When and why did the Romans stop speaking Latin and start speaking Italian?

lanfranco

This was a very gradual process involving the evolution of the Italian language, over the course of centuries, from the various versions of Vulgar Latin spoken by ordinary people under the Empire as differentiated from the Classical Latin used in official writings and literary works. Along about the 8th and 9th centuries, written versions of Italian (and other Romance languages) begin to appear, but they would have been spoken before then. Each region developed its own dialect, and the Standard Italian we know today developed from the Tuscan version as spoken in the 14th century, when Dante was writing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulgar_Latin Aug 21 07, 7:29 AM

BungeeAZ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples During the Germanic Invasions of the Roman Empire, the invaders conquered the lands and then assimilated into their new environment. They adopted the dialects of the locals (Latin), and made it their own with their flavor from their tribes. This is how Latin broke out into it's various dialects of French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. English is actually a combination of two Germanic groups, the Angles and the Saxons, which is why English speaking people trace back to Anglo-Saxon, which settled in England and drove out the Britons. Eventually Anglo-Saxon got bastardized and shortened to Angloland (England). Aug 21 07, 7:57 AM

darkpresence

In Florence, I found Dante is absolutely worshipped and is credited with inventing the Italian language. http://www.masterfilmsproductions.com/index-4.html However, it seems more correct to say he standardised it. http://www.italylink.com/woi/language/index.html Aug 21 07, 1:29 PM

Baloo55th

In practical terms, the Italian language IS Latin. Modern Latin. It derives in a straight line from the Latin of the people, not the Latin of the orators and poets (the 'Classic' Latin taught in schools and from which Church Latin and Scientific Latin come. Italian comes from a much lower level of Latin, but a more real one. The Roman people didn't speak like Cicero and Co. They tended to use different words - cattus not felis, caballo not equus and so on. And the grammar was different. Far more positional - like modern Romance languages - and with the use of ille (illa, illud) as a sort of definite article and probably the use of pronouns with the verb (as do modern Romance languages) not the pared down minimalism of the orators and writers. As to why, languages do change. The circumstances of the speakers change, and new situations arise requiring new words. Grammar tends to simplify - I've never been quite sure how it got so darned complicated in some cases to begin with - and borrowings occur from neighbours, invaders and conquered people. Fashion plays a part too. Aug 21 07, 1:59 PM