language, people and state .** bilingualism. BILINGUALISM TYPE: BILINGUAL the individual is able to use two languages at the same level in the same places, circumstances, situations .. bilingualism is the ability that has individually and as part of psychological behavior. Bilingualism only occurs in situations of languages in contact. It is a fact individually. One person dominates the language (L1) and can dominate another or others (L2, L3 …). There will always be linguistic interference. Bilingualism is rather utopian, so I moved to collective level bilingualism is virtually impossible because the conflict ended only in language and the abandonment of one of the two languages .** diglossia: From an etymological point of view , bilingualism and diglossia have the same meaning: “use of two languages.” The difference is in the social consideration. Bilingualism in both languages have the same social consideration, are used in all fields of use (all sites, all circumstances …). However, diglossia is the existence of two languages with linguistic functions spread.