Romance plurals
Encyclopedia
Plurals in Romance languages
appear to be formed in two quite different ways:
It is generally agreed that the plurals in -s derive from the Latin accusative endings -ŌS -ĀS -ĒS. However, there is some debate over the origin of the plurals of Italy and Romania, with some claiming that they derive from the Latin nominative endings -Ī -AE and others that they partly derive from the Latin accusative endings. The "nominative" theory appears more straightforward at first; however, the "accusative" theory is more common currently.
The Italian endings are -i (for nouns in -o and -e), and -e (for nouns in -a). The nominative theory suggests that the -o plural -i and the -a plural -e are derived straightforwardly from nominative -Ī and -AE, respectively (it is known that AE > e in all Romance languages), and that the -e plural -i is derived by analogy with the -o plural. (The corresponding nominative form in Latin is -ĒS. With the loss of final /s/, singular and plural would both have -e, which is problematic and was rectified by borrowing -i.)
The accusative theory starts by noting that Proto-Romance actually had both nominative and accusative endings. This is clear from languages like Old French
, which have preserved both cases. However, all languages with both nominative and accusative case (Old French
, Old Occitan, Old Sursilvan) agree in having forms derived from -ĀS in both nominative and accusative plurals of feminine nouns in -a, suggesting that Proto-Romance also had nominative -ĀS. Nominative -ĀS is also attested in Old Latin
, suggesting that Proto-Romance may have preserved an older state of affairs that changed in urban Latin of Rome (but not in the spoken Latin of the provinces, which underlies the Romance languages). If true, there is no -AE from which Italian -e can be derived from. There is other evidence suggesting that Italian -e must derive from -ĀS:
The "accusative" theory essentially suggests:
The first of these changes is almost certain, given examples like tu stai "you stand" < TŪ STĀS; Southern Italian crai "tomorrow" < CRĀS; tu sei "you are" < TŪ S(ED)ĒS; sei "six" < SEX (probably Proto-Italian *sess); Southern Italian trei "three" < TRĒS. Note also noi we < NŌS. The second sound change is cross-linguistically extremely common. Furthermore, it explains a number of otherwise unexplainable forms in Italian:
Indicative tu ami "you love" < TŪ AMĀS is unexpected; we would expect *tu ame. However, tu ame is in fact attested in Old Tuscan. Subjunctive tu dormi < TŪ DORMĀS is similarly unexpected; again, we would expect *tu dorme. In this case, it appears that -i was generalized as the universal tu ending, both indicative and subjunctive, at the expense of -e. (Note the even more striking generalization of first plural -iamo, originally only the subjunctive form of -ere and -ire verbs.)
If this theory is correct, something similar must have happened in Romanian.
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
appear to be formed in two quite different ways:
- By adding -s (in all languages north and west of Italy, including PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, CatalanCatalan languageCatalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
, Occitan, FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Romansh, etc.); also in SardinianSardinian languageSardinian is a Romance language spoken and written on most of the island of Sardinia . It is considered the most conservative of the Romance languages in terms of phonology and is noted for its Paleosardinian substratum....
. - By changing the final vowel (in all languages of Italy, as well as RomanianRomanian languageRomanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
and related languages).
It is generally agreed that the plurals in -s derive from the Latin accusative endings -ŌS -ĀS -ĒS. However, there is some debate over the origin of the plurals of Italy and Romania, with some claiming that they derive from the Latin nominative endings -Ī -AE and others that they partly derive from the Latin accusative endings. The "nominative" theory appears more straightforward at first; however, the "accusative" theory is more common currently.
The Italian endings are -i (for nouns in -o and -e), and -e (for nouns in -a). The nominative theory suggests that the -o plural -i and the -a plural -e are derived straightforwardly from nominative -Ī and -AE, respectively (it is known that AE > e in all Romance languages), and that the -e plural -i is derived by analogy with the -o plural. (The corresponding nominative form in Latin is -ĒS. With the loss of final /s/, singular and plural would both have -e, which is problematic and was rectified by borrowing -i.)
The accusative theory starts by noting that Proto-Romance actually had both nominative and accusative endings. This is clear from languages like Old French
Old French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
, which have preserved both cases. However, all languages with both nominative and accusative case (Old French
Old French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
, Old Occitan, Old Sursilvan) agree in having forms derived from -ĀS in both nominative and accusative plurals of feminine nouns in -a, suggesting that Proto-Romance also had nominative -ĀS. Nominative -ĀS is also attested in Old Latin
Old Latin
Old Latin refers to the Latin language in the period before the age of Classical Latin; that is, all Latin before 75 BC...
, suggesting that Proto-Romance may have preserved an older state of affairs that changed in urban Latin of Rome (but not in the spoken Latin of the provinces, which underlies the Romance languages). If true, there is no -AE from which Italian -e can be derived from. There is other evidence suggesting that Italian -e must derive from -ĀS:
- In Italian, masculine amico has plural amici with /tʃ/ (the expected palatal outcome before -Ī), but feminine amica has plural amiche, with /k/ that is unexpected if e < -AE, but expected if e < -ĀS. (The change AE > e occurred long before palatalization, hence /tʃ/ is expected here too. It is unlikely that this unusual distribution is due to analogy; if so, either /tʃ/ or /k/ would be expected in both plural forms.)
- NeopolitanNeapolitan languageNeapolitan is the language of the city and region of Naples , and Campania. On October 14, 2008 a law by the Region of Campania stated that the Neapolitan language had to be protected....
and certain other minority Italian languages have unexpected alternations like gatto "(male) cat", i atti "the (male) cats" vs. gatta "(female) cat", e ggatte "the (female) cats". In these languages, loss of /g/ is expected between vowels; the form with /gg/, as in e ggatte, would normally only occur if there was a lost consonant formerly preceding the /g/. This suggests that Neapolitan e (standard Italian le) comes from Latin (ILL)ĀS, not *(ILL)AE. - The isolated Italian word dunque "thus" corresponds to Sardinian duncas. Neither word can be derived from Latin DUMQUAM, and the isolated nature of the word means that analogical change is unlikely. Sardinian duncas suggests Proto-Romance *DUNQUAS, with dunque the expected outcome (even down to the unusual qu preceding e) if -AS > e.
The "accusative" theory essentially suggests:
- Italian plurals are in fact derived from the nominative plural.
- However, Proto-Romance had nominative plural -ĀS, not *-AE.
- The following sound changes took place:
- /as/ > /ai/, /es/ > /ei/.
- In unstressed syllables, /ai/ > /e/, /ei/ > /i/.
The first of these changes is almost certain, given examples like tu stai "you stand" < TŪ STĀS; Southern Italian crai "tomorrow" < CRĀS; tu sei "you are" < TŪ S(ED)ĒS; sei "six" < SEX (probably Proto-Italian *sess); Southern Italian trei "three" < TRĒS. Note also noi we < NŌS. The second sound change is cross-linguistically extremely common. Furthermore, it explains a number of otherwise unexplainable forms in Italian:
- The plural -i corresponding to Latin -ĒS
- Verbal tu dormi "you sleep" < Proto-Western-Romance /tu dɔrmes/ < TŪ DORMIS
- Verbal tu tieni "you hold" < TŪ TENĒS
- Subjunctive (che) tu ami "you love" < TŪ AMĒS
Indicative tu ami "you love" < TŪ AMĀS is unexpected; we would expect *tu ame. However, tu ame is in fact attested in Old Tuscan. Subjunctive tu dormi < TŪ DORMĀS is similarly unexpected; again, we would expect *tu dorme. In this case, it appears that -i was generalized as the universal tu ending, both indicative and subjunctive, at the expense of -e. (Note the even more striking generalization of first plural -iamo, originally only the subjunctive form of -ere and -ire verbs.)
If this theory is correct, something similar must have happened in Romanian.
See also
- Classification of Romance languagesClassification of Romance languagesThe internal classification of the Romance languages is a complex and sometimes controversial topic which may not have a unique answer. Several classifications have been proposed, based on different criteria....
- Diachronics of plural inflection in the Padanian language
- La Spezia-Rimini LineLa Spezia-Rimini LineThe La Spezia–Rimini Line , in the linguistics of the Romance languages, is a line that demarcates a number of important isoglosses that distinguish Romance languages south and east of the line from Romance languages north and west of it...