The '
Romance languages' include 47 (
SIL estimate)
languages and
dialects spoken in
Europe; this language group is a part of the
Italic language family. Top level groups are listed roughly East to West.
This article lists also the main groups of Romance-based
Creole languages.
Eastern Romance
★
Romanian
★
★
Daco-Romanian (with
Moldovan and
Timok Vlach): 28 million
Romania,
Moldova,
Ukraine,
Serbia
★
★
Aromanian: 300,000
Greece, 100,000
Albania, 15,000
Macedonia, and 10,000
Bulgaria.
★
★
Istro-Romanian: 1,000
Croatia
★
★
★ The language of the
Morlachs: Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro (extinct)
★
★
Megleno-Romanian: 5,000
Greece and
Macedonia
Italo-Western Romance
Italo-Dalmatian
★
Dalmatian: Croatia (extinct)
★
★ Regional varieties: Ragusan, Vegliot, Zara/Zadar
★
Neapolitan: about 8,000,000 in central-southern
Italy
★
Istriot 1,000 in
Istria
★
Sicilian: 6,000,000 in
Sicily,
Calabria and
Puglia
★
Italian: 60,000,000 in
Italy; 3,000,000 in the Americas and 2,000,000 in Western Europe, Oceania and Africa.
Italian dialects:
★
★
Romanesco: spoken in Rome
★
★
Salentino: spoken in
Salento
★
★
Judeo-Italian: 4,000
Italy
Western Romance languages
Main articles: Western Romance languages
Western Romance languages comprise the Romance subgroup with the most languages and the most speakers. It includes three major international languages -
French,
Portuguese and
Spanish as well as many
regional languages, dialects and varieties.
Gallo-Iberian languages
Gallo-Romance languages
★ '
Northern Italian languages' (also called Padanian or Cisalpine)
★
★ '
Gallo-Italic languages' group (not be confused with the whole
Northern Italian group)
★
★
★
Emiliano-Romagnolo
★
★
★
Ligurian
★
★
★
★
Genoese
★
★
★
★
Monegasque
★
★
★
Lombard: Over 8,800,000 speakers in Lombardy and neighboring regions. Many regional varieties. Most speakers bilingual in Standard Italian.
★
★
★
★
Western Lombard:
★
★
★
★
Eastern Lombard
★
★
★
★
Gallo-siculo (also related to
Sicilian)
★
★
★
Piedmontese
★
★ 'Venetian group'
★
★
★
Venetian: 1,500,000 in
Veneto and
Venezia-Giulia
★ '
Gallo-Rhaetian languages'
★
★
Franco-Provençal: endangered - Italy:
Aosta Valley,
Piedmont,
Foggia; France:
Rhône-Alpes,
Franche-Comté; Switzerland:
Romandy
★
★
★ Franco-Provençal dialects: see
Franco-Provençal Dialect List
★
★
Oïl languages (most non-French Oïl languages now have some legal or administrative status as languages distinct from French
[1][2][3], but have also been regarded by some as French dialects
[4]):
★
★
★
Burgundian language (Bourguignon-Morvandiau)
★
★
★
Champenois: spoken in
Champagne and
Wallonia.
★
★
★
Franc-Comtois: spoken in
Franche-Comté and
Romandy.
★
★
★
French: 70 million
Europe; 12 million
Americas. Official language of France and many other countries and territories.
★
★
★
★ French Dialects in Europe:
★
★
★
★
★
Aostan French (Italy)
★
★
★
★
★
Belgian French (Belgium)
★
★
★
★
★
Metropolitan French (France; Standard French Language)
★
★
★
★
★
Swiss French (Switzerland)
★
★
★
★
★
Meridional French (France)
★
★
★
★ French Dialects in the Americas:
★
★
★
★
★
Canadian French (Canada):
★
★
★
★
★
★
Acadian French
★
★
★
★
★
★
Newfoundland French
★
★
★
★
★
★
Quebec French
★
★
★
★
★
Cajun French (United States)
★
★
★
★
Zarphatic - Jewish French
★
★
★
Gallo: spoken in
Brittany
★
★
★
Lorrain: spoken in
Lorraine region and
Wallonia (as ''Gaumais'').
★
★
★
Norman: a group of languages in
Normandy and the
Channel Islands:
★
★
★
★
Anglo-Norman language: used in England after the Norman conquest of 1066. Extinct.
★
★
★
★
Auregnais:
Alderney (extinct).
★
★
★
★ Continental dialects: including
Augeron,
Cauchois,
Cotentinais
★
★
★
★
Guernésiais: spoken in
Guernsey. Endangered.
★
★
★
★
Jèrriais: spoken in
Jersey. Endangered.
★
★
★
★
★
Sercquiais: spoken in
Sark. Highly endangered.
★
★
★
Picard
★
★
★
Poitevin-Saintongeais
★
★
★
Walloon
★
★
★
Welche
★
★
Rhaeto-Romance languages
★
★
★
Friulian: 2 million
Friuli,
Argentina,
Canada,
Australia, etc.
★
★
★
Ladin:
Dolomites
★
★
★
Romansh: 66,000
Switzerland.
Occitan and Catalan
There is a controversy about the classification of
Catalan and
Occitan language languages. There is no consensus whether they belong to the
Gallo-Romance or to the
Ibero-Romance group or serve as transitional languages between those groups. Their grouping into a distinct group,
Occitano-Romance languages, is disputed, too.
★ '
Catalan': 6.5 million. Spoken in
Spain,
France,
Andorra,
Italy. The only official language of Andorra. Official in
Catalonia,
Valencian Community and
Balearic Islands.
★
★
Eastern Catalan
★
★
★
Alguerese: spoken in the town of
Alghero in Sardinia.
★
★
★
Balearic
★
★
★
Central Catalan
★
★
★
Northern Catalan (Roussillonese)
★
★
Western Catalan
★
★
★
Ribagorçan
★
★
★
Southern Catalan (Valencian)
★ '
Occitan': circa 2 million in
France,
Italy,
Spain and
Monaco:
★
★
Gascon: Bordeaux (Bordèu) country
★
★
★
Aranese: official in
Aran Valley.
★
★
Shuadit: Jewish, also known as Judeo-Provençal. Extinct.
★
★
Lengadocian: Toulouse (Tolosa) country
★
★
Provençal: Marseilles (Marselha) country
★
★
Niçard:
County of Nice
★
★
Vivaro-Alpine: Southern France and North-Western Italy.
★
★
★
Cisalpenc: Piedmont western valleys
★
★
Lemosin:
Arrondissement of Limoges.
★
★
Auvergnat also known as Auvernhat:
Auvergne province.
Iberian Romance languages
This group includes the
West Iberian languages - Astur-Leonese, Spanish, Galician, Portuguese and their dialects.
According to some opinions it also includes Occitan and Catalan languages.
★ '
West Iberian languages'
★
★
Galician-Portuguese
★
★
★
Portuguese: 230 million
Portugal,
Brazil; 26 million
Africa and a few thousands
Asia. Many mutually intelligible dialects, see
Portuguese dialects for a full list.
★
★
★
Galician: 3 million in Galicia.
★
★
★
★
Eonavian
★
★
★
Fala: 10,000 Spain.
★
★
Astur-Leonese
★
★
★
Asturian language
★
★
★
Leonese
★
★
★
Mirandese: 5,000 Portugal.
★
★
★
Judeo-Portuguese: Jewish, extinct.
★
★
Spanish (Castilian): 360 million
Spain,
Americas. See
Spanish dialects and varieties for an exhaustive list.
Pyrenean-Mozarabic languages
★
★
Aragonese: 10,000 in Aragon.
★
★
Mozarabic: Southern Iberia (extinct)
Southern Romance
★
Sardinian: 300,000
Sardinia.
★
★
Campidanese
★
★
Logudorese
★
Corsican:
★
★
Gallurese,
Sassarese - dialects which are
diasystems with
Sardinian
★
African Romance: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya (extinct).
Languages whose classification is unknown or disputed
★
Romance Pannonian language: Hungary (extinct) - Texts have mostly been found in
Pannonia (Hungary), but not enough to establish classification.
Pidgins and creoles
The global spread of
colonial Romance languages has given rise to numerous
creole languages and
pidgins. Some of the lesser-used languages have also had influences on varieties spoken far from their traditional regions. The following is a partial list of creole languages and pidgins, grouped by their main source language.
★
Mediterranean Lingua Franca, influenced by the Romance languages of the Western Mediterranean and Arabic.
★
French-based creole languages
★
Portuguese-based creole languages
★
Spanish-based creole languages
While not being pidgins nor creoles,
English (see ''
Middle English creole hypothesis''),
Basque and
Albanian have a substantial Romance influence in their vocabularies.
For mixed languages based on Romance languages, see the main article on
Mixed languages.
See also
★
Classification of Romance languages
★
Italian dialects
★
List of languages of Italy
★
Portuguese dialects
★
Spanish dialects and varieties
References
1. Cerquiglini, Bernard. Les langues de la France, Rapport au Ministre de l'Education Nationale, de la Recherche et de la Technologie et à la Ministre de la Culture et de la Communication. Avril 1999
2. Communauté française de Belgique - Service de langues régionales endogènes
3. British-Irish council - Indigenous, Minority and Lesser-Used Languages
4. Ethnologue report for Oïl
External links
★
Romance language tree
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