Project description:

The purpose of the present project sponsored by the National Science Centre, Poland (grant no. 2024/53/B/HS2/03478), is the reconstruction of the phonological, morphological and lexical system of Balkan Latin and the description of its evolution both from the original Latin forms (i.e. from Classical Latin into Balkan Latin) and into the attested Romance Balkan languages into which it evolved (Aromanian, Meglenoromanian, Romanian, Dalmatian). The method used in the project will include a computational replication of changes from Latin to the Balkan Romance languages in order to check the usually assumed relative chronology of changes, to investigate the common innovations of the particular Balkan Romance languages and thus examine their interrelationships. The computational replication will be cross-checked manually and will also be supported by the reverse replication (i.e. reconstruction) of the original Latin forms (Balkan Latin forms) from which the Balkan Romance forms developed. The effects of the project will have impact on our understanding of the development of the Latin language in the Balkans through the ages as well as on the development of the particular Balkan Romance languages and their actual origins. We will try to answer the questions concerning especially the origin of the Romanian language and its various varieties attested in the Balkans.

Research Team

• Dariusz Piwowarczyk - project supervisor
• Kamil Stachowski - project co-investigator
• Anna Borowy - project co-investigator

The webpage presents work-in-progress and will be systematically updated.