Romance Languages - Classification and Related Languages

Classification and Related Languages

The classification of the Romance languages is inherently difficult, since most of the linguistic area can be considered a dialect continuum, and in some cases political biases can come into play. Along with Latin (which is not included among the Romance languages) and a few extinct languages of ancient Italy, they make up the Italic branch of the Indo-European family.

Latin
Classical Latin Vulgar Latin
Continental Romance Sardinian languages
Italo-Western Romance Eastern Romance
Western Romance Proto-Italian Balkan Romance Dalmatian
Ibero-Romance Gallo-Romance Italian Proto-Romanian Albanian words
Portuguese Spanish Occitano-Romance French Romanian Aromanian
Catalan Occitan

Note that Dalmatian is now generally grouped under Proto-Italian rather than Eastern Romance.

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