Introduction to romlangs
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I wrote this page in order to help those interested in making a proper romlang. There are, in my opinion, far too many people just mixing words and grammar together without logic, taking bits from different romance languages and from Latin, then calling their creation a “Romance language”, even though that it really oughtn’t to be called one. Hopefully I can contribute to more people learning how to make romlangs in a better way.
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What is a romlang?
The word romlang is an abbreviation of Romance language. Romance languages is the term for those modern languages that have evolved from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. When it comes to conlanging, romlangs usually refer to a constructed language regularly derived from Latin, so that it looks like being a real, living Romance language.
The Roman Empire at its peak, at the death of Emperor Traianus in year 870 a.u.c.
Countries and areas where Romance languages have official status today, 2759 a.u.c.
Vulgar Latin
Within the Roman Empire there were two varieties of Latin: classical Latin and Vulgar Latin.
- Classical Latin was the Roman high language. It was spoken and used by official circles and by the educated elite. Classical Latin was based on the traditionally written language. Classical Latin is today what is mostly meant when one refers to Latin. Classical Latin was for a long time the lingua franca for the educated circles of Europe.
- Vulgar Latin was the Roman popular language. It was spoken by soldiers, slaves, and ordinary people within the empire. It is from Vulgar Latin that all of the Romance languages are derived.
Vulgar Latin differ from the classical high language in many ways. To begin with, the pronunciation had changed. Below the basic sound changes from Latin to Vulgar Latin are shown.
| 1.
| a: >> a
e >> ɛ
e: >> e
i >> e
i: >> i
o >> ɔ
o: >> o
u >> o
u: >> u
y >> i
y: >> i
ai >> ɛ
oi >> e
| vādere >> vadɛrɛ
lentus >> lɛntos
dē >> de
vidēre >> vederɛ
vīta >> vita
porta >> pɔrta
nōs >> nos
mundus > mondos
ūnus >> unos
tyrannus >> tirannos
papȳrus >> papiros
caelum >> cɛlo
poena >> pena
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| 2.
| n >> Ø / _(f,v,s)
h >> Ø
w >> β
b >> β / V_(V,r)
m >> Ø / _#
m >> n / in certain monosyllabic words
(e,i) >> j / _V
u > w / _V
VV >> V
| mēnsa >> mesa
hōra >> ora
servus >> sɛrβos
habēre >> aβerɛ
novem >> nɔvɛ
sum >> son
habeo >> aβjo
duōs >> dwos
prehendere >> prɛndɛrɛ
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| 3
| V >> "V / "(i,e)_
V >> "V / _C*"uV
| mul"ierem >> molj"ɛrɛ
bātt"uere >> b"attwɛrɛ
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It should be pointed out the occurrence of certain regional differences even at this stage, but in general this is what happened.
These sound changes led to a change of morphology. Compare the following declensions of Classical Latin...
| Singular
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| Plural
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| Feminine
vīta
'life'
| Masculinie
servus
'servant'
| Neuter
ōvum
'egg'
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| Feminine
vīta
'life'
| Masculine
servus
'servant'
| Neuter
ōvum
'egg' |
| Nom.
| vīt|a
| serv|us
| ōv|um
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| Nom.
| vīt|ae
| serv|ī
| ōv|a |
| Gen.
| vīt|ae
| serv|ī
| ōv|ī
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| Gen.
| vīt|ārum
| serv|ōrum
| ōv|ōrum
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| Dat.
| vīt|ae
| serv|ō
| ōv|ō
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| Dat.
| vīt|īs
| serv|īs
| ōv|īs
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| Acc.
| vīt|am
| serv|um
| ōv|um
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| Acc.
| vīt|ās
| serv|ōs
| ōv|a
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| Abl.
| vīt|ā
| serv|ō
| ōv|ō
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| Abl.
| vīt|īs
| serv|īs
| ōv|īs
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| Voc.
| vīt|a
| serv|e
| ōv|um
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| Voc.
| vīt|ae
| serv|ī
| ōv|a
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...with the following from Vulgar Latin...
| Singular
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| Plural
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| Feminine
vita
'life'
| Masculine
servos
'servant'
| Neuter
ovo
'egg'
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| Feminine
vita
'life'
| Masculine
servos
'servant'
| Neuter
ovo
'egg'
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| Nom.
| vit|a
| sɛrv|os
| ov|o
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| Nom.
| vit|ɛ
| sɛrv|i
| ov|a |
| Gen.
| vit|ɛ
| sɛrv|i
| ov|i
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| Gen.
| vit|aro
| sɛrv|oro
| ov|oro
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| Dat.
| vit|ɛ
| sɛrv|o
| ov|o
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| Dat.
| vit|is
| sɛrv|is
| ov|is
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| Acc.
| vit|a
| sɛrv|o
| ov|o
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| Acc.
| vit|as
| sɛrv|os
| ov|a
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| Abl.
| vit|a
| sɛrv|o
| ov|o
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| Abl.
| vit|is
| sɛrv|is
| ov|is
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| Voc.
| vit|a
| sɛrv|ɛ
| ov|o
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| Voc.
| vit|ɛ
| sɛrv|i
| ov|a
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As a result of this, the accusative and the ablative merged relatively early, with the accusative forms as the surviving.
Something that also was common and on the rise (but did not occur everywhere) was that the genitive and the dative were replaced with prepositional constructions.
- The dative was exchanged for ad + accusative. vītae/vitɛ >> ad vita
- The genitive was exchanged for de + ablative (later accusative). ōvōrum/ovoro >> de ovis(ovos)
In addition, the passive was replaced with the construction esse (to be) + perfect participle. amor (I am loved) >> amātus son.
Irregularities were often regularized by analogy, and the 4th and 5th declension were replaced with the 2nd and 1st respectively.
Big parts of the Latin vocabualry disappeared and was replaced by new words. This also affected small grammatical particles and prepositions. an, at, autem, dōnec, enim, ergō, etiam, haud, igitur, ita, nam, postquam, quidem, quīn, quod, quoque, sed, utrum, and vel had all disappeared from the Latin vocabulary.
Below are some examples of common words in Classical Latin that were replaced by others in Vulgar Latin.
| Classical Latin
| Vulgar Latin |
| cruor (blood)
| sanguis |
| domus (house)
| casa |
| emere (buy)
| comparāre |
| ignis (fire)
| focum |
| caput (head)
| testa |
| lūdere (play)
| jocāre |
| equus (horse)
| caballus |
| magnus (big)
| grandis |
| ferre (carry)
| portāre |
| os (mouth)
| bucca |
| pulcher (beautiful)
| bellus |
| sīdus (star)
| stella
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It should be known that in some occational cases the classical word did survive, e.g. Spanish cabeza (caput), Sardinian domo (domus).
Subbranches of Romance at the fall of the Roman Empire, 1229 a.u.c.: Green = Western Romance, Blue = Eastern Romance, Red = Southern Romance
It is still a subject to discussion what branches the Romance spoken in North Africa belonged to.
Subbranches of Romance today: Green = Western Romance, Blue = Eastern Romance, Red = Southern Romance
Western Romance
- The nominative was kept, while the accusative, genitive and dative merged into an oblique case.
- The plural forms derive from the accusative of Latin. Spanish: lengua - lenguas (linguās)
- [p t k] were voiced between vowels, and became [b d g]. Spanish: amigo (amīcus).
- Before s + consonant an [e] sound evolved. Spanish: espada (spatha).
- [k] and [g] were palatalized before e and i to [ts] and [dʒ].
Eastern Romance
- The nominative merged with the accusative, and the genitive with the dative.
- The plural forms derive from the nominative of Latin. Italian: lingua - lingue (linguae)
- [p t k] were not voiced between vowels. Italian: amico (amīcus).
- [k] and [g] were palatalized before e and i to [tʃ] and [dʒ].
Romance family tree
This is a somewhat simplified family tree with the biggest Romance languages.
- Western Romance languages
- Gallo-Romance languages
- French
- Occitan
- Catalan
- Rhaeto-romance
- Ibero-Romance languages
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- Galician
- Eastern Romance languages
- Southern Romance languages
Where can a romlang be spoken?
Within the Roman Empire both Latin and Greek were spoken, the former in west and the latter in east. A romlang dating back to the Roman Empire ought therefore to be spoken in the western half of the empire. Then it is of course possible for the people to have moved to somewhere else since then, but then this must also influence the vocabulary.
Dominating languages in the Roman Empire: Red = Latin, Blue = Greek
To think about
- Decide if your language is going to be Western or Eastern romance, and follow consequently the general traits of the selected group.
- Make regular sound changes for your language, just like those you see for Vulgar Latin above. These sound changes are supposed to start with those of Vulgar Latin.
- Don't forget to include loan words in your language, so that not all words are derived from Latin. These loan words should be loaned from languages that are either spoken in a nearby area, or whose speakers have regular contact with those of your language. Loan words also often come from the language which is the contemporary language of prestige (as English is today). It is also important to know when the words are loaned, because they must be borrowed in their contemporary form and not the form they have today.
- Don't forget that it is the Vulgar Latin vocabulary that will be the base for that of your language.
© 12/2006 af Aszev