What is the origin of the Romance languages and how did they evolve? When and how did they become different from Latin, and from each other? Volume 2 of The Cambridge History of the Romance Languages offers fresh and original reflections on the principal questions and issues in the comparative external histories of the Romance languages. It is organised around the two key themes of influences and institutions, exploring the fundamental influence, of contact with and borrowing from, other languages (including Latin), and the cultural and institutional forces at work in the establishment of standard languages and norms of correctness. A perfect complement to the first volume, it offers an external history of the Romance languages combining data and theory to produce new and revealing perspectives on the shaping of the Romance languages.
• This is the first major historical survey of the Romance languages written in English, it covers a range of non-standard Romance varieties alongside the most widely studied Romance languages such as French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish • Deliberately written to appeal and to be accessible to both a traditional specialist Romance audience as well as general linguists • Presents many new and original solutions to some traditional problems, thereby offering new and exciting perspectives on the structural evolution of Romance
Contents
1. Latin and the making of the Romance languages Alberto Varvaro; 2. The transition from Latin to the Romance languages Michel Banniard; 3. Periodization Roger Wright; 4. Evidence and sources Roger Wright; 5. Koinés and scriptae Johannes Kabatek; 6. Contact and borrowing Marius Sala; 7. The Romance languages in the Renaissance and after Helena Sanson; 8. Geography and distribution of the Romance languages in Europe Lorenzo Renzi and Alvise Andreose; 9. Sociology of the Romance languages Alberto Varvaro; 10. Romance outside the Romània Mari Jones and Christopher Pountain; 11. Creoles Iris Bachmann.
Reviews
Advance praise: 'A brilliant account of the social and historical context of the Romance languages from the earliest stages of Latin through to modern creoles … an indispensable point of reference for both the specialist and those new to the field of Romance linguistics.' Nigel Vincent, Professor Emeritus of General and Romance Linguistics, University of Manchester
Advance praise: 'This second volume of the Cambridge History perfectly complements the first, providing the historical and geographical context within which the structures of the Romance languages emerged and developed. Together they provide an invaluable resource, summarizing the results of centuries of scholarship on the family for the specialist and making it accessible to a wide audience of general linguists as well.' Stephen R. Anderson, Yale University
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