Romance languages

ahora   Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:45 pm GMT
In Spanish and in Italian, it's possible to use simple form Yo/io canto (for I'm singing),


This is false
Parisian Obama   Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:18 pm GMT
English has nothing to see with even a "half-romance" language.
Such a thing canno't even exist.

English is not more a half-romance language than a drag-queen is a half-woman person. A man, even if he wear woman dresses will still be a 100% masculine person, one infinite times more than a woman that dresses with man clothes.

In terms of vocabulary 80% of current English is germanic. Basic and usual vocabulary is overwhelmingly germanic.
In terms of Structure Englsh has absolutly no romance influence at all. If there are some common points it is because all languages can share some similarities, whatever they are pure coincidence or they are coming from an older common ancestor - indo-European in that case.
Shrey   Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:36 pm GMT
You forgot to add the following Romance languages:

Italian (closest to Latin)

Romanian (also closest to latin with a slavic influence).
Leasnam   Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:57 pm GMT
<<But its grammar it's closer to Brazilian Portuguese, than, let's say German.
German has lost all its progressivity (gerundivity)
>>

Yeah, and French and German are alike in that they lack gerundivity, so gerundivity is not a Language-falimilar quality. Does this make French not a Romance language?

In regional German you can say: "Ich bin am lesen" for "I am reading".

Dutch has "Ik ben an het lezen" or "Ik em lezende" (rare) for "I am reading"--is Dutch half Romance?

Your desire to qualify English as any romance cannot be realised.
Obamaniac   Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:11 pm GMT
I think that there are two different sprachchaums in Western Europe made up of both Romance and Germanic languages:
Central: French-German -----> both have same auxiliar verbs and lack gerundivity
Peripheral: English-Spanish-Italian--------> both three have same auxiliar verbs and have gerundivity.
Cid   Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:59 pm GMT
<<I think that there are two different sprachchaums in Western Europe made up of both Romance and Germanic languages:
Central: French-German -----> both have same auxiliar verbs and lack gerundivity
Peripheral: English-Spanish-Italian--------> both three have same auxiliar verbs and have gerundivity. >>

But French-German separates the two geographically; Spanish-Italian from English-Dutch. This kinda aids the assertion that the two are independent
Obama   Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:15 am GMT
" I think that there are two different sprachchaums in Western Europe made up of both Romance and Germanic languages:
Central: French-German -----> both have same auxiliar verbs and lack gerundivity
Peripheral: English-Spanish-Italian--------> both three have same auxiliar verbs and have gerundivity. "

French has "gerondif" and does not use different auxilliar verbs than Italian and Spanish. English does.
Kate Blanc   Fri Jan 23, 2009 2:36 am GMT
In Spanish and in Italian, it's possible to use simple form Yo/io canto (for I'm singing),


This is false


Cosa dici? Non capisci?
KateBlanc   Fri Jan 23, 2009 2:38 am GMT
''A man, even if he wear woman dresses will still be a 100% masculine person, ''

Not in Brazil, Alexandre Frota claims he's never fucked a guy,
but he's a mucho that has slept with travestites many times.
Same for Ronaldo Fenôneno, famous soccer player.
blanc   Fri Jan 23, 2009 6:58 am GMT
Peripheral: English-Spanish-Italian--------> both three have same auxiliar verbs and have gerundivity. "


ITalian does not have the same auxiliar verbs as English and Spanish
the use of auxiliar verbs are much harder in Italian than Spanish and English
Italian makes use of the verbs AVEre and essere to form the compound tenses:

She has gone
ella ha ido
Lei (ella) è andatA

the weather has changed
el tiempo ha cambiado
il tempo è cambiato

The Italian use of the verb to be as an auxiliar verb is perhaps the most widespread amongst the romance languages and the germaninc ones too
lexdiamondz   Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:20 am GMT
English is NOT a romance language or half-romance or any such nonsense.

Sure, in any given dictionary about 60% of the words are of Latin origin, but that was by way of borrowing and many of those terms are restricted to academia. Most of the "romance" in English lies in its more ornate and superfluous vocabulary that the average English speaker rarely uses in casual daily conversation. In fact, of the most basic and essential words in English, about 70-80% of them have germanic roots. English is at the core a germanic language with a latin veneer and any attempt at labeling english as anything other than a germanic language is wishful thinking at best. Aside from vocabulary English has LITTE in common with the Romance languages in terms of phonology or syntax.