Vulgar Latin

by József Herman, Roger Wright (Translator)

"Vulgar Latin" refers to those features of Latin language that were not recommended by the classical grammarians but existed nonetheless. Although "Vulgar Latin" is not well documented, evidence can be deduced from details of the spelling, grammar, and vocabulary that occur in texts of the later Roman Empire, late antiquity, and the early Middle Ages. Every aspect of "Vulgar Latin" is exemplified in this book, proving that the language is not separate in itself, but an integral part of Latin. Originally published in French in 1967, Vulgar Latin was translated more recently into Spanish in an expanded and revised version. The English translation by Roger Wright accurately portrays "Vulgar Latin" as a complicated field of study, where little is known with absolute certainty, but a great deal can be worked out with considerable probability through careful critical analysis of the data. This text is an invaluable aid to research and understanding for all those interested in Latin, Romance languages, historical linguistics, early medieval texts, and early medieval history.

Genres: Linguistics

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si te lo lees porque te gusta la lingüística histórica ok, si te lo lees por otros motivos eres un lokito.

[Jay Eckard · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has studied both Latin and several Romance languages, this book is fascinating. It (fairly successfully) tries to ride the line between mass market and specialized linguistics, so while it is never exhaustive, it does discuss virtually every salient issue on the change from Late and Vulgar Latin to Romance. It fills in a lot of dots, and signposts the way for more in-depth reading with becoming too skimpy.

It briefly charts the language changes that underpinned the (de)evolution of the Latin case system and change from three-gender (masculine, feminine and neuter) to the two-gender (m/f), regional changes in the vowel system, including the loss of long and short syllables, and the ramifications that had had for the rest of the language, and includes some interesting thoughts on when Latin can said to have 'died'.

One of the ten best books I've read this year.

[Kami]

This book was not what I expected at all. I haven't learned a single vulgar word in Latin and only one (albeit useful) Latin curse. Bad value for money! Very disappointed!

[Valentina · Rating 4 out of 5]

amo la lingüística, amo el latín, amo la historia de la lengua
aprendí muchooo

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jozsef Herman's Vulgar Latin is a brief introduction to Vulgar Latin. At merely 130 pages with no complicated discussion of linguistics, it is perhaps the ideal introduction to Vulgar Latin for university undergraduates.

The work begins with a discussion of the term "Vulgar Latin" and its problems. The term has had several meanings in philological studies. For Herman, Vulgar Latin is the set of innovations and trends which turn up in the Latin-speaking populations little or not at all influenced by school education and literary models.

Once Herman has set a definition, he really gets into the main part of the book with an overview of Vulgar Latin phonology. This is an extremely gentle introduction with many examples and no expection of prior study of phonetics, though being able to read IPA is a must. He afterwards discusses inflectional morphology, again in a manner admirably clear and approachable for any student of Classical Latin. The final part of the core of the book concerns the Vulgar Latin lexicon and why many terms in Romance cannot be found to be derived from those of Classical Latin. There is a final chapter about "More General Problems", such as when the "end of Latin" should be placed in time.

Herman's work was originally published in French in 1967 with a revised edition in 1997. It was translated into English by Roger Wright in 2000. Herman appears to have thought Wright an ideal translator, as Herman was himself indebted to some degree to Wright's research for the revised edition. Unfortunately, Wright's translation continues to use the Communist-era orthography for the Romanian examples (which he spells anachronistically "Rumanian").

For undergraduate students of Classics or historical linguistics, Herman's is probably the best introduction to Vulgar Latin. It isn't perfect, and afterwards one will have to move on to more detailed coverage, but it is certainly worth picking up.