Romanian Linguistic Terms

# Romanian Linguistic Terms **Cyrillic Alphabet** - an old alphabet used to write Slavic languages, created by Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century and used in Romania until around 1860. **Dialect** - a territorial variety of a language, characterized by distinctive features (phonetics, vocabula...

# Romanian Linguistic Terms **Cyrillic Alphabet** - an old alphabet used to write Slavic languages, created by Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century and used in Romania until around 1860. **Dialect** - a territorial variety of a language, characterized by distinctive features (phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, etc.) that distinguish it from the common language of the entire population and other territorial branches of that language. **Dialect** - a territorial variety of a language, characterized by distinctive features (phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, etc.) that distinguish it from the common language of the entire population and other territorial branches of that language. **Vernacular** - a territorial variety of a language of a lower rank than a dialect, subordinate to a dialect, used in a restricted territory and characterized by a limited number of linguistic features (not essential). **Vulgar/Popular Latin** - an Italic language spoken by the majority of the middle class in the Roman Empire. It differed from Classical Latin used by the elite in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. It formed the basis of the Romance languages. **Literary Language** - the most refined form of a language spoken by a people, established by norms and formalized in writing. **Common Romanian** - a stage in the Romanian language that existed before the emergence of southern Romanian dialects: Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, and Istro-Romanian (approximately from the 7th to the 10th centuries). **Romanian language** - according to the linguist Al. Rosetti, "it is the uninterrupted Latin language spoken in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, including the Danube provinces (Dacia, Pannonia, southern Dardania, Moesia Superior and Inferioară) from the time Latin entered these provinces until the present day."