How did the spoken Latin language disappeared ? I mean it was the normal spoken language back then but how did it become extinct ? Why didnt they teach it in schools ?
April 29th, 2010
How did the spoken Latin language dissappeared ?
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The fall of Rome (A. D. 476) was the beginning of the Dark Ages, when learning and literacy took a real nosedive. There were few schools for Latin to be taught in. It remained alive in Church institutions, mostly as a written language, but spoken Latin broke down into the Romance vernaculars. Keep in mind that language changes constantly, although not always at the same rate. When groups of people speaking the same language are separated from one another, especially when few of them can read or write, the different regional branches of that language can diverge pretty rapidly. However, people in the various parts of what had been the Roman Empire probably thought they were still speaking Latin well after their dialects had become so different that they could barely have understood one another.