românica

Românica is the term used in Portuguese to refer to the Romance languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family descended from Vulgar Latin. In linguistic use, românica encompasses the languages that evolved from Latin spoken in the Roman Empire and its later territories.

TheRomânica group includes Italo-Western languages—Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Occitan, Catalan, Galician—and Eastern Romance languages such as Romanian, Aromanian, Meglenitic, and Istro-Romanian. Sardinian is often treated as a separate Romance branch by linguists. Collectively, these languages form a broad continuum of related languages spoken across Europe and in communities around the world.

Linguistic features thatRomânica languages typically share include the loss of the Latin case system, the development of definite articles from demonstratives, a general tendency toward simplified verbal morphology, and substantial shared core vocabulary. Despite these commonalities, the Romance languages display wide diversity in phonology, syntax, and vocabulary, resulting in varying degrees of mutual intelligibility among them.

Historically, the Romance languages originated from regional varieties of Vulgar Latin and diverged gradually during late antiquity and the medieval period. Their spread beyond Europe—through exploration, colonization, and migration—led to the global presence of languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, and French today. The study of these languages is often referred to as linguística românica or romance linguistics, encompassing historical development, classification, and comparative analysis within the family.