ABSTRACT
The Romanian language is 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 inhabitants. 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, partly due to its normal evolution, partly owing to the influence of the languages with which it came into contact. Present-day Romanian has been influenced by non-Romance languages such as Hungarian, Albanian and various Slavic languages, which are spoken in neighbouring countries.
