Vulgar Latin

E2560

Vulgar Latin was the everyday, non-standard form of Latin spoken by common people in the Roman Empire, from which the Romance languages later evolved.

All labels observed (6)

Label Occurrences
Vulgar Latin canonical 102
Proto-Romance 3
Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (64)

Predicate Object
instanceOf ancestor of Romance languages
historical language
variety of Latin
alternativeName Popular Latin
Sermo Vulgaris
Sermo Vulgaris
surface form: Sermo Vulgaris Latinus
approximateEnd around 8th century
early Middle Ages
approximateStart around 1st century BCE
characteristic development of definite and indefinite articles
greater use of analytic constructions
increased use of prepositions
loss of neuter gender in many areas
merger of long and short vowels in many positions
phonological changes leading to diphthongization in some regions
reduction of synthetic passive forms
simplified case system
contrastedWith formal written Latin
developedFrom Latin
surface form: Classical Latin

Latin
surface form: Old Latin
developedInto Old French
Old Italian
Old Portuguese
Romanian language
surface form: Old Romanian

Ladino (Judeo-Spanish)
surface form: Old Spanish

Vulgar Latin self-linksurface differs
surface form: Proto-Romance

Romance languages
distinctFrom Latin
surface form: Classical Latin

Latin
surface form: Literary Latin
influenced Catalan
French
Italian
Occitan
Portuguese
Romanian
Spanish
influencedBy substrate languages in Roman provinces
languageFamily Indo-European language family
surface form: Indo-European languages

Italic languages
lexicalChange replacement of many Classical Latin words with new formations or borrowings
notAttestedBy native texts
reconstructedFrom Latin inscriptions with non-standard features
Romance languages
grammarians' comments on incorrect Latin
region Romania
surface form: Dacia

Byzantine Empire
surface form: Eastern Roman Empire

France
surface form: Gaul

Iberian Peninsula
Illyricum
Italy
North Africa
Western Roman Empire
status non-standard form of Latin
spoken vernacular
timePeriod Late Antiquity
classical antiquity
usedBy common people in the Roman Empire
merchants in the Roman Empire
settlers in Roman provinces
soldiers in the Roman Empire
usedFor everyday communication
oral communication
usedIn Roman Empire
writingSystem Latin alphabet

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (109)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Oïl languages developedFrom Vulgar Latin
Campidanese Sardinian derivedFrom Vulgar Latin
Nuorese Sardinian hasAncestor Vulgar Latin
Sicilian language derivedFrom Vulgar Latin
Vivarois hasAncestor Vulgar Latin
Alpin d’oc hasAncestor Vulgar Latin
Vivaroalpine hasAncestor Vulgar Latin
Metropolitan French developedFrom Vulgar Latin
Principality of Capua language Vulgar Latin