Italian languages

Italian languages ​​are divided into 2 groups:

• Osk-Umbrian ( Sabelian, or P-Italic ), including:
  • Osk
  • Umbra group including:
    • Umbrian
    • Volsky
    • Marsy
  • South Pizensky , see pizzas
  • Sabinsky , see Sabines
• Latin-Faliscan (Q-Italic) , including:
  • Faliska
  • romance languages
    • Latin , the ancestor of all other Romance languages
• Equi , Western (probably separate branches)

Hypothetically, the Sikul language could be one of the Italic languages ​​(the latter belongs to the Latin-Falis group), but it is attested only by brief and fragmentary inscriptions. The discussion is the hypothesis of belonging to the Italic languages ​​of the Luzitanian language , the opposite point of view is the attribution of the Luzitanian to Celtic languages, the dominant one is the allocation of the Luzitanian language into its own group, which is almost equally close to both the Italic and Celtic groups.

Some linguists include the ancient Venetian language in Italian; others refer it to a separate group due to the presence of traits that were absent in all other Italic languages ​​(in particular, personal pronouns show similarities to German ones).

P-Italic and Q-Italic Languages

Similar to the Celtic languages , the Italic languages ​​are also divided into P- and Q-groups depending on the fate of Proto-Indo-European * k ^w . In the languages ​​of the Oskian-Umbrian branch, * k ^w gave p , in the languages ​​of the Latin-Falis branch, it has been preserved (Latin qu [k ^w ] ) or simplified in w (Latin uapor “pairs” <praind. * Kʷapor- ).

The Latin-Falis group is formed by the Romance languages Latin , Falis and, presumably, Sikul . The oldest Faliska texts date back to the 7th — 6th centuries BC. er They mainly contain onomastics, subjected to strong Etruscan effects. Unlike Latin, the vowels of the middle syllables, a number of ancient endings, remained unchanged in Falisk, but the monophthongization of diphthongs ai, au occurred earlier; Indo-European inlaut * -dh-, * -bh- switched to -f- (in Latin to -d - (- b-) and -b-). The share of the Latin language has a special historical mission and it is most well studied in comparison with other Italian languages.

The Osk-Umbrian branch includes the Osk and Umbrian languages. Osk was a set of related dialects or languages ​​spoken by the Sabel tribes ( peligna , vestin , marruciny , samnity , etc.). The leading role was played by the language of the Campanian Osk , in which official documents were written. Osk monuments date back to the V century BC. er - I century n. er Monuments of the Umbrian language belong to the III — I centuries BC. er The language of the Volskians is close to this language ( Iguvinsky Tables , III — I centuries BC). Because of the scarcity of data, the Sikul language is not reliably identified (several inscriptions, a small number of glosses and their own names), as well as the languages ​​of the Morgues, Enotr, Ops, Avzón, etc. Opico-Sikulsky) with Latin or Umbrian. The place of the South Pitsen language is not determined. The expansion of Latin Rome entailed the romanization (and romanization) of all the Italic tribes. The Osk language remained alive the longest (before the 1st century AD.).

Osko-Umbr languages ​​(as well as Venetian ), compared with the Latin-Falis branch, reveal a much greater similarity with Germanic languages in terms of vocabulary and phonological innovations ^[1] .

A number of German and Dutch linguists are considered as Italic (or their closest relatives) a group of tribes that lived in the territory of the Netherlands before the arrival of the Germans and Celts and (partially) assimilated by them. This group was called the Northwest Block . In Russian linguistics, Y. Kuzmenko ^[1] is an active supporter of this hypothesis.

Italians came from the north to the Apennine peninsula in the 2nd millennium BC. er . Two waves are noted — the earlier ( Latin-Falisk languages , including the Sikul language that went far to the south) and the later ( Osko-Umbrian languages ). Earlier it was decided to identify the first wave with the terramar culture , the second with the Protovillan culture; modern archaeologists point out more complex processes.

The Latin language was originally used by a Latin tribe that inhabited the region of Lacius ( Latin Latium ) in central Italy with the center (from the 8th century BC ) in Rome . This language gradually spread beyond Rome with the growth of the power of this state, displacing, starting from the IV — III centuries BC. Oe., languages ​​of other Italic tribes, as well as Illyrian, Messapha and Venetian, etc. Romanization of the Apennine Peninsula (with the exception of southern Italy and Sicily , where the predominance of the Greek language was preserved) basically ended by the 1st century BC. Further conquests of slave-owning Rome led to the spread of Latin in North Africa , in Spain , Gaul , Rhine Germany , Rezia , Pannonia and Dacia , to the Romanization of many peoples inhabiting these territories.

In the history of the Latin language of the ancient time there are several periods:

• From the archaic period, several inscriptions of the 6th — 4th century BC were preserved. Oe., fragments of ancient laws, excerpts from the sacred hymn of the Salies, the anthem of the Arvalian brothers.

• In the pre-classical period (III — II century BC.), The literary Latin language (the comedies of Plautus and Terence , the agricultural treatise of Cato the Elder , fragments of works by a number of other authors) became established on the basis of the Rome dialect.

• The period of classical (“golden”) Latin (I century BC.; Development of vocabulary, formation of terminology, elimination of old morphological doublets; flourishing literature : Cicero , Caesar , Sallust , Virgil , Horace , Ovid ).

• In the period of post-classical (“silver”) Latin, the phonetic, morphological and spelling norms are finally formed.

The period of late Latin (II-VI century) is characterized by a gap between the written and folk-spoken language: regional differentiation of folk Latin accelerated, the formation of Romance languages ​​based on it, finally isolated to the 9th century; written Latin continued to be used for a long time in the administrative sphere, religion , diplomacy , commerce, school, medicine , science , literature, remains the language of the Catholic Church and the official language of the Vatican . It became (together with the Greek language) the most valuable heritage of mankind.

General and specific features of the Italian languages:

• in phonetics : the greatest archaicity of Osk (compared with Latin and Umbrian), manifested in the preservation in all positions of the old diphthongs ai, oi, ei, ou, in the absence of rotacism, the absence of sibilants , in the development of kt> ht; Different interpretations of the Indo-European kw and gw (Latin qu and v, Osk-Umbrian p and b); in the latter, the preservation of s in front of nasal sonants and the reflection of Indo-European * dh and * bh as f; forceful initial stress (in Latin it was reconstructed in the historical epoch), resulting in a syncope and reduction of vowels of unstressed syllables;
• in morphology : 5 declensions and 4 conjugations; reduplication and lengthening of the root vowel; preservation of locative in Osk-Umbr; differences in the formation of future tense, perfect and infinitive ; the use of postpositions in the Osk-Umbrian;
• in syntax : many conversions; in Oscar-Umbrian, impersonal constructions, parataxis , partitive genitive, genitive of time, and genitive relationship are more often used;
• in vocabulary : a significant number of lexemes from the Indo-European Foundation; the presence of words characteristic only of the western range of Indo-European linguistic community; the presence in the Osk-Umbrian lexemes that have no correspondence in Latin; borrowing from Etruscan et al., the unknown pre-Indo-European languages ​​of Italy, a large number of borrowings from Greek.

• Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary (1990). Articles: " Italian languages " , " Latin language " , " Latin letter " .

• Latin