Which one of these Romance languages is the most peculiar ?

[Melki]

In ancient times, the Roman Empire exercised a profound influence on some of its conquered territories, leading the Aboriginal peoples to abandon their old native languages and switch to Latin.
But over time, and sometimes very quickly, the vulgar Latin spoken and spread by the Roman legionaries who were based in these territories evolved in different ways.
For example Cicero, the famous Roman politician and philosopher, said that it was sometimes hard to understand the Hispanian Senators.

I selected a few modern Romance languages. Tell me which one is the most peculiar.

-French is an atypical Western-Romance language because of its strong Celtic and Frankish influence. This language doesn't sound Romance at all when you hear it spoken for the first time.
Strange nasalized vowel sounds. Many closed vowels, the presence of mid front rounded vowels /ø/, /œ/ et /ə/ and a guttural "r" are typical of Germanic languages. Unlike other Romance languages, emphatic stress is less pronounced, that's why it doesn't sound as melodious as Italian, Spanish etc...

-I don't speak Romanian, so I can't tell much about it. I only know that Romanian is an Eastern Romance language and very close to classical Latin because it maintained its genetive declensions, as well as the classical Latin verbal forms.
The Slavic influence is also very noticeable in Romanian (phonetics, lexis, syntax...).

-Sardinian: I don't know much about it, how it sounds...The only things I can tell: like Romanian, this language belongs to the Eastern Romance family, and among all these languages, is possibly the closest to Latin. It has also very archaic structure and kept Pre-Latin roots.

-I speak fluent Castillan Spanish and Portuguese, and honestly, I don't think these Western Romance languages are the weirdest, although I often wondered about the origin of the peculiar pronounciation of "j" and "z" in Castillan (Moorish heritage ?) But I decided to add Portuguese to the list, just in case.
Portuguese is very similar to Castillan Spanish in its written form, but is pronounced differently. A Spaniard and an Italian are usually able to understand each other when they talk together, each one speaking his respective mother tongue. But they will have much trouble understanding a Lusophone (especially somebody from Portugal, Brazilian pronounciation is easier to catch).
Portuguese has no common border with France, but yet, Portuguese and French share many common features, like the closed and nasal vowel sounds, the guttural "r", other phonetic sounds like [z], [ʒ], [ʃ].
That's certainly the reason why the Portuguese usually have a better pronunciation of French than the Spaniards.
Galician was originally the purest form of Portuguese, but over time, it was somewhat influenced by Castillan, and Portuguese spoken in independant Portugal evolved in its own way.

I excluded exctinct languages like Dalmatian for example, since I don't know how they sounded like...

So, according to you, which one is the most peculiar ?
For my part, I'm still hesitating between French, Romanian and Sardinian.

[Cristiano viejo]

In ancient times, the Roman Empire exercised a profound influence on some of its conquered territories, leading the Aboriginal peoples to abandon their old native languages and switch to Latin.
But over time, and sometimes very quickly, the vulgar Latin spoken and spread by the Roman legionaries who were based in these territories evolved in different ways.
For example Cicero, the famous Roman politician and philosopher, said that it was sometimes hard to understand the Hispanian Senators.

I selected a few modern Romance languages. Tell me which one is the most peculiar.

-French is an atypical Western-Romance language because of its strong Celtic and Frankish influence. This language doesn't sound Romance at all when you hear it spoken for the first time.
Strange nasalized vowel sounds. Many closed vowels, the presence of mid front rounded vowels /ø/, /œ/ et /ə/ and a guttural "r" are typical of Germanic languages. Unlike other Romance languages, emphatic stress is less pronounced, that's why it doesn't sound as melodious as Italian, Spanish etc...

-I don't speak Romanian, so I can't tell much about it. I only know that Romanian is an Eastern Romance language and very close to classical Latin because it maintained its genetive declensions, as well as the classical Latin verbal forms.
The Slavic influence is also very noticeable in Romanian (phonetics, lexis, syntax...).

-Sardinian: I don't know much about it, how it sounds...The only things I can tell: like Romanian, this language belongs to the Eastern Romance family, and among all these languages, is possibly the closest to Latin. It has also very archaic structure and kept Pre-Latin roots.

-I speak fluent Castillan Spanish and Portuguese, and honestly, I don't think these Western Romance languages are the weirdest, although I often wondered about the origin of the peculiar pronounciation of "j" and "z" in Castillan (Moorish heritage ?) But I decided to add Portuguese to the list, just in case.
Portuguese is very similar to Castillan Spanish in its written form, but is pronounced differently. A Spaniard and an Italian are usually able to understand each other when they talk together, each one speaking his respective mother tongue. But they will have much trouble understanding a Lusophone (especially somebody from Portugal, Brazilian pronounciation is easier to catch).
Portuguese has no common border with France, but yet, Portuguese and French share many common features, like the closed and nasal vowel sounds, the guttural "r", other phonetic sounds like [z], [ʒ], [ʃ].
That's certainly the reason why the Portuguese usually have a better pronunciation of French than the Spaniards.
Galician was originally the purest form of Portuguese, but over time, it was somewhat influenced by Castillan, and Portuguese spoken in independant Portugal evolved in its own way.

I excluded exctinct languages like Dalmatian for example, since I don't know how they sounded like...

So, according to you, which one is the most peculiar ?
For my part, I'm still hesitating between French, Romanian and Sardinian.

From where do you get such absurd theory??

[Melki]

From where do you get such absurd theory??

I knew you would enjoy this part. Actually, it's not a theory, just a hypothesis. What's your opinion about it ?

BTW, who gave you the Alhambra and the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba ?
And why do so many words in Spanish and Portuguese begin with "al" ?

[GiCa]

Latinos brothership world wide world pride

You are all dialects of my language always remember.

The language of Roman Conquerors. You paises us tributes and obeyed to us your masters

We are your Masters

[Cristiano viejo]

I was sure you would enjoy this part. Actually, it's not a theory, just a hypothesis. What's your opinion about it ?

BTW, who gave you the Alhambra and the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba ?

There is no such thing as a Mosque in Córdoba, it is a Cathedral and only a Cathedral.
And it were the Visigoths who gave it to us, you should record a bit first.

And why do so many words in Spanish and Portuguese begin with "al" ?

Not all the words which begin with al- come from Muslims, dont be ignorant. Names as Alberto, Alfonso, etc are Germanic.
And we dont use daily the majority of Arab words that our dictionary admits.

Regarding the J and the Z... you said you know our language, right?

Hay una coincidencia en los sistemas fonológicos del árabe y del español moderno en la presencia en las dos lenguas de los fonemas /θ, x/ (como en español zeta y jota o en árabe ث ṯā’ y خ ḫā’). Dichos sonidos son raros en las lenguas romances, por lo que algunos autores han atribuido su desarrollo en español moderno a la influencia del árabe. La mayoría de autores no acepta esta explicación, ya que esos sonidos solo se han detectado en español a partir del siglo XVI, cuando la influencia del árabe era casi inexistente, y como desarrollo de cambios fonéticos previos que empezaron con la pérdida de la oposición de sonoridad en los fonemas asibilados.5 [cita requerida] Así los sonidos del español medieval /ʦ, ʣ/ evolucionaron primero a la predorsal /s̪̺/ y luego a /θ/ (este último cambio que no se dio en América, ni Andalucía), mientras que /š, ž/ evoluciaron a /š/ y de ahí a /x/. Esta evolución empezó a partir del siglo XV y no parece tener nada que ver con un sustrato árabe (de hecho, en algunos lugares del Magreb el fonema /θ/ ni siquiera se articula como en español sino como [ʦ] que es una pronunciación ajena al español moderno).

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influe...s_atribuciones

[MellowD]

Romanian, since the other romance speakers don't understand anything from it and it sounds slavic to them. I always wondered how it sounds to the slavic speakers, does it sound romance or slavic as well?

[Melki]

There is no such thing as a Mosque in Córdoba, it is a Cathedral and only a Cathedral.
And it were the Visigoths who gave it to us, you should record a bit first.


Not all the words which begin with al- come from Muslims, dont be ignorant. Names as Alberto, Alfonso, etc are Germanic.
And we dont use daily the majority of Arab words that our dictionary admits.

Joder, cuanta mala fe...

I didn't know the Visigoths were Muslims

And what about "ojalá, alcalde, almohada, almacén, azeituna, el azúcar (que tomas cada día en tu café cortado), alcohol, ajedrez, zanahoria, azafate, naranja, limón, rehén," and 4000 others, you don't use them on a daily basis ???

Regarding the J and the Z... you said you know our language, right?


https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influe...s_atribuciones

I never said I knew your language, I only speak it . Pero...gracias por la información

[Spyy]

romanian for sure, I can understand some words or phrases in other romance languages, but rumanian I cant.

[Melki]

Romanian, since the other romance speakers don't understand anything from it and it sounds slavic to them. I always wondered how it sounds to the slavic speakers, does it sound romance or slavic as well?

Sometimes, it sounds like Italian with some Slavic admixture...

How does the French language sound to you ?

[Cristiano viejo]

Joder, cuanta mala fe...

I didn't know the Visigoths were Muslims

Again thinking the Cathedral of Córdoba was built by Muslims??

And what about "ojalá, alcalde, almohada, almacén, azeituna, el azúcar (que tomas cada día en tu café cortado), alcohol, ajedrez, zanahoria, azafate, naranja, limón, rehén," you don't use them on a daily basis ???

Azafate?? are you serious? what the hell is that??

Alcohol... yes, we use it... (and even we drink it). In UK, France etc they also use it
Limón comes from the Persian, for God sake and in English is lemon, in Italian limone, in French limonier... etc, so your argument is a bit strange.
Naranja comes from the Sanskrit.

At the end of the say the percentage of Spanish words with Arab origin that we use daily is negligible, like to you or not.