romanikielissä

Romanikielissä is a term used to refer to the Romance languages. These languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family that evolved from Vulgar Latin, the spoken form of Latin used by soldiers and settlers of the Roman Empire. As the empire expanded, Latin spread across a vast territory, and over centuries, regional variations of Vulgar Latin diverged, eventually developing into distinct languages.

The major Romance languages include Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian. Other significant Romance languages include Catalan, Occitan, Galician, and Sardinian. While they share a common ancestor, each language has been influenced by local substratum languages (languages spoken in the region before the arrival of Latin) and superstratum languages (languages that exerted influence after the Roman period, such as Germanic languages for French and Italian).

The similarities among Romance languages are evident in their vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, though considerable differences also exist due to their independent evolution. The study of these languages and their historical development is a significant area within linguistics, often referred to as Romance philology.