The Cambridge History of the Romance Languages: Volume 2, Contexts

What is the origin of the Romance languages and how did they evolve? When and how did they become different from Latin, and from each other? Volume 2 of The Cambridge History of the Romance Languages offers fresh and original reflections on the principal questions and issues in the comparative external histories of the Romance languages. It is organised around the two key themes of influences and institutions, exploring the fundamental influence, of contact with and borrowing from, other languages (including Latin), and the cultural and institutional forces at work in the establishment of standard languages and norms of correctness. A perfect complement to the first volume, it offers an external history of the Romance languages combining data and theory to produce new and revealing perspectives on the shaping of the Romance languages.

1. Latin and the making of the Romance languages Alberto Varvaro; 2. The transition from Latin to the Romance languages Michel Banniard; 3. Periodization Roger Wright; 4. Evidence and sources Roger Wright; 5. Koinés and scriptae Johannes Kabatek; 6. Contact and borrowing Marius Sala; 7. The Romance languages in the Renaissance and after Helena L. Sanson; 8. Geography and distribution of the Romance languages in Europe Lorenzo Renzi and Alvise Andreose; 9. The sociology of the Romance languages Alberto Varvaro; 10. Romance outside the Romània Mari C. Jones and Christopher J. Pountain; 11. Creoles Iris Bachmann.

Martin Maiden is Professor of the Romance Languages and Director of the Research Centre for Romance Linguistics at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy.
John Charles Smith is Faculty Lecturer in French Linguistics and Deputy Director of the Research Centre for Romance Linguistics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford.
Adam Ledgeway is Senior Lecturer in Romance Philology at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge.