Romance studies or Romance philology ( an, filolochía romanica; ca, filologia romànica; french: romanistique; eo, latinida filologio; it, filologia romanza; pt, filologia românica; ro, romanistică; es, filología románica) is an academic discipline that covers the study of the languages, literatures, and cultures of areas that speak a

Romance language The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language f ...

. Romance studies departments usually include the study of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, French,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

. Additional areas of study include

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

and Catalan, on one hand, and culture, history, and politics on the other hand. Because most places in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

speak a Romance language, Latin America is also studied in Romance studies departments. As a result, non-Romance languages in use in Latin America, such as

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

and Guarani, are sometimes also taught in Romance studies departments. Romance studies departments differ from single- or two-language departments in that they attempt to break down the barriers in scholarship among the various languages, through interdisciplinary or comparative work. These departments differ from Romance ''language'' departments in that they place a heavier emphasis on connections between language and literature, among others.

Bibliography

* Ti Alkire & Carol Rosen, ''Romance Languages: A Historical Introduction''. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010. * Michel Banniard, ''Du latin aux langues romanes''. Paris: Armand Colin, 2005. * Randall Scott Gess & Deborah Arteaga, eds. ''Historical Romance Linguistics: Retrospective and Perspectives''. Amsterdam–Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2006. * Martin Harris & Nigel Vincent, eds., ''The Romance Languages''. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1990; revised edn. Routledge, 2003. * Günter Holtus, Michael Metzeltin, Christian Schmitt, eds., ''Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik (LRL)''. 12 vols. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1988–2005. * Petrea Lindenbauer, Michael Metzeltin, Margit Thir, ''Die romanischen Sprachen: Eine einführende Übersicht''. Wilhelmsfeld: Egert, 1995. * Michael Metzeltin, ''Gramática explicativa de la lengua castellana: De la sintaxis a la semántica.'' Vienna: Praesens, 2009. * Michael Metzeltin, ''Erklärende Grammatik der romanischen Sprachen''. Vienna: Praesens, 2010. * Michael Metzeltin, ''Las lenguas románicas estándar: Historia de su formación y de su uso''. Uviéu: Academia de la Llingua Asturiana, 2004, 300 pp
online version
*

Rebecca Posner Rebecca Posner (née Reynolds; 17 August 1929 – 19 July 2018) was a British philologist, linguist and academic, who specialized in Romance languages. Having taught at Girton College, Cambridge, the University of Ghana, and the University of Yor ...

, ''The Romance Languages''. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996. * Joseph B. Solodow, ''Latin Alive: The Survival of Latin in English and the Romance Languages''. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010. * Lorenzo Renzi & Alvise Andreose, ''Manuale di linguistica e filologia romanza''. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2006. * C. Tagliavini, ''Le origini delle lingue neolatine''. Bologna: Patron, 1979. Humanities Area studies {{area-studies-stub

See also

Bibliography