Abstract
SummaryThis study compares the Vulgar Latin Raetia, Noricum, Venetia et Histria, Pannónia Superior, Pannónia Inferior and Dalmatia with each other and their provincial capitals in relation to the hypothesized large dialectal isoglosses of Vulgar Latin, and in turn, to the modern Romance languages located in those areas, such as Western Romance, Northern Italian, Southern Italian and Eastern Romance dialects. The analysis is done on the palatal and velar vowels, the V∼B merger, intervocalic V drop, sonorization, degemination, assimilation, palatalization and final /-s/ drop. The territories of the Alps-Danube-Adria region will be classified according to their similarities to each other and their similarity to the Vulgar Latin or Romance dialects.
Highlights
TYPOLOGY OF THE VULGAR LATIN VOWEL SYSTEMFor the analysis of the vowel system, we take only the palatal and velar changes as these are the most significant classifiers among the vowel changes
This study is dedicated to the memory of József Herman who in 1983 first introduced[2] the idea of examining the possibility of a Vulgar Latin isogloss in the provinces of the Alps–Danube–Adria region, based on the historical analysis of Jürgen Untermann’s study.[3 35] years later, this study is the first attempt[4] to analyze all of the
Our samples confirm that the tendencies observed in modern Romance languages have their origin in the late Vulgar Latin, where we find that the Southern Italian sample has the lowest amount of degemination errors (7%), while the other regions have a proportion between 11–16%
Summary
For the analysis of the vowel system, we take only the palatal and velar changes as these are the most significant classifiers among the vowel changes. The inscriptional misspellings indicating sound changes in the palatal and velar vowel system of the six provinces and their capitals can be seen in Tables [1,2] We will use another statistical analysis, the Vulgar Latin regional typology samples as our contrast samples and points of reference in the classification of our provinces. If we compare them by this method, these statistics represent on a plausible level of credibility what we know about the supposed Vulgar Latin palatal and velar vowel change processes Based on these observations, we can characterize our Eastern Romance Vulgar Latin sample as the most conservative one, having a moderate tendency of unstressed /o/, /o:/ > V type of misspelling, and a slight degree of confusion between the unstressed short /e/~/i/ sounds, probably tending to closing-up direction indicated by /e/ > I spelling. In case the proportion of /e/, /é/, /e:/, /é:/ > I type of mistakes is or is higher than 50%, we will categorize it as ‘itacizing’ palatal system
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