Romance languages

After the break-up of the Roman Empire, the vulgar Latin (meaning the Latin spoken by the common people) began to evolve differently in different areas. The Romance languages are the results of this process, and form a subfamily of the Italic languages. Latin is treated as an Italic but not a Romance language.

Grosso modo, from west to east, the Romance variants (no matter whether you call them languages or dialects or whatever) form a continuum. Portuguese, French, and Romanian are the three extreme deviations. Sardinian is the most isolated and conservative variant. Languedocian Occitan could be tagged as the central "Romance by default":

• Portuguese language
  • Galician (closely related to Portuguese)
• Asturian
• Spanish
  • Judaeo-Spanish or ladino
• Aragonese
• Catalan-Valencian-Balear
• Occitan or langue d'oc
  • Gascon
  • Provençal
• Franco-provençal
• French or langue d'oïl
  • Valon
  • Picard
  • Cajun French
• Rhaetian variants
  • Friulian
  • Ladin
  • Romansh
• Corsican (closely related to Ligurian dialects)
• Italian
  • Piemontese
  • Ligurian
  • Lombard
  • Venetian
  • Emilio-Romagnolo
  • Napoletano-Calabrese
• Sicilian
• Sardinian
• Dalmatian (extinct)
• Romanian
  • Istro-romanian
  • Megleno-romanian
  • Macedoromanian

The classification below is largely based on the analysis provided at ethnologue.com. The ISO-639-2 code roa is applied by the ISO for any Romance language that does not have its own code.

The Southern group

• Sardinian Four versions recognized; all are included in ISO 639-1 code, sc; ISO 639-2 code, srd)
  • Sardinian, Sassarese - (SIL Code, SDC)
  • Sardinian, Gallurese - (SIL Code, SDN)
  • Sardinian, Logudorese - (SIL Code, SRD)
  • Sardinian, Campidanese - (SIL Code, SRO)
• Corsican - (SIL Code, COI; ISO 639-1 code, co; ISO 639-2 code, cos)

The Italo-Western group
The Western sub-group
. .Gallo-Iberian division
. . .Ibero-Romance sub-division
. . . .West Iberian section

• Asturo-Leonese
  • Asturian - (SIL Code, AUB; ISO 639-2 code, ast)
  • Miranda do Douro - (SIL Code, MWL; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
• Castilian
  • Spanish - (SIL Code, SPN; ISO 639-1 code, es; ISO 639-2 code, spa)
  • Spanish, Loreto-Ucayali - (SIL Code, SPQ; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  • Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino) - (SIL Code, SPJ; ISO 639-2 code, lad)
  • Extremaduran - (SIL Code, EXT; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  • Caló - (SIL Code, RMR; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
• Portuguese-Galician
  • Portuguese - (SIL Code, POR; ISO 639-1 code, pt; ISO 639-2 code, por)
  • Galician - (SIL Code, GLN; ISO 639-1 code, gl; ISO 639-2 code, glg)
  • Fala - (SIL Code, FAX; ISO 639-2 code, roa)

. . . .East Iberian section

• • Catalan-Valencian-Balear - (SIL Code, CLN; ISO 639-1 code, ca; ISO 639-2 code, cat)

. . . .Oc section

• Occitan (langue d'oc) - Six versions recognized; all are included in ISO 639-1 code, oc; ISO 639-2 code, oci) - all are from France
  • Auvergnat - (SIL Code, AUV)
  • Gascon - (SIL Code, GSC)
  • Limousin - (SIL Code, LMS)
  • Languedocien - (SIL Code, LNC)
  • Provençal - (SIL Code, PRV)
  • Shuadit - (SIL Code, SDT)

. . .Gallo-Romance sub-division
. . . .Gallo-Rhaetian section

• Rhaetian
  • Friulian - (SIL Code, FRL; ISO 639-2 code, fur)
  • Ladin - (SIL Code, LLD; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  • Romansh - (SIL Code, RHE; ISO 639-1 code, rm; ISO 639-2 code, roh)
• Langues d'Oïl
  • French (langue d'oïl)
    • Standard French - (SIL Code, FRN; ISO 639-1 code, fr; ISO 639-2(B) code, fre; ISO 639-2(T) code, fra)
    • Cajun French - (SIL Code, FRC; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
    • Picard - (SIL Code, PCD; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
    • Zarphatic - (SIL Code, ZRP; ISO 639-2 code, roa) - extinct
  • Franco-Provençal - (SIL Code, FRA; ISO 639-2 code, roa)

. . . .Gallo-Italian section

• • Emilio-Romagnolo - (SIL Code, EML; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  • Ligurian - (SIL Code, LIJ; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  • Lombard - (SIL Code, LMO; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  • Piemontese - (SIL Code, PMS; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  • Venetian - (SIL Code, VEC; ISO 639-2 code, roa)

. .Pyrenean-Mozarabic division

• Pyrenean
  • Aragonese - (SIL Code, AXX; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
• Mozarabic
  • Mozarabic - (SIL Code, MXI; ISO 639-2 code, roa) - Extinct for common speech

The Italo-Dalmatian sub-group

• • Italian - (SIL Code, ITN; ISO 639-1 code, it; ISO 639-2 code, ita)
  • Napoletano-Calabrese - (SIL Code, NPL; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  • Sicilian - (SIL Code, SCN; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  • Judeo-Italian - (SIL Code, ITK; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  • Dalmatian - (SIL Code, DLM; ISO 639-2 code, roa) - extinct in 19th century.
  • Istriot - (SIL Code, IST; ISO 639-2 code, roa)

The Eastern group

• • Romanian - (SIL Code, RUM; ISO 639-1 code, ro; ISO 639-2(B) code, rum; ISO 639-2(T) code, ron) - Includes Daco-Rumanian.

Also as Moldovan - (ISO 639-1 code, mo; ISO 639-2 code, mol)

• • Istro-romanian - (SIL Code, RUO; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  • Megleno-romanian - (SIL Code, RUQ; ISO 639-2 code, roa)
  • Macedoromanian - (SIL Code, RUP; ISO 639-2 code, roa) - Includes Aromanian

Here are some criteria that distinguish subgroups of the Romance languages:

Sedecim vs. Decem-et-sex
In some languages the word for 16 is morphematim "sixteen", like 11-15; in others it is "ten-and-six", like 17-19.

• Sedecim: Catalan, French, Italian, Romanian.
• Decem-et-sex: Portuguese, Spanish.

To have and to hold
The words "habere" and "tenere" are used differently for "to hold", "to have", "to have (done)", and "there is".

For instance, in French, je tiens, j'ai, j'ai fait, il y a: these are respectively derived from "tenere", "habere", "habere", "habere". Thus "THHH".

• TTTH: Portuguese.
• TTHH: Spanish, Catalan.
• THHH: French.
• THHB: Romanian, Italian (B for "to be")

To have or to be
Some languages use "have" as an auxiliary verb to form the perfect forms (e.g. French: passé composé) of all verbs; others use "be" for some verbs, generally those of motion or becoming.

• "Have" only: Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian.
• "Have" and "be": Catalan, French, Italian.