ABSTRACT

Romanian tradition The Romanian language i s a descendant of the Latin once spoken in the eastern part of the Roman empire (Rosetti 1986: 76). After the Roman conquest in AD 106, the province of Dacia (roughly corresponding to modern Romania) was colonized and Latin became the vehicle of communication among its inhabi­ tants. The variety of Latin which served as a basis for the Romanian language was not different from the Latin used in other Roman provinces, but it has since passed through continuous transformations , owing partly to its normal evolution , and partly to the influence of the languages with which it came into contact. Present-day Romanian has been influ­ enced by non-Romance languages such as Hungarian, Albanian and various Slavic lan­ guages , which are spoken in neighbouring countries.