Romance studies or Romance philology (; ; ; ; ; ; ) is an academic discipline that covers the study of the languages, literatures, and cultures of areas that speak

Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

. 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, French,

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

, and Portuguese. 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, traditional ...

and Catalan, on one hand, and culture, history, and politics on the other hand. Becoming proficient in Romance studies requires extensive specialized training focused on a thorough exploration of the histories of languages and literatures. This education includes detailed study in

textual scholarship Textual scholarship (or textual studies) is an umbrella term for disciplines that deal with describing, transcribing, editing or annotating text (literary theory), texts and physical documents. Overview Textual research is mainly historically orie ...

paleography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...

, and classical languages, which are core aspects of philological disciplines. Because most places in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

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, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

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.

Notable people

In 2015, Barbara De Marco, author of ''The Origins and Practice of Romance Philology'' explained that

Yakov Malkiel Yakov Malkiel (July 22, 1914 – April 24, 1998) was a U.S. (Ukrainian-born) Romance etymologist and philologist. His specialty was the development of Latin words, roots, prefixes, and suffixes in modern Romance languages, particularly Spanish. ...

, a Romance

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

, "takes determined steps to assure the future of studies in Romance philology; by 1946 he has secured the necessary institutional support to launch the journal Romance Philology".

Journals and works

''Romance Philology'' is an academic journal, founded with the goal of exploring the breadth and depth of Romance languages. It covers a wide range of topics including late Latin,

medieval literature Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (that is, the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of t ...

s of the Romance languages, historical and general linguistics, and

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...

. The journal, recognized for its prestigious contributions to the study of linguistic history and medieval literature of the Romance languages, has built an international reputation since its inception. It is published biannually, with issues in the autumn and spring, featuring contributions from global experts in various languages. Recent editions have particularly focused on the evolution of Romance languages in

the Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...

References

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. * Carlo Tagliavini, ''Le origini delle lingue neolatine''. Bologna: Pàtron, 1979. {{Authority control Humanities Area studies

Notable people

Journals and works

See also

References

Bibliography