Analysis of the History of Latin and its Relevance Today History

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Analysis of the History of Latin and its Relevance Today
The existence of various languages has been essential in aiding communication between and among individuals and groups of people. While each language identifies with a particular country of origin, Latin traces its roots from Italy. The language is widely known to have a mark of historical legacy considering its association with the great Roman Empire. Latin remains one of the oldest European languages whose influence is evident in nearly most professions having provided a platform for their development. Despite having been described as a dead language by many linguists, Bieliaieva, Lysanets, and Melaschenko acknowledge the tremendous contributions that the language as had in the field of science, among others (2). This analogy forms the basis of the analysis of Latin's history, highlighting its relevance in present-day life.
History Analysis
Various scholars have authored different features that dictate their rules and guidelines for the classification of Latin. However, the intrinsic phases that the language has undergone have attracted recognition, with each stage discerned by a precise dissimilarity in syntax, morphology, usage, spelling, and vocabulary. Thus, different scholars focus on distinct features, giving rise to variants and alternative names. Unlike traditionally when it was used as a native language or mother tongue, it currently receives the attention classicists whose emphasis and interest are in classical antiquity. Descending from Italic branch, and by extension being an Indo-European Language family member, Latin comes after Greek and Sanskrit in age. Conte asserts that the language once dominated the western world and critically spread by conquest and shaped by the underlying cultural practices (733).
Archaic Latin
Latin traces its origin from the mouth of Tiber River, from where it is known to have spread around the Mediterranean ancient world. Initially, Italic speakers were the predominant occupants of Italy before the Roman influence. The Umbrian and Oscan speakers majorly occupied the north and the south, respectively. The founding of Rome would later trigger its expansion of influence in the neighboring territories. There was an extensive borrowing by the Latin-speaking Romans from the adjacent languages (Artimová 19). These borrowed words were seen as homely and they depicted a worldly primitive civilization. Etruscan alphabet formed the basis of devising the Latin alphabet, with the introduction of strict adherence to the left-to-right writing style.
Roman Republic's expansion and the Roman Empire's rise contributed to a significant milestone for Latin, with the language emerging as the main medium of communication. The communication reached Great Britain having stretched from Asia Minor's Mesopotamia into Portugal and Spain through Northern Africa. At the peak of the Roman Empire under the reigns of Augustus Caesar in 117AD, the influence was necessitated by more of conquest than trade. The military interests corresponded with the rise of Christianity which lasted for about two decades. These occurrences went down in history to have facilitated the influence and spread of Latin (Taido 570).
Classical Latin
Ranging between 100 BC and 400 AD, classical Latin dominated the Imperials and Roman Legions' communication in the entire Roman Republic and Empire. Often time, the language impacted the area's native tongues. There emerged variations in pronunciation, idiolects, and usage, causing verbal speech differences. The early classical development stage was characterized by Latin largely borrowing from Greek's writing forms, leading to literary apprenticeship by the Romans (Taida 472). The arising of Classical Latin marked a conscious creation and rise of literacy levels that manifested through historians, poets, and great orators. These prominent individuals wrote classical literature's distinguished classical literature works which were, later, taught in rhetoric and grammar schools. The schools served as academies for the informal language used to maintain and preserve educated speech. Further, Taida asserts that these styles got inspiration from Homer epics, and histories by Thucydides and Herodotus, among others (473).
Vulgar Latin
The inception of Vulgar Latin was triggered by the commonness in usage and pronunciation differences. The quick spread of Vulgar Latin was as a result experience a crucial influence from local languages. Danckaert concurs with the argument that if verbal messages' mutual ease of understanding, then the landmark linguistic gap between spoken Latin and text usage among the population came between during the eighth century (131). Newer populations were unable to comprehend the simplest Latin texts unless they got an explanation and special help. Social distinction impacted on the language's purity, exposing the increasing division between the vernacular in Rome and Classical Latin. Even the training of clergies on Christian Latin to aid in the conservation of a uniform pronunciation was insufficient, spurring the emergence of other vulgar languages. Charlemagne, for instance, was a French king who showed a lot of dedication in maintaining uniformity and order in the use of Latin. He championed for special attention on the pronunciation in an attempt that aimed at reviving the Classical form of Latin. From speaking fluent Latin to understanding Greek and pushing for the establishment of a school to achiev...